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DESCRIPTION

wlan supports multi-mode devices capable of operating in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and supports numerous 802.11 standards: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11s (Draft 3.0). The WPA, 802.11i, and 802.1x security protocols are supported through a combination of in-kernel code and user-mode applications. The WME/WMM multi-media protocols are supported entirely within the wlan module but require a suitably capable hardware device. Likewise the 802.11h specification is supported only by suitably capable devices.

Drivers provide 802.11 functionality through wlan interfaces that are created at runtime using interface cloning. This is done with the ifconfig(8) create command or using the wlans_IFX variable in rc.conf(5). Some drivers support the creation of multiple wlan interfaces that share the same underlying device; this is the way by which ``multi-bss support'' is provided but it can also be used to create WDS links and other interesting applications.

There are several types of wlan interfaces that may be created:

sta

A client station in an infrastructure bss (i.e. one that associates to an access point).

hostap

An access point in an infrastructure bss.

mesh

A mesh station in an MBSS network.

adhoc

A station in an IBSS network.

ahdemo

A station operating in ``adhoc demo mode''. This is essentially an IBSS station that does not use management frames (e.g. no beacons are transmitted). An ahdemo interface is especially useful for applications that want to transmit and receive raw 802.11 packets.

monitor

An interface used exclusively for capturing 802.11 frames. In particular this specified to have read-only properties which enables it to be operated on frequencies where one would otherwise not be allowed.

wds

A station that passes 4-address 802.11 traffic for the purpose of tunneling traffic over a wireless link. Typically this station would share the same MAC address as a hostap interface. It may be possible to create wds interfaces without a companion hostap interface but that is not guaranteed; one may need to create a hostap interface that does not send beacon frames before wds interfaces may be created.

Note that an interface's type cannot be changed once it is created.

wlan defines several mechanisms by which plugin modules may be used to extend its functionality. Cryptographic support such as WEP, TKIP, and AES-CCMP are implemented as standalone modules (if not statically configured into a system) that register with wlan. Similarly there is an authenticator framework for defining 802.11 authentication services and a framework for integrating access control mechanisms specific to the 802.11 protocol.