1IWSPY(8) Linux Programmer's Manual IWSPY(8)
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6 iwspy - Get wireless statistics from specific nodes
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9 iwspy interface
10 iwspy interface [+] DNSNAME | IPADDR | HWADDR [...]
11 iwspy interface off
12 iwspy interface setthr low high
13 iwspy interface getthr
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16 Iwspy is used to set a list of addresses to monitor in a wireless net‐
17 work interface and to read back quality of link information for each of
18 those. This information is the same as the one available in
19 /proc/net/wireless : quality of the link, signal strength and noise
20 level.
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22 This information is updated each time a new packet is received, so each
23 address of the list adds some overhead in the driver.
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25 Note that this functionality works only for nodes part of the current
26 wireless cell, you can not monitor Access Points you are not associated
27 with (you can use Scanning for that) and nodes in other cells. In Man‐
28 aged mode, in most case packets are relayed by the Access Point, in
29 this case you will get the signal strength of the Access Point. For
30 those reasons this functionality is mostly useful in Ad-Hoc and Master
31 mode.
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34 You may set any number of addresses up to 8.
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36 DNSNAME | IPADDR
37 Set an IP address, or in some cases a DNS name (using the name
38 resolver). As the hardware works with hardware addresses, iwspy
39 will translate this IP address through ARP. In some case, this
40 address might not be in the ARP cache and iwspy will fail. In
41 those case, ping(8) this name/address and retry.
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43 HWADDR Set a hardware (MAC) address (this address is not translated &
44 checked like the IP one). The address must contain a colon (:)
45 to be recognised as a hardware address.
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47 + Add the new set of addresses at the end of the current list
48 instead of replacing it. The address list is unique for each
49 device, so each user should use this option to avoid conflicts.
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51 off Remove the current list of addresses and disable the spy func‐
52 tionality
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54 setthr Set the low and high signal strength threshold for the iwspy
55 event (for drivers that support it).
56 Every time the signal strength for any of the address monitored
57 with iwspy goes lower than the low threshold or goes higher than
58 the high threshold, a Wireless Event will be generated.
59 This can be used to monitor link outages without having to run
60 iwspy periodically.
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62 getthr Retrieve the current low and high signal strength threshold for
63 the iwspy event.
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67 /proc/net/wireless
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70 iwconfig(8), iwlist(8), iwevent(8), iwpriv(8), wireless(7).
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75net-tools 31 October 1996 IWSPY(8)