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Diffstat (limited to 'kernel/Documentation/networking/mac80211_hwsim/README')
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diff --git a/kernel/Documentation/networking/mac80211_hwsim/README b/kernel/Documentation/networking/mac80211_hwsim/README new file mode 100644 index 000000000..24ac91d56 --- /dev/null +++ b/kernel/Documentation/networking/mac80211_hwsim/README @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +mac80211_hwsim - software simulator of 802.11 radio(s) for mac80211 +Copyright (c) 2008, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> + +This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify +it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as +published by the Free Software Foundation. + + +Introduction + +mac80211_hwsim is a Linux kernel module that can be used to simulate +arbitrary number of IEEE 802.11 radios for mac80211. It can be used to +test most of the mac80211 functionality and user space tools (e.g., +hostapd and wpa_supplicant) in a way that matches very closely with +the normal case of using real WLAN hardware. From the mac80211 view +point, mac80211_hwsim is yet another hardware driver, i.e., no changes +to mac80211 are needed to use this testing tool. + +The main goal for mac80211_hwsim is to make it easier for developers +to test their code and work with new features to mac80211, hostapd, +and wpa_supplicant. The simulated radios do not have the limitations +of real hardware, so it is easy to generate an arbitrary test setup +and always reproduce the same setup for future tests. In addition, +since all radio operation is simulated, any channel can be used in +tests regardless of regulatory rules. + +mac80211_hwsim kernel module has a parameter 'radios' that can be used +to select how many radios are simulated (default 2). This allows +configuration of both very simply setups (e.g., just a single access +point and a station) or large scale tests (multiple access points with +hundreds of stations). + +mac80211_hwsim works by tracking the current channel of each virtual +radio and copying all transmitted frames to all other radios that are +currently enabled and on the same channel as the transmitting +radio. Software encryption in mac80211 is used so that the frames are +actually encrypted over the virtual air interface to allow more +complete testing of encryption. + +A global monitoring netdev, hwsim#, is created independent of +mac80211. This interface can be used to monitor all transmitted frames +regardless of channel. + + +Simple example + +This example shows how to use mac80211_hwsim to simulate two radios: +one to act as an access point and the other as a station that +associates with the AP. hostapd and wpa_supplicant are used to take +care of WPA2-PSK authentication. In addition, hostapd is also +processing access point side of association. + + +# Build mac80211_hwsim as part of kernel configuration + +# Load the module +modprobe mac80211_hwsim + +# Run hostapd (AP) for wlan0 +hostapd hostapd.conf + +# Run wpa_supplicant (station) for wlan1 +wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan1 -c wpa_supplicant.conf + + +More test cases are available in hostap.git: +git://w1.fi/srv/git/hostap.git and mac80211_hwsim/tests subdirectory +(http://w1.fi/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?p=hostap.git;a=tree;f=mac80211_hwsim/tests) |