IWSPY(8) Linux Programmer's Manual IWSPY(8)
NAME
iwspy - Get wireless statistics from specific nodes
SYNOPSIS
iwspy [interface]
iwspy interface [+] DNSNAME | IPADDR | HWADDR [...]
iwspy interface off
iwspy interface setthr low high
iwspy interface getthr
DESCRIPTION
Iwspy is used to set a list of addresses to monitor in a wireless net-
work interface and to read back quality of link information for each of
those. This information is the same as the one available in
/proc/net/wireless : quality of the link, signal strength and noise
level.
This information is updated each time a new packet is received, so each
address of the list adds some overhead in the driver.
Note that this functionality works only for nodes part of the current
wireless cell, you can not monitor Access Points you are not associated
with (you can use Scanning for that) and nodes in other cells. In Man-
aged mode, in most case packets are relayed by the Access Point, in
this case you will get the signal strength of the Access Point. For
those reasons this functionality is mostly useful in Ad-Hoc and Master
mode.
PARAMETERS
You may set any number of addresses up to 8.
DNSNAME | IPADDR
Set an IP address, or in some cases a DNS name (using the name
resolver). As the hardware works with hardware addresses, iwspy
will translate this IP address through ARP. In some case, this
address might not be in the ARP cache and iwspy will fail. In
those case, ping(8) this name/address and retry.
HWADDR Set a hardware (MAC) address (this address is not translated &
checked like the IP one). The address must contain a colon (:)
to be recognised as a hardware address.
+ Add the new set of addresses at the end of the current list in-
stead of replacing it. The address list is unique for each de-
vice, so each user should use this option to avoid conflicts.
off Remove the current list of addresses and disable the spy func-
tionality
setthr Set the low and high signal strength threshold for the iwspy
event (for drivers that support it).
Every time the signal strength for any of the address monitored
with iwspy goes lower than the low threshold or goes higher than
the high threshold, a Wireless Event will be generated.
This can be used to monitor link outages without having to run
iwspy periodically.
getthr Retrieve the current low and high signal strength threshold for
the iwspy event.
FILES
/proc/net/wireless
SEE ALSO
iwconfig(8), iwlist(8), iwevent(8), iwpriv(8), wireless(7).
net-tools 31 October 1996 IWSPY(8)