xref: /openbsd/share/man/man4/iwx.4 (revision b6ef1ff8)
1.\" $OpenBSD: iwx.4,v 1.8 2021/10/15 08:10:44 kn Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 2020 Stefan Sperling <stsp@openbsd.org>
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17.Dd $Mdocdate: October 15 2021 $
18.Dt IWX 4
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm iwx
22.Nd Intel AX200/AX201 IEEE 802.11a/ac/ax/b/g/n wireless network devices
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.Cd "iwx* at pci?"
25.Sh DESCRIPTION
26The
27.Nm
28driver provides support for Intel Wireless AX200 M.2 network adapters,
29and for Intel Wireless AX201 Integrated Connectivity (CNVi) network
30adapters with companion RF M.2 modules.
31.Pp
32These are the modes the
33.Nm
34driver can operate in:
35.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
36.It BSS mode
37Also known as
38.Em infrastructure
39mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
40which all traffic passes.
41This mode is the default.
42.It monitor mode
43In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
44associating with an access point.
45This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
46capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
47or to scan for access points.
48.El
49.Pp
50The
51.Nm
52driver can be configured to use
53Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
54Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA1 and WPA2).
55WPA2 is the current encryption standard for wireless networks.
56It is strongly recommended that neither WEP nor WPA1
57are used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication,
58due to serious weaknesses.
59WPA1 is disabled by default and may be enabled using the option
60.Qq Cm wpaprotos Ar wpa1,wpa2 .
61For standard WPA networks which use pre-shared keys (PSK),
62keys are configured using the
63.Qq Cm wpakey
64option.
65WPA-Enterprise networks require use of the wpa_supplicant package.
66The
67.Nm
68driver offloads both encryption and decryption of unicast data frames to the
69hardware for the CCMP cipher.
70.Pp
71In BSS mode the driver supports background scanning;
72see
73.Xr ifconfig 8 .
74.Pp
75The
76.Nm
77driver can be configured at runtime with
78.Xr ifconfig 8
79or on boot with
80.Xr hostname.if 5 .
81.Sh FILES
82The driver needs one of the following firmware files,
83which are loaded when an interface is brought up:
84.Pp
85.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
86.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-cc-a0-63
87.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-QuZ-a0-hr-b0-63
88.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwx-Qu-c0-hr-b0-63
89.El
90.Pp
91These firmware files are not free because Intel refuses to grant
92distribution rights without contractual obligations.
93As a result, even though
94.Ox
95includes the driver, the firmware files cannot be included and
96users have to download these files on their own.
97.Pp
98A prepackaged version of the firmware can be installed using
99.Xr fw_update 1 .
100.Sh EXAMPLES
101The following example scans for available networks:
102.Pp
103.Dl # ifconfig iwx0 scan
104.Pp
105The following
106.Xr hostname.if 5
107example configures iwx0 to join network
108.Dq mynwid ,
109using WPA key
110.Dq mywpakey ,
111obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
112.Bd -literal -offset indent
113nwid mynwid wpakey mywpakey
114inet autoconf
115.Ed
116.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
117.Bl -diag
118.It "iwx0: device timeout"
119A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
120The driver will reset the hardware.
121This should not happen.
122.It "iwx0: fatal firmware error"
123For some reason, the firmware crashed.
124The driver will reset the hardware.
125This should not happen.
126.It "iwx0: radio is disabled by hardware switch"
127The radio transmitter is off and thus no packet can go out.
128The driver will reset the hardware.
129Make sure the laptop radio switch is on.
130.It "iwx0: could not read firmware ... (error N)"
131For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from the
132filesystem.
133The file might be missing or corrupted.
134.It "iwx0: firmware too short: N bytes"
135The firmware image is corrupted and can't be loaded into the adapter.
136.It "iwx0: could not load firmware"
137An attempt to load the firmware into the adapter failed.
138The driver will reset the hardware.
139.El
140.Sh SEE ALSO
141.Xr arp 4 ,
142.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
143.Xr intro 4 ,
144.Xr netintro 4 ,
145.Xr pci 4 ,
146.Xr hostname.if 5 ,
147.Xr ifconfig 8
148.Sh HISTORY
149The
150.Nm
151device driver first appeared in
152.Ox 6.7 .
153.Sh CAVEATS
154The
155.Nm
156driver does not support any of the 802.11ac and 802.11ax capabilities offered
157by the adapters.
158Support for 802.11n 40MHz channels is not yet implemented.
159Additional work is required in
160.Xr ieee80211 9
161before those features can be supported.
162.Pp
163This driver does not support powersave mode.
164