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 in a wireless network 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 add some overhead in the driver.

Note the this functionality work only for node part of the current wireless cells.

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 work 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 instead of replacing it. The address list is unique for each device, so each user should use this option to avoid conflicts.

off Remove the current list of addresses and disable the spy functionality

setthr
    Set the low and high signal strength threshold for the iwspy event (for driver that support it).
    Every time the signal strengh 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).