freebsd/share/man/man9/ieee80211_scan.9

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.Dd February 20, 2010
.Dt IEEE80211_SCAN 9
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm ieee80211_scan
.Nd 802.11 scanning support
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In net80211/ieee80211_var.h
.Pp
.Ft int
.Fo ieee80211_start_scan
.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *"
.Fa "int flags"
.Fa "u_int duration"
.Fa "u_int mindwell"
.Fa "u_int maxdwell"
.Fa "u_int nssid"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scan_ssid ssids[]"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft int
.Fo ieee80211_check_scan
.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *"
.Fa "int flags"
.Fa "u_int duration"
.Fa "u_int mindwell"
.Fa "u_int maxdwell"
.Fa "u_int nssid"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scan_ssid ssids[]"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_check_scan_current "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_bg_scan "struct ieee80211vap *" "int"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan_any "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_scan_next "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_scan_done "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft int
.Fn ieee80211_probe_curchan "struct ieee80211vap *" "int"
.\"
.Ft void
.Fo ieee80211_add_scan
.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanparams *"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_frame *"
.Fa "int subtype"
.Fa "int rssi"
.Fa "int noise"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft void
.Fn ieee80211_scan_timeout "struct ieee80211com *"
.\"
.Ft void
.Fo ieee80211_scan_assoc_fail
.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *"
.Fa "const uint8_t mac[IEEE80211_ADDR_LEN]"
.Fa "int reason"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft void
.Fn ieee80211_scan_flush "struct ieee80211vap *"
.\"
.Ft void
.Fo ieee80211_scan_iterate
.Fa "struct ieee80211vap *"
.Fa "ieee80211_scan_iter_func"
.Fa "void *"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft void
.Fn ieee80211_scan_dump_channels "const struct ieee80211_scan_state *"
.\"
.Ft void
.Fo ieee80211_scanner_register
.Fa "enum ieee80211_opmode"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanner *"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft void
.Fo ieee80211_scanner_unregister
.Fa "enum ieee80211_opmode"
.Fa "const struct ieee80211_scanner *"
.Fc
.\"
.Ft void
.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister_all "const struct ieee80211_scanner *"
.\"
.Ft const struct ieee80211_scanner *
.Fn ieee80211_scanner_get "enum ieee80211_opmode"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm net80211
software layer provides an extensible framework for scanning.
Scanning is the procedure by which a station locates a BSS to join
(in infrastructure and IBSS mode), or a channel to use (when operating
as an AP or an IBSS master).
Scans are either
.Dq active
or
.Dq passive .
An active scan causes one or more ProbeRequest frames to be sent on
visiting each channel.
A passive request causes each channel in the scan set to be visited but
no frames to be transmitted; the station only listens for traffic.
Note that active scanning may still need to listen for traffic before
sending ProbeRequest frames depending on regulatory constraints.
.Pp
A scan operation involves constructing a set of channels to inspect
(the scan set),
visiting each channel and collecting information
(e.g. what BSS are present),
and then analyzing the results to make decisions such as which BSS to join.
This process needs to be as fast as possible so
.Nm net80211
does things like intelligently construct scan sets and dwell on a channel
only as long as necessary.
Scan results are cached and the scan cache is used to avoid scanning when
possible and to enable roaming between access points when operating
in infrastructure mode.
.Pp
Scanning is handled by pluggable modules that implement
.Em policy
per-operating mode.
The core scanning support provides an infrastructure to support these
modules and exports a common API to the rest of the
.Nm net80211
layer.
Policy modules decide what channels to visit, what state to record to
make decisions, and selects the final station/channel to return as the
result of a scan.
.Pp
Scanning is done synchronously when initially bringing a vap to
an operational state and optionally in the background to maintain
the scan cache for doing roaming and rogue AP monitoring.
Scanning is not tied to the
.Nm net80211
state machine that governs vaps except for linkage to the
.Dv IEEE80211_S_SCAN
state.
Only one vap at a time may be scanning; this scheduling policy
is handled in
.Fn ieee80211_new_state
and is transparent to scanning code.
.Pp
Scanning is controlled by a set of parameters that (potentially)
constrains the channel set and any desired SSID's and BSSID's.
.Nm net80211
comes with a standard scanner module that works with all available
operating modes and supports
.Dq background scanning
and
.Dq roaming
operation.
.Sh SCANNER MODULES
Scanning modules use a registration mechanism to hook into the
.Nm net80211
layer.
Use
.Fn ieee80211_scanner_register
to register a scan module for a particular operating mode and
.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister
or
.Fn ieee80211_scanner_unregister_all
to clear entries (typically on module unload).
Only one scanner module can be registered at any time for an operating mode.
.Sh DRIVER SUPPORT
Scanning operations are usually managed by the
.Nm net80211
layer.
Drivers must provide
.Vt ic_scan_start
and
.Vt ic_scan_stop
methods that are called at the start of a scan and when the
work is done; these should handle work such as enabling receive
of Beacon and ProbeResponse frames and disable any BSSID matching.
The
.Vt ic_set_channel
method is used to change channels while scanning.
.Nm net80211
will generate ProbeRequest frames and transmit them using the
.Nm ic_raw_xmit
method.
Frames received while scanning are dispatched to
.Nm net80211
using the normal receive path.
Devices that off-load scan work to firmware most easily mesh with
.Nm net80211
by operating on a channel-at-a-time basis as this defers control to
.Nm net80211's
scan machine scheduler.
But multi-channel scanning
is supported if the driver manually dispatches results using
.Fn ieee80211_add_scan
routine to enter results into the scan cache.
.Sh SCAN REQUESTS
Scan requests occur by way of the
.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_REQUEST
ioctl or through a change in a vap's state machine that requires
scanning.
In both cases the scan cache can be checked first and, if it is deemed
suitably
.Dq warm
then it's contents are used without leaving the current channel.
To start a scan without checking the cache
.Fn ieee80211_start_scan
can be called; otherwise
.Fn ieee80211_check_scan
can be used to first check the scan cache, kicking off a scan if
the cache contents are out of date.
There is also
.Fn ieee80211_check_scan_current
which is a shorthand for using previously set scan parameters for
checking the scan cache and then scanning.
.Pp
Background scanning is done using
.Fn ieee80211_bg_scan
in a co-routine fashion.
The first call to this routine will start a background scan that
runs for a limited period of time before returning to the BSS channel.
Subsequent calls advance through the scan set until all channels are
visited.
Typically these later calls are timed to allow receipt of
frames buffered by an access point for the station.
.Pp
A scan operation can be canceled using
.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan
if it was initiated by the specified vap, or
.Fn ieee80211_cancel_scan_any
to force termination regardless which vap started it.
These requests are mostly used by
.Nm net80211
in the transmit path to cancel background scans when frames are to be sent.
Drivers should not need to use these calls (or most of the calls described
on this page).
.Pp
The
.Fn ieee80211_scan_next
and
.Fn ieee80211_scan_done
routines do explicit iteration through the scan set and should
not normally be used by drivers.
.Fn ieee80211_probe_curchan
handles the work of transmitting ProbeRequest frames when visiting
a channel during an active scan.
When the channel attributes are marked with
.Dv IEEE80211_CHAN_PASSIVE
this function will arrange that before any frame is transmitted 802.11
traffic is first received (in order to comply with regulatory constraints).
.Pp
Min/max dwell time parameters are used to constrain time spent visiting
a channel.
The maximum dwell time constrains the time spent listening for traffic.
The minimum dwell time is used to reduce this time--when it is reached
and one or more frames have been received then an immediate channel
change will be done.
Drivers can override this behaviour through the
.Vt iv_scan_mindwell
method.
.Sh SCAN CACHE MANAGEMENT
The scan cache contents are managed by the scan policy module and
are opaque outside this module.
The
.Nm net80211
scan framework defines API's for interacting.
The validity of the scan cache contents are controlled by
.Vt iv_scanvalid
which is exported to user space through the
.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_VALID
request.
.Pp
The cache contents can be explicitly flushed with
.Fn ieee80211_scan_flush
or by setting the
.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_FLUSH
flag when starting a scan operation.
.Pp
Scan cache entries are created with the
.Fn ieee80211_add_scan
routine; usually on receipt of Beacon or ProbeResponse frames.
Existing entries are typically updated based on the latest information
though some information such as RSSI and noise floor readings may be
combined to present an average.
.Pp
The cache contents is aged through 
.Fn ieee80211_scan_timeout
calls.
Typically these happen together with other station table activity; every
.Dv IEEE80211_INACT_WAIT
seconds (default 15).
.Pp
Individual cache entries are marked usable with
.Fn ieee80211_scan_assoc_success
and faulty with
.Fn ieee80211_scan_assoc_fail
with the latter taking an argument to identify if there was no response
to Authentication/Association requests or if a negative response was
received (which might hasten cache eviction or blacklist the entry).
.Pp
The cache contents can be viewed using the
.Fn ieee80211_scan_iterate
call.
Cache entries are exported in a public format that is exported to user
applications through the
.Dv IEEE80211_SCAN_RESULTS
request.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ioctl 2 ,
.Xr ieee80211 9 .
.Xr ieee80211_proto 9