NAME
hostapd —
authenticator for IEEE 802.11
networks
SYNOPSIS
hostapd |
[-BdhKtv]
config-file ... |
DESCRIPTION
The
hostapd utility is an authenticator for IEEE 802.11
networks. It provides full support for WPA/IEEE 802.11i and can also act as an
IEEE 802.1X Authenticator with a suitable backend Authentication Server
(typically FreeRADIUS). The
hostapd utility implements the
authentication protocols that piggyback on top of the normal IEEE 802.11
protocol mechanisms. To use
hostapd as an authenticator, the
underlying device must support some basic functionality such as the ability to
set security information in the 802.11 management frames. Beware that not all
devices have this support.
The
hostapd utility is designed to be a “daemon”
program that runs in the background and acts as the backend component
controlling the wireless connection. It supports separate frontend programs
such as the text-based frontend,
hostapd_cli(8).
The following arguments must be specified on the command line:
-
-
- config-file
- Use the settings in the specified configuration file; the
name of the specified wireless interface is contained in this file. See
hostapd.conf(5) for a
description of the configuration file syntax.
Changes to the configuration file can be reloaded by sending a
SIGHUP
to the hostapd processor
or with the
hostapd_cli(8) utility,
using “hostapd_cli reconfigure
”.
OPTIONS
The options are as follows:
-
-
- -d
- Enable debugging messages. If this option is supplied
twice, more verbose messages are displayed.
-
-
- -h
- Show help text.
-
-
- -t
- Include timestamps in debugging output.
-
-
- -v
- Display version information on the terminal and exit.
-
-
- -B
- Detach from the controlling terminal and run as a daemon
process in the background.
-
-
- -K
- Include key information in debugging output.
SEE ALSO
ath(4),
athn(4),
atw(4),
awi(4),
bwi(4),
ipw(4),
iwi(4),
ral(4),
rtw(4),
rum(4),
run(4),
wi(4),
hostapd.conf(5),
hostapd_cli(8),
ifconfig(8)
HISTORY
The
hostapd utility first appeared in
NetBSD
4.0.
AUTHORS
The
hostapd utility was written by
Jouni
Malinen
<
jkmaline@cc.hut.fi>.
This manual page is derived from the
README file included in
the
hostapd distribution.