NAME

     mwl — Marvell 88W8363 IEEE 802.11n wireless network driver

SYNOPSIS

     To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel
     configuration file:

           device mwl
           device mwlfw
           device wlan
           device firmware

     Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in
     loader.conf(5):

           if_mwl_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

     The mwl driver provides support for IEEE 802.11n wireless network adapters based on Marvell
     88W8363 parts.  PCI and/or CardBus interfaces are supported.

     This driver requires the firmware built with the mwlfw module to work.  Normally this module
     is loaded on demand by the driver but it may also be compiled into the kernel.

     Supported features include 802.11n, power management, BSS, MBSS, and host-based access point
     operation modes.  All host/device interaction is via DMA.

     The mwl driver encapsulates IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however it can receive
     either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.  Devices support 802.11n, 802.11a, 802.11g, and 802.11b
     operation with transmit speeds appropriate to each.  The actual transmit speed used is
     dependent on signal quality and the “rate control” algorithm implemented in the firmware.
     All chips have hardware support for WEP, AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
     operations.

     The driver supports station, hostap, mesh, and wds mode operation.  Multiple hostap virtual
     interfaces may be configured for simultaneous use.  When multiple interfaces are configured
     each may have a separate mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
     address assigned to the underlying device.  Any number of wds virtual interfaces may be
     configured together with hostap interfaces.  Multiple station interfaces may be operated
     together with hostap interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.  For more
     information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).

     Devices supported by the mwl driver come in either Cardbus or mini-PCI packages.  Wireless
     cards in Cardbus slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.

EXAMPLES

     Join an existing BSS network (ie: connect to an access point):

           ifconfig wlan create wlandev mwl0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
                   netmask 0xffffff00"

     Join a specific BSS network with network name “my_net”:

           ifconfig wlan create wlandev mwl0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
                   netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net"

     Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:

           ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev mwl0
           ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \
                   wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624

     Create an 802.11g host-based access point:

           ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev mwl0 wlanmode hostap
           ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \
                   mode 11g

     Create an 802.11a mesh station:

           ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev mwl0 wlanmode mesh
           ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24

     Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with WEP enabled and one with no
     security, and bridge them to the fxp0 (wired) device:

           ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev mwl0 wlanmode hostap \
                   ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \
                   mode 11a up
           ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev mwl0 wlanmode hostap bssid \
                   ssid freeloaders up
           ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up

DIAGNOSTICS

     mwl%d: unable to setup builtin firmware  There was a problem downloading and/or setting up
     the firmware.  The device is not usable.

     mwl%d: failed to setup descriptors: %d  There was a problem setting up the DMA data
     structures.  This typically is caused by not being able to allocate contiguous memory.

     mwl%d: transmit timeout  A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not
     complete in time.  This should not happen.

     mwl%d: device not present  A cardbus device was ejected while active; the request to the
     firmware was not completed.

SEE ALSO

     cardbus(4), intro(4), mwlfw(4), pci(4), wlan(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4),
     wlan_xauth(4), hostapd(8), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8)

HISTORY

     The mwl device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 8.0.

BUGS

     The driver does not support power-save operation in station mode; consequently power use is
     suboptimal (e.g. on a laptop).