NAME

       irnet - IrNET protocol device

DESCRIPTION

       File  /dev/irnet is used to access and configure the IrNET protocol part of the Linux-IrDA
       stack.

       IrNET is a protocol allowing to create TCP/IP connections between two  IrDA  peers  in  an
       efficient  fashion,  and  generally  to enable standard networking over IrDA. It is a thin
       layer, passing PPP packets to IrTTP and vice versa.  It  uses  PPP  in  synchronous  mode,
       because  IrTTP offer a reliable sequenced packet service (as opposed to a byte stream). In
       fact, you could see IrNET as carrying TCP/IP in a IrDA socket, using PPP  to  provide  the
       glue.

       The  main  difference  with  traditional PPP over IrCOMM is that it avoids the framing and
       serial  emulation  which  are  a  performance  bottleneck.  It  also   allows   multipoint
       communications  in  a sensible fashion. And finally, it can automatically handle incomming
       connections through irnetd.

       The main difference with IrLAN is that we use PPP for the link management, which  is  more
       standard,  interoperable  and  flexible  than  the  IrLAN  protocol. For example, PPP adds
       authentication, encryption, compression, header compression and automated  routing  setup.
       And, as IrNET let PPP do the hard work, the implementation is much simpler than IrLAN.

       IrNET  connections  are  initiated and managed with pppd(8).  File /dev/irnet also offer a
       control channel.  Reads from /dev/irnet  will  return  various  IrNET  events.   Write  to
       /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection.

CONFIGURATION

       If  your  system  does  not  have  /dev/irnet  created already, it can be created with the
       following commands:

               mknod -m 644 /dev/irnet c 10 187
               chown root:root /dev/irnet

       You will also need to have IrNET support in your kernel or as module  and  the  Linux-IrDA
       stack installed and configured (see irattach(8)).

       File  /dev/irnet is supposed to only be used with the PPP line discipline or for accessing
       the control  channel,  other  use  are  unsupported.   IrNET  support  multiple  concurent
       connections (limited by the IrDA stack), all those connections are multiplexed on a single
       /dev/irnet device (as opposed to IrCOMM which as one device per connection).

PARAMETERS

       Writing commands to /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection  being  made.  This
       need to be done through pppd(8) (see below for examples). Commands are separated by comas.

       name <peer>
              Connect  to  the IrDA device which IrDA nickname is <peer>.  The IrDA nickname is a
              string up to 31 characters.

       daddr <peer>
              Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA address is <peer>.  The IrDA address is a  32
              bits hexadecimal number.

       raddr <port>
              Restrict connections to the local IrDA interface which IrDA address is <port>.  The
              IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal number.

DISPLAY

       Reading from /dev/irnet will show various IrNET events.  This is  usually  done  with  the
       command cat /dev/irnet.

       Found  Dump of the current IrNET discovery log.

       Discovered
              New IrNET device discovered.

       Expired
              Previously discovered IrNET device no longer present.

       Connected to
              This computer successfully established an IrNET connection to a peer.

       Connection from
              A peer successfully established an IrNET connection to this computer.

       Request from
              A  peer  attempted to connect to this computer, but no IrNET connection was waiting
              for it.

       No-answer from
              This computer attempted to connect to a peer, but no IrNET connection  was  waiting
              for it.

       Blocked link with
              The IrDA link of the IrNET connection is currently blocked.

       Disconnection from
              A peer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with this computer.

       Disconnected to
              This computer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with a peer.

       File  /proc/net/irda/irnet  will  also  show  the  current  state  of  the  various  IrNET
       connections.

EXAMPLE

       Start a IrNET server accepting any incomming connection:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock passive

       Start a IrNET client connecting to any IrDA peer:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock

       Start a IrNET client connecting to the IrDA peer called MyIrDANode:
            pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock connect "echo name MyIrDANode"

       Start a IrNET server accepting incomming connection from peer with IrDA address 0x12345678
       only on IrDA port 0x87654321:
            pppd  /dev/irnet  9600  local  noauth nolock passive connect "echo daddr 0x12345678 ,
       saddr 0x87654321"

AUTHOR

       Jean Tourrilhes - jt@hpl.hp.com

FILES

       /dev/irnet
       /proc/net/irda/irnet

SEE ALSO

       irda(7), irnetd(8), pppd(8), irattach(8), irdadump(8).