MWL(4)                 FreeBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual                 MWL(4)

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).

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6          July 8, 2009          FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6