Wireless Networking #
Wireless networking is supported in OpenBSD and numerous chipsets are known to work. However, feature availability depends on the chipset-driver combination. An overview of the supported wireless chipsets for OpenBSD can be found here.
In case the system has a wireless chipset with out-of-the-box support, you can run the following command to show its capabilities. The media subcommand will display media capabilities like the various wifi modes (802.11a/b/g/n) as well as the operating modes like hostap (access point), ibss(Independent Basic Service Set or Ad-Hoc network), and monitor(aka Promiscuous mode).
$ ifconfig ath0 media
Some manufacturers do not allow the distribution of their firmware with the OpenBSD distribution and are hosted elsewhere. If the chipset is not recognised, try the fw_update -i command. This command should display any missing drivers if firmware is available.
Configuring Your Wireless Adapter #
Adapters based on supported chips can be used like any other network interface. To connect an OpenBSD system to an existing wireless network, use the ifconfig(8) utility. Joining a wireless network in OpenBSD is similar to joining wired networks. All configuration resides in the hostname.if file (e.g. hostname.ath0). The content would look something like:
nwid OpenNET
wpakey password
dhcp
The dhcp line needs to be last because it is unable to send a dhcp request until the network is configured.
Supported chipsets #
| Driver | Chipset |
|---|---|
| acx | TI ACX100/ACX111 IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| an | Aironet Communications 4500/4800 IEEE 802.11FH/b wireless network device |
| ath | Atheros IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device with GPIO |
| athn | Atheros IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network device |
| atu | Atmel AT76C50x USB IEEE 802.11b wireless network device |
| atw | ADMtek ADM8211 IEEE 802.11b wireless network device |
| bwfm | Broadcom and Cypress IEEE 802.11a/ac/b/g/n wireless network device |
| bwi | Broadcom AirForce IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
| ipw | Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 IEEE 802.11b wireless network device |
| iwi | Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| iwm | Intel 7000/8000/9000 IEEE 802.11a/ac/b/g/n wireless network devices |
| iwn | Intel WiFi Link and Centrino IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network devices |
| malo | Marvell Libertas IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
| otus | Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network device |
| pgt | Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| ral | Ralink Technology/MediaTek IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network device |
| rsu | Realtek RTL8188SU/RTL8192SU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device |
| rtw | Realtek RTL8180L IEEE 802.11b wireless network device |
| rtwn | Realtek RTL8188CE/RTL8188EE/RTL8192CE/RTL8723AE PCIe IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device |
| rum | Ralink Technology/MediaTek USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| run | Ralink Technology/MediaTek USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network device |
| uath | Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| upgt | Conexant/Intersil PrismGT SoftMAC USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
| ural | Ralink Technology/MediaTek USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
| urtw | Realtek RTL8187L/RTL8187B USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
| urtwn | Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8188EU/RTL8192CU/RTL8192EU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device |
| wi | WaveLAN/IEEE, PRISM 2-3, and Spectrum24 IEEE 802.11b wireless network device |
| wpi | Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device |
| zyd | ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device |
Access Point support #
| Driver | Chipset |
|---|---|
| acx | TI ACX100/ACX111 |
| ath | Atheros 802.11a/b/g |
| athn | Atheros 802.11/a/g/n devices |
| pgt | Conexant/Intersil Prism GT Full-MAC 802.11a/b/g |
| ral | and ural Ralink Technology RT25x0 802.11a/b/g |
| rtw | Realtek 8180 802.11b |
| rum | Ralink Technology RT2501USB |