Topic: [noob] iwconfig or iw: can't get wifi info!

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Post #1

<Lork>

6 May 2013, 08:30

Hi to all!

I'm trying to do some experiment but i'm stucked.

I have a TP-Link WR842ND with OpenWrt well installed and operating.

Wifi is on as AP and i have one station linked as client (an android phone), so via LUCI i can see it and get infos about the link quality and signal strenght. All is ok.

luciwifi
http://montebue.altervista.org/luciinfo.PNG

Now i want to get these identical infos from shell but something doesn't work (i'm noob, maybe i do a mistake greater than an house!):

root@OpenWrt:~# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Master  Tx-Power=21 dBm
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on

root@OpenWrt:~# iw dev wlan0 station dump
Station 00:92:cc:04:95:0f (on wlan0)
        inactive time:  3590 ms
        rx bytes:       10763
        rx packets:     282
        tx bytes:       7627
        tx packets:     98
        tx retries:     3
        tx failed:      0
        signal:         -44 [-61, -44] dBm
        signal avg:     -43 [-59, -43] dBm
        tx bitrate:     43.3 MBit/s MCS 4 short GI
        rx bitrate:     24.0 MBit/s
        authorized:     yes
        authenticated:  yes
        preamble:       long
        WMM/WME:        yes
        MFP:            no
        TDLS peer:      no
root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/net/wireless
Inter-| sta-|   Quality        |   Discarded packets               | Missed | WE
 face | tus | link level noise |  nwid  crypt   frag  retry   misc | beacon | 22
 wlan0: 0000    0     0     0        0      0      0      0      0        0
root@OpenWrt:~#

With IWCONFIG and in /proc/net/wireless i can't get any information about connection!
Only using iw i can get some infos about each station linked.

Why i can't get the same infos as printed in LUCI, using iwconfig?

Many thanx!

Post #2

robthebrew

6 May 2013, 08:47

Does iwlist give any more info?
I have this thought in the back of my head that iwconfig is not fully implemented, or maybe differently to standard linux.
What is in /proc/net/wireless? (eg cat, ls, etc)

Post #3

<Lork>

6 May 2013, 08:56

iwlist doesn't give more information and seems that is not compatible (?)

root@OpenWrt:~# iwlist wlan0 txpower
wlan0     unknown transmit-power information.

In /proc/net/wireless as i posted before no result!!

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/net/wireless
Inter-| sta-|   Quality        |   Discarded packets               | Missed | WE
 face | tus | link level noise |  nwid  crypt   frag  retry   misc | beacon | 22
 wlan0: 0000    0     0     0        0      0      0      0      0        0

but in LUCI all data info are ok!!! how can i get it?

From iwconfig the same result...

root@OpenWrt:~# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Master  Tx-Power=21 dBm
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on

:-(

Post #4

jow

6 May 2013, 09:08

LuCI uses a custom library which assembles information from various places. You can install a CLI frontend to this library with "opkg update; opkg install iwinfo", then call "iwinfo wlan0"

Post #5

<Lork>

6 May 2013, 09:27

Many thanx jow, i have just done it:

root@OpenWrt:~# iwinfo wlan0 info
wlan0     ESSID: "Piane di Sopra"
          Access Point: F8:D1:11:BE:51:E4
          Mode: Master  Channel: 11 (2.462 GHz)
          Tx-Power: 21 dBm  Link Quality: 60/70
          Signal: -50 dBm  Noise: -95 dBm
          Bit Rate: 43.3 MBit/s
          Encryption: WPA2 PSK (CCMP)
          Type: nl80211  HW Mode(s): 802.11bgn
          Hardware: 168C:002E 168C:A199 [Generic MAC80211]
          TX power offset: unknown
          Frequency offset: unknown
          Supports VAPs: yes

Now i can get info and parse it for a sh script....but the question remains: why iwconfig and /proc/net/wireless don't work???
Thanx!

Post #6

jow

6 May 2013, 09:28

Because they use deprecated APIs which are scheduled for removal.

Post #7

<Lork>

6 May 2013, 10:04

Oh! now it's clear... someone in the next future will must update wiki reference to iwconfig.

Many many thanx!

--------
For anyone that came here trying use iwconfig to get quality link, this script will help:

#Read iwinfo return datas
reading=$(iwinfo wlan0 info | grep -i quality)
#Extract only interesting char
sig=${reading:42:2}
max=${reading:45:2}
qual=$((sig*100))
qual=$((qual/max))
echo Signal Quality WiFi $sig/$max = $qual%

Post #8

robthebrew

6 May 2013, 12:31

I added a quick note and a link to here in the wireless utilities wiki page.

Post #9

<Lork>

6 May 2013, 12:59

Perfect!
Thanx to all!

The discussion might have continued from here.

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