What is wmatser0 interface?

blackhole · 2009-03-10 21:02:19

Hi there,

I've got a wired NIC and a wireless chip in my laptop. Here's my ifconfig output:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:C5:59:01:99                                                          
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                                                             
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                     
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0                                                   
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000                                                                           
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)                                                                 
          Interrupt:18                                                                                           

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:47 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:47 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:4291 (4.1 Kb)  TX bytes:4291 (4.1 Kb)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:CF:9A:30:1B
          inet addr:192.168.2.103  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::216:cfff:fe9a:301b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:316 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:281 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:276409 (269.9 Kb)  TX bytes:32888 (32.1 Kb)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-16-CF-9A-30-1B-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

I was wondering what the wmaster0 interface is. Where does it come from, what does it do?

TIA,
Blackhole

karenslfs · 2009-05-04 23:58:29

Clearly I can't help so apologies:-)

but I too would very much like to know what wmaster0 is or does, googled & all that but ?????

I'm using network.d (netcfg) maybe that creates it?? Why??

My wireless is working fine only issue is I can't get usage stats from open mesh.

I "suspect" that the auto creation of the "wmaster0" link is why I can't get Open Mesh to do user logging. i.e. bandwidth nor even the mac#. Is it possible that (notwithstanding iwconfig shows wmaster0 as having no wireless extensions but ifconfig shows it up & running??), Open Mesh is seeing the wmaster0 link not wlan0??

Below are some outputs & apart from the wmaster0 it seems normal??

Anyway any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Karen:-)

$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"OpenMesh"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz Access Point: 06:12:CF:81:76:A9
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=18 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Link Quality=95/100 Signal level=-26 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

$ ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:50 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:50 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3248 (3.1 Kb) TX bytes:3248 (3.1 Kb)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:14:78:EE:99:2F
inet addr:101.118.168.10 Bcast:101.118.168.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::214:78ff:feee:992f/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:108631 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:75789 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:144194197 (137.5 Mb) TX bytes:9338543 (8.9 Mb)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-14-78-EE-99-2F-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

$ iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 06:12:CF:81:76:A9
ESSID:"OpenMesh"
Mode:Master
Channel:5
Frequency:2.432 GHz (Channel 5)
Quality=76/100 Signal level=-24 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=000000094b2cc181

$ iwlist wmaster0 scan
wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

Xappe · 2009-05-05 01:52:51

From: http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Download

Lets clarify device names first. Regularly you should only see two new device names:
* wmaster0
* wlan0
The wmaster0 device is what we call the master device. The master device is an internal master device used only by mac80211. It should be ignored by users. If possible we will try to hide it from users later.
On distribution releases with old udev rules you may end up with strange network device names, for example, wlan0_rename. You may also end up with master device names such as eth3, when this was actually intended to be named wmaster0. This happens because master interface has the same MAC address as the real interface, and it is created first. The old udev rule, which keys on the MAC addres, may rename it to device names like eth3, for example. Then the real interface is created, udev sees that it has already renamed an interface with that MAC and gives it the wlan0_rename name.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-10 21:02:19

What is wmatser0 interface?

#2 2009-05-04 23:58:29

Re: What is wmatser0 interface?

#3 2009-05-05 01:52:51

Re: What is wmatser0 interface?

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