NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

-A

Causes full interface alias information for each interface to be displayed.

-a

Causes ifconfig to print information on all interfaces. The protocol family may be specified as well. This is the default, if no parameters are given to ifconfig.

-C

Print the names of all network pseudo-devices that can be created dynamically at runtime using -ifconfigcreate.

-m

Print media information for a given interface. When combined with the -Aa options, additionally prints media information for all interfaces.

interface

The interface parameter is a string of the form “name unit”, for example, “en0”. If no optional parameters are supplied, this string can instead be just “name”. In this case, all interfaces of that type will be displayed. For example, “carp” will display the current configuration of all carp(4) interfaces.

address_family

Specifies the address family which affects interpretation of the remaining parameters. Since an interface can receive transmissions in differing protocols with different naming schemes, specifying the address family is recommended. The address or protocol families currently supported are “inet”, “inet6”, and “atalk”.

address

Internet version 4 and 6 addresses take the form of a host name present in the host name database, hosts(5); “dot” notation (IPv4); colon separated (IPv6); or CIDR notation.

AppleTalk (LLAP) addresses are specified as “nn.na” (“Network Number.Node Address”). Node addresses are divided into two classes: User Node IDs and Server Node IDs. 1\(en127($01\(en$7F) are for User Node IDs while 128\(en254($80\(en$FE) are used for Server Node IDs. Node 0($00) is not allowed (unknown) while Node 255($FF) is reserved for the AppleTalk broadcast hardware address (broadcast ID).

dest_address

Specify the address of the correspondent on the other end of a point-to-point link.

-alias

Establish an additional network address for this interface. This is sometimes useful when changing network numbers, and one wishes to accept packets addressed to the old interface.

-alias

A synonym for -delete. Use of this option is discouraged in favour of -delete.

-arp

Enable the use of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) in mapping between network level addresses and link level addresses (default). This is currently implemented for mapping between DARPA Internet addresses and Ethernet addresses.

-arp

Disable the use of ARP.

-broadcastaddr

(inet only) Specify the address to use to represent broadcasts to the network. The default broadcast address is the address with a host part of all 1's.

-create

Create the specified network pseudo-device. At least the following devices can be created on demand:

bridge(4), carp(4), gif(4), gre(4), lo(4), mpe(4), pflog(4), ppp(4), pppoe(4), sl(4), trunk(4), tun(4), vlan(4)

-debug

Enable driver-dependent debugging code; usually, this turns on extra console error logging.

-debug

Disable driver-dependent debugging code.

-delete

Remove the specified network address, including any netmask or destination address configured with this address.

-descriptionvalue

Specify a description of the interface. This can be used to label interfaces in situations where they may otherwise be difficult to distinguish.

--description

Clear the interface description.

-destroy

Destroy the specified network pseudo-device.

-down

Mark an interface “down”. When an interface is marked “down”, the system will not attempt to transmit messages through that interface. If possible, the interface will be reset to disable reception as well. This action automatically disables routes using the interface.

-groupgroup-name

Assign the interface to a “group”. Any interface can be in multiple groups.

For instance, such a group could be used to create a hardware independent pf(4) ruleset (i.e. not one based on the names of NICs) using existing (egress, carp, etc.) or user-defined groups.

Some interfaces belong to specific groups by default:

• All interfaces are members of the all interface group.
• Cloned interfaces are members of their interface family group. For example, a PPP interface such as ppp0 is a member of the ppp interface family group.
• The interface(s) the default route(s) point to are members of the egress interface group.
• IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces are members of the wlan interface group.
• Any interfaces used for network booting are members of the netboot interface group.

--groupgroup-name

Remove the interface from the given “group”.

-instanceminst

Set the media instance to minst. This is useful for devices which have multiple physical layer interfaces (PHYs). Setting the instance on such devices may not be strictly required by the network interface driver as the driver may take care of this automatically; see the driver's manual page for more information.

-ipdstaddr

This is used to specify an Internet host which is willing to receive IP packets encapsulating AppleTalk packets bound for a remote network. An apparent point-to-point link is constructed, and the address specified will be taken as the address and network of the destination. IP encapsulation of Connectionless Network Protocol (``CLNP'') packets is done differently.

-link[0-2]

Enable special processing of the link level of the interface. These three options are interface specific in actual effect; however, they are in general used to select special modes of operation. An example of this is to enable SLIP compression, or to select the connector type for some Ethernet cards. Refer to the man page for the specific driver for more information.

-link[0-2]

Disable special processing at the link level with the specified interface.

-lladdretheraddr

Change the link layer address (MAC address) of the interface. This should be specified as six colon-separated hex values.

-mediatype

Set the media type of the interface to type. Some interfaces support the mutually exclusive use of one of several different physical media connectors. For example, a 10Mb/s Ethernet interface might support the use of either AUI or twisted pair connectors. Setting the media type to “10base5” or “AUI” would change the currently active connector to the AUI port. Setting it to “10baseT” or “UTP” would activate twisted pair. Refer to the interface's driver-specific man page for a complete list of the available types, or use the following command for a listing of choices:

     $ ifconfig -m interface

-mediaoptopts

Set the specified media options on the interface. opts is a comma delimited list of options to apply to the interface. Refer to the interface's driver-specific man page for a complete list of available options, or use the following command for a listing of choices:

     $ ifconfig -m interface

-mediaopt opts

Disable the specified media options on the interface.

-metricnhops

Set the routing metric of the interface to nhops, default 0. The routing metric can be used by routing protocols. Higher metrics have the effect of making a route less favorable.

-modemode

If the driver for the interface supports the media selection system, set the specified operating mode on the interface to the given mode. For IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces that support multiple operating modes, this directive is used to select between 802.11a (“11a”), 802.11b (“11b”), and 802.11g (“11g”) operating modes.

-mtuvalue

Set the MTU for this device to the given value. Cloned routes will inherit this value as a default. Currently, not all devices support setting the MTU.

-netmaskmask

(inet and inet6) Specify how much of the address to reserve for subdividing networks into subnetworks. The mask includes the network part of the local address and the subnet part, which is taken from the host field of the address. The mask can be specified as a single hexadecimal number with a leading 0x, with a dot-notation Internet address, or with a pseudo-network name listed in the network table networks(5). The mask contains 1's for the bit positions in the 32-bit address which are to be used for the network and subnet parts, and 0's for the host part. The mask should contain at least the standard network portion, and the subnet field should be contiguous with the network portion.

-phasen

The argument n specifies the version (phase) of the AppleTalk network attached to the interface. Values of 1 or 2 are permitted.

-prefixlenn

(inet and inet6 only) Effect is similar to -netmask, but you can specify prefix length by digits.

-rangenetrange

Under AppleTalk, set the interface to respond to a netrange of the form “startnet-endnet”. AppleTalk uses this scheme instead of netmasks though OpenBSD implements it internally as a set of netmasks.

-rtlabelroute-label

(inet) Attach route-label to new network routes of the specified interface. Route labels can be used to implement policy routing; see route(4), route(8), and pf.conf(5).

--rtlabel

Clear the route label.

-timeslottimeslot_range

Set the timeslot range map, which is used to control which channels an interface device uses.

-up

Mark an interface “up”. This may be used to enable an interface after an -ifconfigdown. It happens automatically when setting the first address on an interface. If the interface was reset when previously marked down, the hardware will be re-initialized.

• carp(4)
• IEEE 802.11 (wireless devices)
• inet6(4)
• interface groups
• mpe(4)
• pfsync(4)
• pppoe(4)
• sppp(4) (PPP Link Control Protocol)
• trunk(4)
• tunnel .Pf ( Xr gif 4 and gre(4))
• vlan(4)

CARP

-advbasen

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, set the base advertisement interval to n seconds. This is an 8-bit number; the default value is 1 second.

-advskewn

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, skew the advertisement interval by n. This is an 8-bit number; the default value is 0.

-balancingmode

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, set the load balancing mode to mode. Valid modes are arp, ip, ip-stealth, and ip-unicast.

-carpnodesvhid:advskew,vhid:advskew,...

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, create a load balancing group consisting of up to 32 nodes. Each node is specified as a vhid:advskew tuple in a comma separated list.

-carpdeviface

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, attach it to iface. If not specified, the kernel will attempt to select an interface with a subnet matching that of the carp interface.

-carppeerpeer_address

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, send the carp advertisements to a specified point-to-point peer or multicast group instead of sending the messages to the default carp multicast group. The peer_address is the IP address of the other host taking part in the carp cluster. With this option, carp(4) traffic can be protected using ipsec(4) and it may be desired in networks that do not allow or have problems with IPv4 multicast traffic.

-carppeer

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, send the advertisements to the default carp multicast group.

-passpassphrase

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, set the authentication key to passphrase. There is no passphrase by default.

-statestate

Explicitly force the carp(4) pseudo-device to enter this state. Valid states are init, backup, and master.

-vhidn

If the driver is a carp(4) pseudo-device, set the virtual host ID to n. Acceptable values are 1 to 255.

IEEE 802.11 (WIRELESS DEVICES)

-M

Show the results of an access point scan. In Host AP mode, this will dump the list of known nodes without scanning.

-bssidbssid

Set the desired BSSID for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces.

-bssid

Unset the desired BSSID for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces. The interface will automatically select a BSSID in this mode, which is the default.

-chann

Set the channel (radio frequency) to be used for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces from the given channel ID n.

-chan

Unset the desired channel to be used for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces. It doesn't affect the channel to be created for IBSS or Host AP mode.

-nwflagflag

Set a specified flag for the wireless network interface. The flag name can be either "hidenwid" or "nobridge". The "hidenwid" flag will hide the network ID (ESSID) in beacon frames when operating in Host AP mode. It will also prevent responses to probe requests with an unspecified network ID. The "nobridge" flag will disable the direct bridging of frames between associated nodes when operating in Host AP mode. Setting this flag will block and filter direct inter-station communications.

Note that the "hidenwid" and "nobridge" options do not provide any security. The hidden network ID will be sent in clear text by associating stations and can be easily discovered with tools like tcpdump(8) and hostapd(8).

-nwflag flag

Remove a specified flag for the wireless network interface.

-nwidid

Configure network ID for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces. The id can either be any text string up to 32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits. The empty string allows the interface to connect to any available access points. Note that network ID is synonymous with Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).

-nwid

Set the network ID to the empty string to allow the interface to connect to any available access point.

-nwkeykey

Enable WEP encryption for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces using the specified key. The key can either be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by ֪x ’), or a set of keys of the form “n:k1,k2,k3,k4” where ‘n’ specifies which of the keys will be used for transmitted packets, and the four keys, “k1” through “k4”, are configured as WEP keys. If a set of keys is specified, a comma (‘\&,’) within the key must be escaped with a backslash. Note that if multiple keys are used, their order must be the same within the network. The length of each key must be either 40 bits, i.e. a 5-character string or 10 hexadecimal digits or 104 bits (13-character).

-nwkey

Disable WEP encryption for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces.

-nwkey-persist

Enable WEP encryption for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces with the persistent key stored in the network card.

-nwkey-persist:

Write key to the persistent memory of the network card, and enable WEP encryption for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces using that key.

-powersave

Enable 802.11 power saving mode.

-powersave

Disable 802.11 power saving mode.

-powersavesleepduration

Set the receiver sleep duration (in milliseconds) for 802.11 power saving mode.

-txpowerdBm

Set the transmit power for IEEE 802.11-based wireless network interfaces. The driver will disable any auto level and transmit power controls in this mode.

-txpower

Disable manual transmit power mode and enable any auto level and transmit power controls.

-wmm

Enable Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM). WMM is a Wi-Fi Alliance protocol based on the IEEE 802.11e standard and provides basic Quality of Service (QoS) features to Wi-Fi networks. For a station, this option enables the use of QoS if the access point supports it but it does not prevent the association to an access point not supporting QoS. In Host AP mode, this option allows QoS stations to negotiate QoS during association. Notice that not all drivers support QoS. Check the driver's manual page to know if this option is supported. QoS priorities can be defined using VLANs (see the -vlanprio option). Otherwise, the IEEE 802.11 layer will automatically assign priorities to frames based on the Differentiated Services Codepoint field of IP packets.

-wmm

Disable Wi-Fi Multimedia.

-wpa

Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access. WPA is a Wi-Fi Alliance protocol based on the IEEE 802.11i standard. It was designed to enhance the security of wireless networks. Notice that not all drivers support WPA. Check the driver's manual page to know if this option is supported.

-wpa

Disable Wi-Fi Protected Access.

-wpaakmsakm,akm,...

Set the comma-separated list of allowed authentication and key management protocols.

The supported values are “psk” and “802.1x”. psk authentication (also known as personal mode) uses a 256-bit pre-shared key. 802.1x authentication (also known as enterprise mode) is meant to be used with an external IEEE 802.1X authentication server. The default value is “psk,802.1x”. “psk” can only be used if a pre-shared key is configured using the -wpapsk option.

-wpacipherscipher,cipher,...

Set the comma-separated list of allowed pairwise ciphers.

The supported values are “tkip”, “ccmp”, and “usegroup”. usegroup specifies that no pairwise ciphers are supported and that only group keys should be used. The default value is “tkip,ccmp”. If multiple pairwise ciphers are specified, the pairwise cipher will be negotiated between the station and the access point at association time. A station will always try to use ccmp over tkip if both ciphers are allowed and supported by the access point. If the selected cipher is not supported by the hardware, software encryption will be used. Check the driver's manual page to know which ciphers are supported in hardware.

-wpagroupciphercipher

Set the group cipher to be used to encrypt broadcast and multicast traffic.

The supported values are “wep40”, “wep104”, “tkip”, and “ccmp”. The default value is “tkip”. The use of wep40 or wep104 as the group cipher is discouraged due to weaknesses in WEP. The -wpagroupcipher option is available in Host AP mode only. A station will always use the group cipher of the BSS.

-wpaprotosproto,proto,...

Set the comma-separated list of allowed WPA protocol versions.

The supported values are “wpa1” and “wpa2”. wpa1 is based on draft 3 of the IEEE 802.11i standard whereas wpa2 is based on the ratified standard. The default value is “wpa1,wpa2”. If “wpa1,wpa2” is specified, a station will always use the wpa2 protocol when supported by the access point.

-wpapskpsk

Set the 256-bit pre-shared key. The pre-shared key must be specified using a series of 64 hexadecimal digits (preceded by ֪x ’). The pre-shared key will be used only if “psk” authentication is allowed using the -wpaakms option. Pre-shared keys can be generated from passphrases using wpa-psk(8).

-wpapsk

Delete the pre-shared key. This will prevent “psk” authentication.

INET6

-anycast

Set the IPv6 anycast address bit.

-anycast

Clear the IPv6 anycast address bit.

-eui64

Fill the interface index (the lowermost 64th bit of an IPv6 address) automatically.

-pltimen

Set preferred lifetime for the address.

-tentative

Set the IPv6 tentative address bit.

-tentative

Clear the IPv6 tentative address bit.

-vltimen

Set valid lifetime for the address.

INTERFACE GROUPS

-g group-name

Specify the group.

-carpdemote[number]

Increase carp(4) demote count for given interface group by number. If number is omitted, it is increased by 1.

-carpdemote [number]

Decrease carp(4) demote count for given interface group by number. If number is omitted, it is decreased by 1.

MPE

-mplslabelmpls-label

If the interface is a mpe(4) pseudo-interface, set the MPLS label to mpls-label. This value is a 20-bit number which will be used as the MPLS header for packets entering the MPLS domain.

PFSYNC

-maxupdn

If the driver is a pfsync(4) pseudo-device, indicate the maximum number of updates for a single state which can be collapsed into one. This is an 8-bit number; the default value is 128.

-syncdeviface

If the driver is a pfsync(4) pseudo-device, use the specified interface to send and receive pfsync state synchronisation messages.

-syncdev

If the driver is a pfsync(4) pseudo-device, stop sending pfsync state synchronisation messages over the network.

-syncpeerpeer_address

If the driver is a pfsync(4) pseudo-device, make the pfsync link point-to-point rather than using multicast to broadcast the state synchronisation messages. The peer_address is the IP address of the other host taking part in the pfsync cluster. With this option, pfsync(4) traffic can be protected using ipsec(4).

-syncpeer

If the driver is a pfsync(4) pseudo-device, broadcast the packets using multicast.

PPPOE

-pppoeacaccess-concentrator

Set the name of the access-concentrator for the pppoe(4) interface.

-pppoeac

Clear a previously set access-concentrator name.

-pppoedevparent-interface

Set the name of the interface through which pppoe(4) packets will be transmitted and received.

-pppoesvcservice

Set the service name of the pppoe(4) interface.

-pppoesvc

Clear a previously set service name.

SPPP (PPP LINK CONTROL PROTOCOL)

-authkeykey

Set the client key or password for the PPP authentication protocol.

-authnamename

Set the client name for the PPP authentication protocol.

-authprotoproto

Set the PPP authentication protocol on the specified interface acting as a client. The protocol name can be either "chap", "pap", or "none". In the latter case, authentication will be turned off.

-peerflagflag

Set a specified PPP flag for the remote authenticator. The flag name can be either "callin" or "norechallenge". The "callin" flag will require the remote peer to authenticate only when he's calling in, but not when the peer is called by the local client. This is required for some peers that do not implement the authentication protocols symmetrically. The "norechallenge" flag is only meaningful with the CHAP protocol to not re-challenge once the initial CHAP handshake has been successful. This is used to work around broken peer implementations that can't grok being re-challenged once the connection is up.

-peerflag flag

Remove a specified PPP flag for the remote authenticator.

-peerkeykey

Set the authenticator key or password for the PPP authentication protocol.

-peernamename

Set the authenticator name for the PPP authentication protocol.

-peerprotoproto

Set the PPP authentication protocol on the specified interface acting as an authenticator. The protocol name can be either "chap", "pap", or "none". In the latter case, authentication will be turned off.

TRUNK

-trunkportchild-iface

If the driver is a trunk(4) pseudo-device, add the child-iface as a trunk port.

-trunkport child-iface

If the driver is a trunk(4) pseudo-device, remove the trunk port child-iface.

-trunkprotoproto

If the driver is a trunk(4) pseudo-device, set the trunk protocol. Refer to the interface's driver-specific man page for a complete list of the available protocols, or use the following for a listing of choices:

     $ ifconfig -m interface

TUNNEL

-deletetunnelsrc_addressdest_address

Remove the source and destination tunnel addresses.

-tunnelsrc_addressdest_address

Set the source and destination tunnel addresses on a tunnel interface, including gif(4). Packets routed to this interface will be encapsulated in IPv4 or IPv6, depending on the source and destination address families. Both addresses must be of the same family.

VLAN

-vlanvlan-tag

If the interface is a vlan(4) pseudo-interface, set the vlan tag value to vlan-tag. This value is a 12-bit number which is used to create an 802.1Q vlan header for packets sent from the vlan interface. This value cannot be changed once it is set for an interface.

-vlandevparent-interface

If the interface is a vlan(4) pseudo-device, associate physical interface iface with it. Packets transmitted through the vlan interface will be diverted to the specified physical interface iface with 802.1Q vlan encapsulation. Packets with 802.1Q encapsulation received by the parent interface with the correct vlan tag will be diverted to the associated vlan pseudo-interface. The vlan interface is assigned a copy of the parent interface's flags and the parent's Ethernet address. If -vlandev and -vlan are not set at the same time, the vlan tag will be inferred from the interface name, for instance -vlan5 will be assigned 802.1Q tag 5. If the vlan interface already has a physical interface associated with it, this command will fail. To change the association to another physical interface, the existing association must be cleared first.

Note: if the link0 flag is set on the vlan interface, the vlan pseudo-interface's behavior changes; link0 tells the vlan interface that the parent interface supports insertion and extraction of vlan tags on its own (usually in firmware) and that it should pass packets to and from the parent unaltered.

-vlandev

If the driver is a vlan(4) pseudo-device, disassociate the physical interface from it. This breaks the link between the vlan interface and its parent, clears its vlan tag, flags, and link address, and shuts the interface down.

-vlanpriovlan-priority

If the interface is a vlan(4) pseudo-interface, set the vlan priority value to vlan-priority. This value is a 3-bit number which is used to create an 802.1Q vlan header for packets sent from the vlan interface.

EXAMPLES

DIAGNOSTICS

SEE ALSO

HISTORY