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IFCONFIG(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual IFCONFIG(8) NAME ifconfig - configure network interface parameters SYNOPSIS ifconfig [-AaC] [-M lladdr] [interface] [address_family] [address [dest_address]] [parameters] DESCRIPTION The ifconfig utility is used to assign an address to a network interface and/or configure network interface parameters. Generally speaking, hostname.if(5) files are used at boot-time to define the network address of each interface present on a machine; ifconfig is used at a later time to redefine an interface's address or other operating parameters. ifconfig displays the current configuration for a network interface when no optional parameters are supplied. If a protocol family is specified, ifconfig will report only the details specific to that protocol family. If no parameters are provided, a summary of all interfaces is provided. Only the superuser may modify the configuration of a network interface. The following options are available: -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 ifconfig create. -M lladdr Scan the non-cloned interface list for the MAC address lladdr and print the name of that interface. If the MAC address is found on multiple interfaces, print nothing. 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". If an interface group of that name exists, all interfaces in the group will be shown. Otherwise all interfaces of the same type will be displayed (for example, "fxp" will display all fxp(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" and "inet6". address An Internet version 4 or 6 address. Valid formats are dot notation (IPv4), colon-separated (IPv6), CIDR notation, or a host name present in the host name database, hosts(5). dest_address Specify the address of the correspondent on the other end of a point-to-point link. The following parameters may be set with ifconfig: 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). -arp Disable the use of ARP. autoconf Set the AUTOCONF4 or AUTOCONF6 flag on the interface, depending on address_family. slaacd(8) automatically configures IPv6 addresses for interfaces with AUTOCONF6 set. dhcpleased(8) automatically configures IPv4 addresses (using DHCP protocol) for interfaces with AUTOCONF4 set. Automatically mark the interface as "up". -autoconf Unset the AUTOCONF4 or AUTOCONF6 flag on the interface, depending on address_family. broadcast addr (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. A list of devices which can be dynamically created may be shown with the -C option. debug Enable driver-dependent debugging code; usually, this turns on extra console error logging. -debug Disable driver-dependent debugging code. delete Remove the default inet address associated with the interface, including any netmask or destination address configured with it. An address and address family can be given to make the deletion more specific. descr[iption] value Specify a description of the interface. This can be used to label interfaces in situations where they may otherwise be difficult to distinguish. -descr[iption] 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. group group-name Assign the interface to a group. The group-name may not be longer than 15 characters and must not end with a digit. Any interface can be in multiple groups. For instance, 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. - pppx(4) interfaces are members of the "pppx" interface group. - The interfaces the default routes 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. -group group-name Remove the interface from the given group. hwfeatures Display the interface hardware features: CSUM_IPv4 The device supports IPv4 checksum offload. CSUM_TCPv4 As above, for TCP in IPv4 datagrams. CSUM_UDPv4 As above, for UDP. CSUM_TCPv6 As CSUM_TCPv4, but supports IPv6 datagrams. CSUM_UDPv6 As above, for UDP. LRO The device supports TCP large receive offload (LRO). TSOv4 The device supports IPv4 TCP segmentation offload (TSO). TSO is used by default. Use the sysctl(8) variable net.inet.tcp.tso to disable this feature. TSOv6 As above, for IPv6. VLAN_MTU The device can handle full sized frames, plus the size of the vlan(4) tag. VLAN_HWTAGGING On transmit, the device can add the vlan(4) tag. VLAN_HWOFFLOAD On transmit, the device can handle checksum or TSO offload without VLAN_HWTAGGING. WOL The device supports Wake on LAN (WoL). hardmtu The maximum MTU supported. -inet Remove all configured inet(4) addresses on the given interface. -inet6 Disable inet6(4) on the given interface and remove all configured inet6(4) addresses, including the link-local ones. This is the default. To turn inet6 on, use eui64 or autoconf, or assign any inet6 address. instance minst 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. 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 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. lladdr etheraddr|random Change the link layer address (MAC address) of the interface. This should be specified as six colon- separated hex values, or can be chosen randomly. llprio prio Set the priority for link layer communications (arp(4), bpf(4), pppoe(4)). media [type] Set the media type of the interface to type. If no argument is given, display a list of all available media. 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 interface media mediaopt opts 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 interface media -mediaopt opts Disable the specified media options on the interface. metric nhops 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. mode mode If the driver for the interface supports the media selection system, force the mode of the interface to the given mode. For IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces that support multiple modes, this directive is used to select between 802.11a ("11a"), 802.11b ("11b"), 802.11g ("11g"), 802.11n ("11n"), and 802.11ac ("11ac") modes. -mode Select the mode automatically. This is the default for IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces. monitor Enable monitor mode on the interface, preventing the processing of incoming packets by the network stack. -monitor Disable monitor mode on the interface, allowing the processing of incoming packets by the network stack. mpls Enable Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) on the interface, allowing it to send and receive MPLS traffic. -mpls Disable MPLS on the interface. mtu value Set the MTU for this device to the given value. Cloned routes inherit this value as a default. For Ethernet devices which support setting the MTU, a value greater than 1500 enables jumbo frames. The hardmtu output from hwfeatures shows the maximum supported MTU. netmask mask (inet and inet6 only) 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, or with a dot- notation Internet address. 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. prefixlen n (inet and inet6 only) Effect is similar to netmask, but you can specify prefix length by digits. priority n Set the interface routing priority to n. n is in the range of 0 to 15 with smaller numbers being better. The default priority of an interface is 0, except for IEEE 802.11 wireless interfaces (priority 4), umb(4) interfaces (priority 6), and carp(4) interfaces (priority 15). The default priority of newly connected routes (routes created by configuring an IP address on an interface) is calculated by adding 4 (RTP_CONNECTED) to the interface priority. The default priority of new static routes added to the kernel is calculated by adding 8 (RTP_STATIC) to the interface priority. rdomain rdomainid Attach the interface to the routing domain with the specified rdomainid. Interfaces in different routing domains are separated and cannot directly pass traffic between each other. It is therefore possible to reuse the same addresses in different routing domains. If the specified rdomain does not yet exist it will be created, including a routing table with the same id. By default all interfaces belong to routing domain 0. -rdomain Remove the interface from the routing domain and return it to routing domain 0. Any inet and inet6 addresses on the interface will also be removed. rtlabel route-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. staticarp If ARP is enabled, the host will only reply to requests for its addresses, and will never send any requests. -staticarp If ARP is enabled, the host will perform normally, sending out requests and listening for replies. transceiver Query and display information and diagnostics from GBIC and SFP modules installed in an interface. It is only supported by drivers implementing the necessary functionality on hardware which supports it. tcplro Enable TCP large receive offload (LRO) if it's supported by the hardware; see hwfeatures. LRO enabled network interfaces modify received TCP/IP packets. This will also affect traffic of upper layer interfaces, such as vlan(4), aggr(4), and carp(4). It is not possible to use LRO with interfaces attached to a bridge(4), veb(4), or tpmr(4). Changing this option will re-initialize the network interface. -tcplro Disable LRO. up Mark an interface "up". This may be used to enable an interface after an ifconfig down. 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. wol Enable Wake on LAN (WoL). When enabled, reception of a WoL frame will cause the network card to power up the system from standby or suspend mode. WoL frames are sent using arp(8). -wol Disable WoL. WoL is disabled at boot by the driver, if possible. BPE ifconfig bpe-interface [[-]parent parent-interface] [vnetid vnetid-tag] The following options are available for bpe(4) interfaces: parent parent-interface Associate the BPE interface with the interface parent-interface. -parent Disassociate from the parent interface. This breaks the link between the BPE interface and its parent. vnetid vnetid-tag Set the virtual network identifier tag value to vnetid-tag. This is a 24-bit value in the range 0 to 16777215. BRIDGE The following options are available for a bridge(4) interface: add interface Add interface as a member of the bridge. The interface is put into promiscuous mode so that it can receive every packet sent on the network. An interface can be a member of at most one bridge. addr Display the addresses that have been learned by the bridge. addspan interface Add interface as a span port on the bridge. autoedge interface Automatically detect the spanning tree edge port status on interface. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -autoedge interface Disable automatic spanning tree edge port detection on interface. autoptp interface Automatically detect the point-to-point status on interface by checking the full duplex link status. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -autoptp interface Disable automatic point-to-point link detection on interface. blocknonip interface Mark interface so that only IPv4, IPv6, ARP, and Reverse ARP packets are accepted from it or forwarded to it from other bridge member interfaces. -blocknonip interface Allow non-IPv4, IPv6, ARP, or Reverse ARP packets through interface. del interface Remove interface from the bridge. Promiscuous mode is turned off for the interface when it is removed from the bridge. deladdr address Delete address from the cache. delspan interface Delete interface from the list of span ports of the bridge. discover interface Mark interface so that packets are sent out of the interface if the destination port of the packet is unknown. If the bridge has no address cache entry for the destination of a packet, meaning that there is no static entry and no dynamically learned entry for the destination, the bridge will forward the packet to all member interfaces that have this flag set. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -discover interface Mark interface so that packets are not sent out of the interface if the destination port of the packet is unknown. Turning this flag off means that the bridge will not send packets out of this interface unless the packet is a broadcast packet, multicast packet, or a packet with a destination address found on the interface's segment. This, in combination with static address cache entries, prevents potentially sensitive packets from being sent on segments that have no need to see the packet. down Stop the bridge from forwarding packets. edge interface Set interface as a spanning tree edge port. An edge port is a single connection to the network and cannot create bridge loops. This allows a straight transition to forwarding. -edge interface Disable edge port status on interface. flush Remove all dynamically learned addresses from the cache. flushall Remove all addresses from the cache including static addresses. flushrule interface Remove all Ethernet MAC filtering rules from interface. fwddelay time Set the time (in seconds) before an interface begins forwarding packets. Defaults to 15 seconds, minimum of 4, maximum of 30. hellotime time Set the time (in seconds) between broadcasting spanning tree protocol configuration packets. Defaults to 2 seconds, minimum of 1, maximum of 2. This option is only supported in STP mode with rapid transitions disabled; see the proto command for setting the protocol version. holdcnt time Set the transmit hold count, which is the number of spanning tree protocol packets transmitted before being rate limited. Defaults to 6, minimum of 1, maximum of 10. ifcost interface num Set the spanning tree path cost of interface to num. Defaults to 55, minimum of 1, maximum of 200000000 in RSTP mode, and maximum of 65535 in STP mode. -ifcost interface Automatically calculate the spanning tree priority of interface based on the current link speed, interface status, and spanning tree mode. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. ifpriority interface num Set the spanning tree priority of interface to num. Defaults to 128, minimum of 0, maximum of 240. learn interface Mark interface so that the source address of packets received from the interface are entered into the address cache. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -learn interface Mark interface so that the source address of packets received from interface are not entered into the address cache. link0 Setting this flag stops all IP multicast packets from being forwarded by the bridge. -link0 Clear the link0 flag on the bridge interface. link1 Setting this flag stops all non-IP multicast packets from being forwarded by the bridge. -link1 Clear the link1 flag on the bridge interface. link2 Setting this flag causes all packets to be passed on to ipsec(4) for processing, based on the policies established by the administrator using the ipsecctl(8) command and ipsec.conf(5). If appropriate security associations (SAs) exist, they will be used to encrypt or decrypt the packets. Otherwise, any key management daemons such as isakmpd(8) that are running on the bridge will be invoked to establish the necessary SAs. These daemons have to be configured as if they were running on the host whose traffic they are protecting (i.e. they need to have the appropriate authentication and authorization material, such as keys and certificates, to impersonate the protected host(s)). -link2 Clear the link2 flag on the bridge interface. maxaddr size Set the address cache size to size. The default is 100 entries. maxage time Set the time (in seconds) that a spanning tree protocol configuration is valid. Defaults to 20 seconds, minimum of 6, maximum of 40. protected interface ids Put interface in protected domains. ids is a comma delimited list of domain IDs, between 1 and 31, to put the interface in. Interfaces that are part of a protected domain cannot forward traffic to any other interface in that domain. Interfaces do not belong to any protected domain by default. -protected interface Remove interface from all protected domains. proto value Force the spanning tree protocol version. The available values are rstp to operate in the default Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) mode or stp to force operation in Spanning Tree (STP) mode with rapid transitions disabled. ptp interface Set interface as a point-to-point link. This is required for straight transitions to forwarding and should be enabled for a full duplex link or a trunk(4) with at least two physical links to the same network segment. -ptp interface Disable point-to-point link status on interface. This should be disabled for a half duplex link and for an interface connected to a shared network segment, like a hub or a wireless network. rule block|pass [in | out] on interface [src lladdr] [dst lladdr] [tag tagname] [arp|rarp [request | reply] [sha lladdr] [spa ipaddr] [tha lladdr] [tpa ipaddr]] Add a filtering rule to an interface. Rules have a similar syntax to those in pf.conf(5). Rules can be used to selectively block or pass frames based on Ethernet MAC addresses or to tag packets for pf(4) to filter on. arp(4) packets can be matched with the arp keyword for regular packets and rarp for reverse arp. request and reply limit matches to requests or replies. The source and target host addresses can be matched with the sha and tha keywords, and the protocol addresses with spa and tpa. Rules are processed in the order in which they were added to the interface. The first rule matched takes the action (block or pass) and, if given, the tag of the rule. If no source or destination address is specified, the rule will match all frames (good for creating a catchall policy). rulefile filename Load a set of rules from the file filename. rules interface Display the active filtering rules in use on interface. spanpriority num Set the spanning priority of this bridge to num. Defaults to 32768, minimum of 0, maximum of 61440. static interface address Add a static entry into the address cache pointing to interface. Static entries are never aged out of the cache or replaced, even if the address is seen on a different interface. stp interface Enable spanning tree protocol on interface. -stp interface Disable spanning tree protocol on interface. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. timeout time Set the timeout, in seconds, for addresses in the cache to time. The default is 240 seconds. If time is set to zero, then entries will not be expired. up Start the bridge forwarding packets. CARP ifconfig carp-interface [advbase n] [advskew n] [balancing mode] [carpnodes vhid:advskew,vhid:advskew,...] [carpdev iface] [[-]carppeer peer_address] [pass passphrase] [state state] [vhid host-id] The following options are available for a carp(4) interface: advbase n Set the base advertisement interval to n seconds. Acceptable values are 0 to 254; the default value is 1 second. advskew n Skew the advertisement interval by n. Acceptable values are 0 to 254; the default value is 0. balancing mode Set the load balancing mode to mode. Valid modes are ip, ip-stealth, and ip-unicast. carpnodes vhid:advskew,vhid:advskew,... 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. carpdev iface Attach to parent interface iface. carppeer peer_address 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 Send the advertisements to the default carp multicast group. pass passphrase Set the authentication key to passphrase. There is no passphrase by default. state state Explicitly force the interface to enter this state. Valid states are init, backup, and master. vhid n Set the virtual host ID to n. Acceptable values are 1 to 255. Taken together, the advbase and advskew indicate how frequently, in seconds, the host will advertise the fact that it considers itself master of the virtual host. The formula is advbase + (advskew / 256). If the master does not advertise within three times this interval, this host will begin advertising as master. IEEE 802.11 (WIRELESS DEVICES) ifconfig wireless-interface [[-]bssid bssid] [[-]chan [n]] [[-]join id] [[-]joinlist] [[-]nwflag flag] [[-]nwid id] [[-]nwkey key] [[-]powersave [duration]] [scan] [[-]wpa] [wpaakms akm,akm,...] [wpaciphers cipher,cipher,...] [wpagroupcipher cipher] [[-]wpakey passphrase | hexkey] [wpaprotos proto,proto,...] The following options are available for a wireless interface: bssid bssid Set the desired BSSID. -bssid Unset the desired BSSID. The interface will automatically select a BSSID in this mode, which is the default. chan [n] Set the channel (radio frequency) to n. With no channel specified, show the list of channels supported by the device. -chan Unset the desired channel. It doesn't affect the channel to be created for IBSS or Host AP mode. join id Add the network with ESSID id to the join list. The interface will automatically attempt to connect to networks on this list if they are found during a scan. The id can either be a printable ASCII string up to 32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits preceded by "0x". If id is the empty string ("") and none of the networks on the join list are found during a scan, the interface will automatically connect to any available networks, provided they do not require WEP or WPA authentication. Apart from the id, the join list will record wpakey, wpaprotos, or nwkey parameters for the network, provided they are passed in the same invocation of ifconfig. Because multiple access points may exist in a given network, the mode (11a/11b/11g/11n/11ac), chan, and bssid parameters cannot be stored with join. However, they may be used separately to force the selection of a particular access point when the automatic access point selection turns out to be suboptimal. join and nwid cannot be used together in the same invocation of ifconfig. -join id Remove the network with ESSID id from the join list and disconnect the interface from the access point if it is currently connected to this network. The interface will keep scanning for access points as long as it remains marked as "up". A new connection will be established either if a network on the join list is found during the scan or if a network ID is configured with nwid. joinlist Show the list of networks stored on the join list. -joinlist Remove all networks from the join list. nwflag flag Set specified flag. The flag name can be: hidenwid 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. nobridge 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. nomimo The `nomimo' flag will disable MIMO reception and transmission even if the driver and wireless network device support MIMO. This flag can be used to work around packet loss in 11n mode if the wireless network device has unused antenna connectors. stayauth The `stayauth' flag will cause the interface to ignore deauth frames. This flag should only be used on wifi networks which are being attacked with spoofed deauth frames. It breaks interoperability with spectrum management solutions and access points that perform band-steering of clients. 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 specified flag. nwid id Connect to the network with NWID/ESSID id. The id can either be a printable ASCII string up to 32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits preceded by "0x". Unlike join, the nwid option only allows one network to be configured at a time. The nwid option may not be used together with join in the same invocation of ifconfig but may be used to momentarily override the automatic selection of networks stored in the join list. -nwid Clear the network ID configured with nwid and disconnect the interface from the access point if it is currently connected to this network. The interface will keep scanning for access points as long as it remains marked as "up". A new connection will be established either if a network on the join list is found during the scan or if a network ID is configured with nwid. nwkey key Enable WEP encryption using the specified key. The key can either be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by `0x'), 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 for 64-bit encryption (5-character ASCII string or 10 hexadecimal digits) or 104 bits for 128-bit encryption (13-character ASCII string or 26 hexadecimal digits). -nwkey Disable WEP encryption. nwkey persist Enable WEP encryption using the persistent key stored in the network card. nwkey persist:key Write key to the persistent memory of the network card, and enable WEP encryption using that key. powersave Enable 802.11 power saving mode. This option is generally only relevant to older devices where power saving is disabled by default. On modern hardware, drivers will ask the firmware to automatically enable any applicable power-saving features. -powersave Disable 802.11 power saving mode. scan Show the results of an access point scan. In Host AP mode, this will dump the list of known nodes without scanning. In station mode, this will list each access point's SSID, channel, MAC address (BSSID), received signal strength indicator, maximum data transfer rate, and supported feature flags. If an access point cannot be selected due to incompatibilities with the interface configuration, ifconfig indicates mismatching configuration items with an exclamation mark. Because the list of access points is continuously updated while a scan is in progress, scan may sometimes show incomplete scan results. Some interfaces support scanning in the background while remaining associated to the current access point. The superuser may use scan to trigger a background scan while associated, which will update the scan result list and also trigger a search for a better access point to roam to. 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. wpaakms akm,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 used with an external IEEE 802.1X authentication server, such as wpa_supplicant. The default value is "psk". "psk" can only be used if a pre-shared key is configured using the wpakey option. wpaciphers cipher,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 "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. wpagroupcipher cipher Set the group cipher used to encrypt broadcast and multicast traffic. The supported values are "wep40", "wep104", "tkip", and "ccmp". The default value is "ccmp". The use of tkip or wep40 or wep104 as the group cipher is discouraged due to weaknesses in TKIP and WEP. The wpagroupcipher option is available in Host AP mode only. A station will always use the group cipher of the BSS. wpakey passphrase | hexkey Set the WPA key and enable WPA. The key can be given using either a passphrase or a full length hex key, starting with 0x. If a passphrase is used the nwid or join option must first be specified, since ifconfig will hash the nwid along with the passphrase to create the key. -wpakey Delete the pre-shared WPA key and disable WPA. wpaprotos proto,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 "wpa2". If "wpa1,wpa2" is specified, a station will always use the wpa2 protocol when supported by the access point. INET6 ifconfig interface inet6 [[-]anycast] [[-]temporary] [eui64] [pltime n] [[-]soii] [[-]tentative] [vltime n] The following options are available for an ip6(4) interface: anycast Set the IPv6 anycast address bit. -anycast Clear the IPv6 anycast address bit. temporary Enable temporary address extensions for stateless IPv6 address autoconfiguration (RFC 8981) on the interface. These extensions are enabled by default. The purpose of these extensions is to prevent tracking of individual devices which connect to the IPv6 internet from different networks using stateless autoconfiguration. The interface identifier often remains constant and provides the lower 64 bits of an autoconfigured IPv6 address, facilitating tracking of individual devices (and hence, potentially, users of these devices) over long periods of time (weeks to months to years). When these extensions are active, random interface identifiers are used for autoconfigured addresses. Autoconfigured addresses are also made temporary, which means that they will automatically be replaced regularly. Temporary addresses are deprecated after 24 hours. Once a temporary address has been deprecated, a new temporary address will be configured upon reception of a router advertisement indicating that the prefix is still valid. Deprecated addresses will not be used for new connections as long as a non-deprecated address remains available. Temporary addresses become invalid after another 24 hours, at which time they will be removed from the interface. -temporary Disable IPv6 autoconf temporary address extensions on the interface. Currently configured addresses will not be removed until they become invalid. eui64 Fill the interface index (the lowermost 64 bits of an IPv6 address) automatically. pltime n Set preferred lifetime for the address, in seconds. soii Enable persistent Semantically Opaque Interface Identifiers (SOIIs), as per RFC 7217, for SLAAC addresses on the interface. The purpose of these identifiers is to make discovery of hosts by scanning a whole prefix more difficult. SOIIs use the whole 64 bits of the host part while SLAAC addresses are formed from MAC addresses which can lower the entropy to 24 bits if the host is running in a virtualization environment or the hardware manufacturer is known. See RFC 7721 and RFC 8064 for details. SOIIs are enabled by default. -soii Disable IPv6 persistent Semantically Opaque Interface Identifiers on the interface. Currently configured addresses will not be removed until they become invalid. tentative Set the IPv6 tentative address bit. -tentative Clear the IPv6 tentative address bit. vltime n Set valid lifetime for the address, in seconds. INTERFACE GROUPS ifconfig -g group-name [[-]carpdemote [number]] The following options are available for interface groups: -g group-name Specify the group. carpdemote [number] Increase carp(4) demotion counter for given interface group by number. Acceptable values are 0 to 128. If number is omitted, it is increased by 1. The maximum value for a demotion counter is 255. -carpdemote [number] Decrease carp(4) demotion counter for given interface group by number. Acceptable values are 0 to 128. If number is omitted, it is decreased by 1. MPLS ifconfig mpls-interface [[-]mplslabel mpls-label] [[-]pwecw] [[-]pwefat] [[-]pweneighbor mpls-label neighbor] [[-]tunneldomain rdomain] The following options are available for mpe(4), mpip(4), and mpw(4) interfaces: mplslabel mpls-label Set the local MPLS label to mpls-label. MPLS packets sent to this label on the local system will be decapsulated for input. An MPLS label is a 20-bit number. Labels 0 to 15 inclusive are reserved labels and cannot be used. -mplslabel Unset the local MPLS label. tunneldomain rdomain Use the routing domain rdomain for MPLS transit. The MPLS encapsulated traffic does not need to terminate in the same routing domain as the interface itself. -tunneldomain Use the default routing domain 0 for MPLS transit. The following options are available for the mpip(4) and mpw(4) interfaces that provide MPLS Pseudowire Emulation Edge-to-Edge (PWE3) functionality: pwecw Enable the use of the PWE3 Control Word. -pwecw Disable the use of the PWE3 Control Word. pwefat Enable the use of the Flow-Aware Transport (FAT) flow label. -pwefat Disable the use of the Flow-Aware Transport (FAT) flow label. pweneighbor mpls-label neighbor Use mpls-label and neighbor as the remote MPLS label and neighbor respectively. Remote MPLS labels have the same restrictions on values as local MPLS labels. -pweneighbor Unset the remote MPLS label and neighbor. PAIR ifconfig pair-interface [[-]patch interface] The following options are available for a pair(4) interface: patch interface Connect the interface with a second pair(4) interface. Any outgoing packets from the first pair-interface will be received by the second interface, and vice versa. This makes it possible to interconnect two routing domains locally. -patch If configured, disconnect the interface pair. PFLOW ifconfig pflow-interface [[-]flowdst addr:port] [[-]flowsrc addr[:port]] [pflowproto n] The following options are available for a pflow(4) interface: flowdst addr:port Set the receiver address and the port for pflow(4) packets. Both must be defined to export pflow data. addr is the IP address and port is the port number of the flow collector. Pflow data will be sent to this address/port. -flowdst Unset the receiver address and stop sending pflow data. flowsrc addr[:port] Set the source IP address for pflow packets. addr is the IP address used as sender of the UDP packets and may be used to identify the source of the data on the pflow collector. -flowsrc Unset the source address. pflowproto n Set the protocol version. The default is version 5. PFSYNC ifconfig pfsync-interface [[-]defer]maxupd n] [[-]syncdev iface] [[-]syncpeer peer_address] The following options are available for a pfsync(4) interface: defer Defer transmission of the first packet in a state until a peer has acknowledged that the associated state has been inserted. See pfsync(4) for more information. -defer Do not defer the first packet in a state. This is the default. maxupd n 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. syncdev iface Use the specified interface to send and receive pfsync state synchronisation messages. -syncdev Stop sending pfsync state synchronisation messages over the network. syncpeer peer_address 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 Broadcast the packets using multicast. PPPOE ifconfig pppoe-interface [authkey key] [authname name] [authproto proto] [[-]peerflag flag] [peerkey key] [peername name] [peerproto proto] [[-]pppoeac access-concentrator] [pppoedev parent-interface] [[-]pppoesvc service] pppoe(4) uses the sppp(4) "generic" SPPP framework. Any options not described in the section immediately following are described in the SPPP section, below. The following options are available for a pppoe(4) interface: pppoeac access-concentrator Set the name of the access-concentrator. -pppoeac Clear a previously set access-concentrator name. pppoedev parent-interface Set the name of the interface through which packets will be transmitted and received. pppoesvc service Set the service name of the interface. -pppoesvc Clear a previously set service name. SPPP (PPP LINK CONTROL PROTOCOL) ifconfig sppp-interface [authkey key] [authname name] [authproto proto] [[-]peerflag flag] [peerkey key] [peername name] [peerproto proto] The following options are available for an sppp(4) or pppoe(4) interface: authkey key Set the client key or password for the PPP authentication protocol. authname name Set the client name for the PPP authentication protocol. authproto proto 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. peerflag flag 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. peerkey key Set the authenticator key or password for the PPP authentication protocol. peername name Set the authenticator name for the PPP authentication protocol. peerproto proto 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. TPMR ifconfig tpmr-interface [add child-iface] [del child-iface] [[-]link0] [[-]link1] [[-]link2] The following options are available for a tpmr(4) interface: add child-iface Add child-iface as a member. del child-iface Remove the member child-iface. link0 Disable the filtering of Ethernet frames destined for the TPMR component reserved addresses, as specified by IEEE 802.1Q. -link0 Enable the filtering of Ethernet frames destined for the TPMR component reserved addresses, as specified by IEEE 802.1Q. This is the default. link1 Disable the filtering of IPv4 and IPv6 packets with pf(4). -link1 Enable the filtering of IPv4 and IPv6 packets with pf(4). This is the default. link2 Disable the filtering of 802.1Q VLAN and QinQ SVLAN packets. -link2 Enable the filtering of 802.1Q VLAN and QinQ SVLAN packets. This is the default. TRUNK (LINK AGGREGATION) ifconfig trunk-interface [lacpmode active|passive] [lacptimeout fast|slow] [[-]trunkport child-iface] [trunkproto proto] The following options are available for aggr(4) and trunk(4) interfaces: lacpmode active|passive Set the LACP trunk mode to either active (default) or passive. lacptimeout fast|slow Set the LACP timeout speed to either fast or slow (default). trunkport child-iface Add child-iface as a trunk port. -trunkport child-iface Remove the trunk port child-iface. trunkproto proto Set the link aggregation protocol on trunk(4) interfaces. Refer to trunk(4) for a complete list of the available protocols. TUNNEL ifconfig tunnel-interface [[-]endpoint dest_address dest_mac] [[-]keepalive period count] [[-]parent parent-interface] [rxprio prio] [[-]tunnel src_address dest_address] [tunneladdr src_address] [[-]tunneldf] [[-]tunneldomain rtable] [tunnelttl ttl] [txprio prio] [[-]vnetflowid] [[-]vnetid network-id] egre(4), eoip(4), etherip(4), gif(4), gre(4), mgre(4), nvgre(4), and vxlan(4) are all tunnel interfaces. The following options are available: endpoint dest_address dest_mac When vxlan(4) is in endpoint mode, set the tunnel endpoint dest_address where dest_mac MAC address can be reached. -endpoint dest_mac When vxlan(4) is in endpoint mode, remove the tunnel endpoint for dest_mac MAC address. keepalive period count Enable gre(4) and eoip(4) keepalive with a packet sent every period seconds. A second timer is run with a timeout of count * period. If no keepalive response is received during that time, the link is considered down. The minimal usable count is 2 since the round-trip time of keepalive packets needs to be accounted for. -keepalive Disable the gre(4) keepalive mechanism. parent parent-interface Associate the nvgre(4) interface with the interface parent-interface. -parent Disassociate from the parent interface. This breaks the link between the nvgre(4) interface and its parent. rxprio prio Configure the source used for the packet priority when decapsulating a packet. The value can be a priority number from 0 to 7, or packet to use the priority currently set on the packet. If supported by the interface, the value may also be set to outer to have the priority field copied from the tunnel protocol headers, or payload to have the priority field copied from the encapsulated protocol headers. tunnel src_address dest_address[:dest_port] Set the source and destination tunnel addresses on a tunnel interface. 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. The optional destination port can be specified for interfaces such as vxlan(4), which further encapsulate the packets in UDP datagrams. This directive is incompatible with tunneladdr. -tunnel Remove the source and destination tunnel addresses. tunneladdr src_address Set the outer IP address of the tunnel. This is useful for point-to-multipoint tunnels where peers are in different subnets like vxlan(4) endpoint mode or mgre(4). It is incompatible with the tunnel directive. tunneldf Do not allow fragmentation of encapsulated packets. -tunneldf Allow fragmentation of encapsulated packets. tunneldomain rtable Use routing table rtable instead of the default table. The tunnel does not need to terminate in the same routing domain as the interface itself. rtable can be set to any valid routing table ID; the corresponding routing domain is derived from this table. -tunneldomain Use the default routing table and routing domain 0. tunnelttl ttl Set the IP or multicast TTL of the tunnel packets. If supported by the tunnel protocol, the value can also be set to copy to have the TTL copied between the encapsulated protocol headers and the tunnel protocol headers. txprio prio Configure the value used for the priority field in the tunnel protocol headers. The value can be a priority number from 0 to 7, or packet to use the priority currently set on the packet. If supported by the interface, the value can also be set to payload to have the priority field copied from the encapsulated protocol headers to the tunnel protocol headers. vnetflowid Use a portion of the virtual network identifier space for a flow identifier. This allows load balancing of the encapsulated traffic over multiple links. -vnetflowid Disable the use of a flow identifier in the virtual network identifier. vnetid network-id Set the virtual network identifier. This is a number which is used by tunnel protocols such as eoip(4) and vxlan(4) to identify packets with a virtual network. The accepted size of the number depends on the individual tunnel protocol; it is a 16-bit number for eoip(4), and a 24-bit number for vxlan(4). If supported by the tunnel protocol, the value can also be set to any to accept packets with arbitrary network identifiers (for example for multipoint-to-multipoint modes). -vnetid Clear the virtual network identifier. UMB ifconfig umb-interface [[-]apn apn] [chgpin oldpin newpin] [[-]class class,class,...] [pin pin] [puk puk newpin] [[-]roaming] The following options are available for a umb(4) interface: apn apn Set the Access Point Name (APN) required by the network provider. -apn Clear the current APN. chgpin oldpin newpin Permanently change the PIN of the SIM card from the current value oldpin to newpin. class List all available cell classes. class class,class,... Set the preferred cell classes. Apart from those listed by class the following aliases can be used: 4G, 3G, and 2G. -class Clear any cell class preferences. down Marking the interface as "down" will terminate any existing data connection and deregister with the service provider. pin pin Enter the PIN required to unlock the SIM card. Most SIM cards will not be able to establish a network association without providing a PIN. puk puk newpin Sets the PIN of the SIM card to newpin using the PUK puk to validate the request. roaming Enable data roaming. -roaming Disable data roaming. up As soon as the interface is marked as "up", the umb(4) device will try to establish a data connection with the service provider. VEB ifconfig veb-interface [add child-iface] [addspan child-iface] [del child-iface] [deladdr address] [delspan child-iface] [[-]discover child-iface] [flushrule interface] [[-]learn child-iface] [[-]link0] [[-]link1]maxaddr size] [[-]protected child-iface ids] [rule filtering-rule] [rulefile filename] [rules interface] [static interface address] [timeout time] [up] The following options are available for a veb(4) interface: add child-iface Add child-iface as a member. addspan child-iface Add child-iface as a span port on the bridge. del child-iface Remove the member child-iface. deladdr address Delete address from the cache. delspan child-iface Delete child-iface from the list of span ports of the bridge. discover child-iface Mark child-iface so that packets are sent out of the interface if the destination port of the packet is unknown. If the bridge has no address cache entry for the destination of a packet, meaning that there is no static entry and no dynamically learned entry for the destination, the bridge will forward the packet to all member interfaces that have this flag set. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -discover child-iface Mark child-iface so that packets are not sent out of the interface if the destination port of the packet is unknown. Turning this flag off means that the bridge will not send packets out of this interface unless the packet is a broadcast packet, multicast packet, or a packet with a destination address found on the interface's segment. This, in combination with static address cache entries, prevents potentially sensitive packets from being sent on segments that have no need to see the packet. flushrule interface Remove all Ethernet MAC filtering rules from interface. learn child-iface Mark child-iface so that the source address of packets received from the interface are entered into the address cache. This is the default for interfaces added to the bridge. -learn child-iface Mark child-iface so that the source address of packets received from interface are not entered into the address cache. link0 Disable the filtering of 802.1Q VLAN and QinQ SVLAN packets. -link0 Enable the filtering of 802.1Q VLAN and QinQ SVLAN packets. This is the default. link1 Enable the filtering of IPv4 and IPv6 packets with pf(4). -link1 Disable the filtering of IPv4 and IPv6 packets with pf(4). This is the default. protected child-iface ids Put child-iface in protected domains. ids is a comma delimited list of domain IDs, between 1 and 31, to put the interface in. Interfaces that are part of a protected domain cannot forward traffic to any other interface in that domain. Interfaces do not belong to any protected domain by default. -protected child-iface Remove child-iface from all protected domains. maxaddr size Set the address cache size to size. The default is 100 entries. rule block|pass [in | out] on interface [src lladdr] [dst lladdr] [tag tagname] [arp|rarp [request | reply] [sha lladdr] [spa ipaddr] [tha lladdr] [tpa ipaddr]] Add a filtering rule to an interface. Rules have a similar syntax to those in pf.conf(5). Rules can be used to selectively block or pass frames based on Ethernet MAC addresses or to tag packets for pf(4) to filter on. arp(4) packets can be matched with the arp keyword for regular packets and rarp for reverse arp. request and reply limit matches to requests or replies. The source and target host addresses can be matched with the sha and tha keywords, and the protocol addresses with spa and tpa. Rules are processed in the order in which they were added to the interface. The first rule matched takes the action (block or pass) and, if given, the tag of the rule. If no source or destination address is specified, the rule will match all frames (good for creating a catchall policy). rulefile filename Load a set of rules from the file filename. rules interface Display the active filtering rules in use on interface. static interface address Add a static entry into the address cache pointing to interface. Static entries are never aged out of the cache or replaced, even if the address is seen on a different interface. timeout time Set the timeout, in seconds, for addresses in the cache to time. The default is 240 seconds. If time is set to zero, then entries will not be expired. up Start forwarding packets. VLAN ifconfig vlan-interface [[-]parent parent-interface] [rxprio prio] [txprio prio] [[-]vnetid vlan-tag] The following options are available for vlan(4) and svlan(4) VLAN interfaces: parent parent-interface Associate the VLAN interface with the interface parent-interface. Packets transmitted on vlan(4) or svlan(4) interfaces will be tagged with 802.1Q or 802.1ad headers respectively and transmitted on the specified parent interface. Packets with 802.1Q or 802.1ad tags received by the parent interface with the specified VLAN tag will be diverted to the associated VLAN interface. Unless a custom Ethernet address is assigned to the VLAN interface, it will inherit a copy of the parent interface's Ethernet address. -parent Disassociate from the parent interface. This breaks the link between the VLAN interface and its parent. rxprio prio Set the value used for the packet priority field. Values may be from 0 to 7, packet to maintain the current packet priority, or outer to use the priority field in the 802.1Q or 802.1ad headers. txprio prio Set the value used for the priority field in the 802.1Q or 802.1ad headers. Values may be from 0 to 7, or packet to use the priority of packets transmitted on the interface. vnetid vlan-tag Set the VLAN tag value to vlan-tag. This value is a 12-bit number which is used in the 802.1Q or 802.1ad headers in packets handled by vlan(4) or svlan(4) interfaces respectively. Valid tag values are from 1 to 4094 inclusive. -vnetid Clear the tag value. Packets on a VLAN interface without a tag set will use a value of 0 in their headers. WIREGUARD ifconfig wg-interface [wgkey privatekey] [wgport port] [wgrtable rtable] [-wgpeerall] [[-]wgpeer publickey [[-]wgdescr[iption] value] [wgaip allowed-ip_address/prefix] [wgendpoint peer_address port] [wgpka interval] [wgpsk presharedkey] [-wgpsk]] Detailed peer information is available to the superuser when ifconfig is run with the -A flag or when passed specific wg-interface names. The following options are available for wg(4) interfaces: wgkey privatekey Set the private key of the interface. The privatekey is 32 bytes, base64-encoded. It can be generated as follows: $ openssl rand -base64 32 The corresponding public key will then be displayed in the interface status for distribution to peers. wgpeer publickey Specify an interface peer by its publickey, which is 32 bytes, base64-encoded. Repeat the option to specify multiple peers in a single command. -wgpeer publickey Remove the peer with the given publickey. -wgpeerall Remove all peers from the interface. wgport port Set the interface's UDP port for exchanging traffic with its peers. The interface will bind to INADDR_ANY and IN6ADDR_ANY_INIT. By default, the interface will choose a port. wgrtable rtable Exchange traffic with peers under the routing table rtable, instead of the default rtable(4). The routing domain of the rtable needn't be the routing domain to which the interface is attached, in which the interface's tunneled traffic appears. Peer configuration options, which apply to the wgpeer immediately preceding them, are as follows: wgdescr[iption] value Set the peer's description. This can be used to label peers in situations where they may otherwise be difficult to distinguish. -wgdescr[iption] Clear the peer description. wgaip allowed-ip_address/prefix Set the peer's IPv4 or IPv6 allowed-ip_address range for tunneled traffic. Repeat the option to set multiple ranges. By default, no addresses are allowed. wgendpoint peer_address port Address traffic to the peer's IPv4 or IPv6 peer_address and UDP port. The interface will track the peer, updating wgendpoint to the source of its last authenticated packet. By default, the endpoint is unknown and so the peer cannot be addressed until it initiates communication. This implies that at least one peer in each pair must specify wgendpoint. wgpka interval Set the interval of persistent keepalive packets in seconds. The default, zero, disables these. They can be used to maintain connectivity to a peer otherwise blocked to unsolicited traffic by an intermediate firewall or NAT device. For this, an interval of 25 seconds should suffice. wgpsk presharedkey Set a unique key pre-shared with the peer. This strengthens the Diffie-Hellman exchange should in future a quantum-computational attack on it become feasible. The presharedkey is 32 bytes, base64-encoded. It is optional but recommended and can be generated as follows: $ openssl rand -base64 32 -wgpsk Remove the pre-shared key for this peer. EXAMPLES Assign the address of 192.168.1.10 with a network mask of 255.255.255.0 to interface fxp0: # ifconfig fxp0 inet 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 Configure the xl0 interface to use 100baseTX, full duplex: # ifconfig xl0 media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex Label the em0 interface as an uplink: # ifconfig em0 description "Uplink to Gigabit Switch 2" Create the gif1 network interface: # ifconfig gif1 create Put the athn0 wireless interface into monitor mode: # ifconfig athn0 mediaopt monitor DIAGNOSTICS Messages indicating the specified interface does not exist, the requested address is unknown, or the user is not privileged and tried to alter an interface's configuration. SEE ALSO netstat(1), ifmedia(4), inet(4), intro(4), netintro(4), rtable(4), hostname.if(5), hosts(5), rc(8), route(8), slaacd(8), tcpdump(8) HISTORY The ifconfig command appeared in 4.2BSD. FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 March 27, 2025 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8