IRNET(4) Linux-IrDA man pages IRNET(4)NAME
irnet - IrNET protocol device
DESCRIPTION
File /dev/irnet is used to access and configure the IrNET protocol part
of the Linux-IrDA stack.
IrNET is a protocol allowing to create TCP/IP connections between two
IrDA peers in an efficient fashion, and generally to enable standard
networking over IrDA. It is a thin layer, passing PPP packets to IrTTP
and vice versa. It uses PPP in synchronous mode, because IrTTP offer a
reliable sequenced packet service (as opposed to a byte stream). In
fact, you could see IrNET as carrying TCP/IP in a IrDA socket, using
PPP to provide the glue.
The main difference with traditional PPP over IrCOMM is that it avoids
the framing and serial emulation which are a performance bottleneck. It
also allows multipoint communications in a sensible fashion. And
finally, it can automatically handle incoming connections through
irnetd.
The main difference with IrLAN is that we use PPP for the link manage‐
ment, which is more standard, interoperable and flexible than the IrLAN
protocol. For example, PPP adds authentication, encryption, compres‐
sion, header compression and automated routing setup. And, as IrNET let
PPP do the hard work, the implementation is much simpler than IrLAN.
IrNET connections are initiated and managed with pppd(8). File
/dev/irnet also offer a control channel. Reads from /dev/irnet will
return various IrNET events. Write to /dev/irnet allow to configure
the IrNET connection.
CONFIGURATION
If your system does not have /dev/irnet created already, it can be cre‐
ated with the following commands:
mknod -m 644 /dev/irnet c 10 187
chown root:root /dev/irnet
You will also need to have IrNET support in your kernel or as module
and the Linux-IrDA stack installed and configured (see irattach(8)).
File /dev/irnet is supposed to only be used with the PPP line disci‐
pline or for accessing the control channel, other use are unsupported.
IrNET support multiple concurrent connections (limited by the IrDA
stack), all those connections are multiplexed on a single /dev/irnet
device (as opposed to IrCOMM which as one device per connection).
PARAMETERS
Writing commands to /dev/irnet allow to configure the IrNET connection
being made. This need to be done through pppd(8) (see below for exam‐
ples). Commands are separated by comas.
name <peer>
Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA nickname is <peer>. The
IrDA nickname is a string up to 31 characters.
daddr <peer>
Connect to the IrDA device which IrDA address is <peer>. The
IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal number.
raddr <port>
Restrict connections to the local IrDA interface which IrDA
address is <port>. The IrDA address is a 32 bits hexadecimal
number.
DISPLAY
Reading from /dev/irnet will show various IrNET events. This is usu‐
ally done with the command cat /dev/irnet.
Found Dump of the current IrNET discovery log.
Discovered
New IrNET device discovered.
Expired
Previously discovered IrNET device no longer present.
Connected to
This computer successfully established an IrNET connection to a
peer.
Connection from
A peer successfully established an IrNET connection to this com‐
puter.
Request from
A peer attempted to connect to this computer, but no IrNET con‐
nection was waiting for it.
No-answer from
This computer attempted to connect to a peer, but no IrNET con‐
nection was waiting for it.
Blocked link with
The IrDA link of the IrNET connection is currently blocked.
Disconnection from
A peer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with this
computer.
Disconnected to
This computer successfully terminated an IrNET connection with a
peer.
File /proc/net/irda/irnet will also show the current state of the vari‐
ous IrNET connections.
EXAMPLE
Start a IrNET server accepting any incoming connection:
pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock passive
Start a IrNET client connecting to any IrDA peer:
pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock
Start a IrNET client connecting to the IrDA peer called MyIrDANode:
pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock connect "echo name MyIr‐
DANode"
Start a IrNET server accepting incoming connection from peer with IrDA
address 0x12345678 only on IrDA port 0x87654321:
pppd /dev/irnet 9600 local noauth nolock passive connect "echo
daddr 0x12345678 , saddr 0x87654321"
AUTHOR
Jean Tourrilhes - jt@hpl.hp.com
FILES
/dev/irnet
/proc/net/irda/irnet
SEE ALSOirda(7), irnetd(8), pppd(8), irattach(8), irdadump(8).
irda-utils 2 May 2003 IRNET(4)