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Chapter 9, Administration and Automation
#82 Link Monitoring in Linux with Wavemon
HACK
HACK
#82
Link Monitoring in Linux with Wavemon Hack #82
Monitor radio parameters in real time using Wavemon, a curses-based tool
for Linux.
When using Linux, the standard wireless tools provide a wealth of status
information. These tools get their information from the standard kernel
interface /proc/net/wireless. While ideal for providing pinpoint accuracy in
measuring signal strength and noise data, these tools are not designed to
give an indication of performance over time.
Wavemon (http://www.wavemage.com/projects.html) is a terrific little tool
that does precisely this. It polls /proc/net/wireless many times each second to
give you a rolling report of how your wireless connection is performing. Its
simple curses interface keeps the code quite small and is ideal for including
in embedded distributions to get real-time link data from remote access
points.
The main interface provides a nice graphical representation of the current
link state (Figure 9-3).
All of the statistics are updated in real time, making it ideal for monitoring
point-to-point links and fine-tuning antennas on long distance shots. For an
even easier to read display, hit F2 to bring up the Level Histogram
(Figure 9-4).
Figure 9-3. Wavemon in action.