What is the new network interface mon.wlan0?

[Ben Sullivan]

Hi

I have created a new access point on a Ubuntu 11.10 instance following this
recipe:

http://nims11.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/hostapd-the-linux-way-to-create-virtual-wifi-access-point/

After running hostapd, I see a new network interface created:

mon.wlan0 Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr
E0-B9-A5-9C-5A-68-30-30-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:315 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:47387 (47.3 KB)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

Could someone explain what this is and why it has been created?

Thanks

Ben
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