What is the new network interface mon.wlan0?

[Kalle Valo]

Ben Sullivan <office at bensullivan.net> writes:

> 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?

hostapd uses it to send and receive management frames.

-- 
Kalle Valo