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WAKE UP YOUR PC FROM LAN WITH LINUX
by Francesco Palmisano

On computer network, Wake on LAN (WOL) is Ethernet standard to wake up a PC from remote knowing the MAC address.

WOL

Let's begin:

SERVER SIDE:

With your package manager install:

ethtool

Now you need to verify the support of the WOL standard by your ethernet card.

AS root give command ifconfig, to know yuor device name: usually eth0 (or ethx format).
Then give command:

ethtool eth0

and have an output like this:

Settings for eth0:
        Supported ports: [ TP ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Speed: 100Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 1
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        Supports Wake-on: g
        Wake-on: g
        Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
        Link detected: yes

If on Supports Wake-on there is a "g" , WOL standard is supported.
If on Wake-on there is a "d", WOL support need to be enable by BIOS and if there is a "g" everything it's ok.

Now active the support on the system with (as root):

ethtool -s etho wol g

The configuration is reset on every reboot, so you need the meke it permanently wiht a script(Debian/Sidux/Ubuntu user):

With a text editor write:

#! /bin/bash
ethtool -s eth0 wol g
exit

save as wol.sh in /etc/init.d/ and give execution permissions:

chmod a+x /etc/inti.d/wol.sh

now enable on the system boot(Debian/Sidux/Ubuntu user):

update-rc.d wol.sh defaults

Good, you need to know the device MAC address with this command:

ifconfig eth0

on the output look for:

HWaddr 00:1d:xx:xx:xx:xx

this is your MAC address.

Shutdown the "Server"

CLIENT SIDE:

On your client install, with your package manager:

wakeonlan

Good, at this point you can wake up the "Server" with:

wakeonlan "MAC address" (found on server before)

IMPORTANT: The WOL standard is supported only for wired ethernet devices, not for wireless ones (WiFi).

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