Network

A Network plugin is comparable with a ‘driver’ for a network adapter.

Note

The network code of ESPEasy has been rewritten in 2025/2026. Older builds of ESPEasy do have a different organisation of network related parameters. Most of these were accessible via the Tools->Advanced page.

Network Plugins

Note

ESP32 builds do have a lot more networking capabilities compared to ESP8266. For ESP8266 we only have support for WiFi and no other network interfaces will be added for ESP8266.

Plugin name	ESP32 Plugin status	ESP8266 Plugin status	Plugin number
Network - WiFi Station	NORMAL	NORMAL	NW001
Network - WiFi AP	NORMAL	NORMAL	NW002
Network - Ethernet (RMII)	NORMAL	.	NW003
Network - Ethernet (SPI)	NORMAL	.	NW004
Network - PPP Modem	NORMAL	.	NW005

Network Overview Tab

Overview of the Network tab on an ESP32-P4.

The first 2 entries will be the same for every ESPEasy setup and these cannot be removed.

• Nr. 1 is always WiFi STA (station) To connect the ESP board to an access point.

• Nr. 2 is always WiFi AP (Access Point) To let the ESP board act as an access point.

There are 2 types of Ethernet plugins:

• RMII, only available on ESP32-classic and ESP32-P4 (and ESP32-S31 when supported in the future)

• SPI, Possible on all supported ESP32 variants except ESP32-C2.

The last option is a PPP modem, to connect via 4g/LTE to the internet.

Active

Indicates whether a network adapter has been ‘started’. This is related to “Fallback” and “Delay Startup”.

This “Active” concept is needed to allow for another concept called the “Fallback Interface”.

For example, on a standard ESP board with only WiFi, the WiFi AP interface can be considered a fallback interface. Meaning the AP is “Enabled” but no need to set it “Active” as long as you can connect to your normal WiFi network.

The conditions on when to start the WiFi AP interface can be configured as well.

Only when one or more set conditions are met, then the AP will be activated.

Name

A single word describing the network interface. This can be appended to the hostname and is also referred to in network events to be used in rules.

Route Prio

(ESP32 only)

The active and connected interface with the highest ‘route prio’ value is the default interface for new outgoing connections. The current default interface is marked with an asterisk.

This means the ESP is still reachable via other interfaces when needed, but new connections will be made only via the default route.

N.B. it is possible to block web access per interface via the checkbox for Block Web Access

Note

Do not set two interfaces active to same route prio as this may lead to undefined behavior.

Connected

Show basic information about the connection, or a red cross if not connected.

The shown duration is the duration since the last connected/disconnected status change.

Hostname/SSID

Shows the hostname as used for that specific network interface.

This hostname is used in the DHCP request and when mDNS is being used.

For the WiFi AP interface, the SSID is shown.

HW Address

Lists the MAC address and some basic description of the network interface when applicable.

Description examples:

• WiFi interface on an ESP32-P4 lists the ESP32-variant used as external wifi adapter and the ESP-Hosted-MCU firmware version running.

• Ethernet will list the network adapter chip model.

For the PPP interface, the IMEI number is listed instead of the MAC address.

IP

Shows the IPv4-address as it is currently in use on the network interface.

More detailed info on IPv6-addresses is listed on the page where the network interface can be configured and on the sysinfo page.

Port

When applicable, the GPIO pins will be listed here.

• External WiFi module on ESP32-P4: SDIO bus

• Ethernet: GPIO pins

• PPP: Serial port + GPIO pins

Export/Import Network Parameters

Note

This is working only on ESP32 as extra network interfaces are only supported on ESP32 builds of ESPEasy.

In order to simplify initial setup of a newly flashed module, it is possible to have a JSON string to enter via the ESPEasy console.

• networkexportconfig,N with N being the network adapter index.

• networkexportconfig,N,'{....}' with N being the network adapter index and the second parameter the literal JSON string as output from the networkexportconfig command.

Note

N.B. the 2nd parameter must be wrapped in quotes which are not used in the JSON string, like single quote or back-ticks. Also the braces must be included.

Export of network config on a Waveshare ESP32-P4-NANO RMII Ethernet adapter set as network index 3:

networkexportconfig,3
{"nwpluginID":3,"enabled":"true","route_prio":150,"fallback":"false","sn_block":"false","start_delay":1000,"en_ipv6":"false","Index":0,"phytype":1,"phyaddr":1,"MDC":31,"MDIO":52,"pwr":51,"clock":1}

To import this exact example:

networkimportconfig,3,`{"nwpluginID":3,"enabled":"true","route_prio":150,"fallback":"false","sn_block":"false","start_delay":1000,"en_ipv6":"false","Index":0,"phytype":1,"phyaddr":1,"MDC":31,"MDIO":52,"pwr":51,"clock":1}`

Note

When a parameter is not present in the JSON when importing, the default will be used. Also when a parameter is not present in the stored config (applies to default values), the key/value pair will not appear in the exported JSON.

Allowed import/export keywords per network plugin.

Key	Value Type	Description	WiFi STA	WiFi AP	RMII Ethernet	SPI Ethernet	PPP
nwpluginID	int	ESPEasy NWPlugin ID	1	2	3	4	5
enabled	bool		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
route_prio	int	See “Route Priority”	✔ (100 default)	✔ (10 default)	✔ (50 default)	✔ (50 default)	✔ (20 default)
fallback	bool	See “Fallback Interface”	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
sn_block	bool	See “Block Web Access”	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
start_delay	int	See “Delay Startup”	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
append_hostname	bool	See “Append Name to Hostname”	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
en_ipv6	bool	See “Enable IPv6”	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Index	int	Network ‘Nr’ on Network tab	1	2	✔	✔	✔
phytype	int	Selected chip, see below			✔	✔	✔
phyaddr	int	Ethernet PHY Address			✔	✔
MDC	int	GPIO pin MDC			✔
MDIO	int	GPIO pin MDIO			✔
pwr	int	GPIO pin Power			✔
clock	int	Clock Mode			✔
CS	int	GPIO pin CS				✔
IRQ	int	GPIO pin IRQ				✔
RST	int	GPIO pin Reset				✔	✔
ethspibus	int	SPI bus (0 or 1)				✔
serPort	int	ESPEasySerial port enum					✔
RX	int	GPIO pin RX					✔
TX	int	GPIO pin TX					✔
RTS	int	GPIO pin RTS					✔
CTS	int	GPIO pin CTS					✔
DTR	int	GPIO pin DTR					✔
rst_act_low	bool	Reset Active Low					✔
rst_delay	int	Delay after reset in ms					✔
baudrate	int	Baudrate					✔ (115200 default)
apn	string	Access Point Name (APN)					✔
pin	string	PIN of SIM card					✔
IP	string	IP address			✔	✔	✔
gw	string	Gateway IP address			✔	✔	✔
sn	string	Subnet mask			✔	✔	✔
DNS	string	DNS server IP address			✔	✔	✔

RMII Ethernet:

• LAN8720 = 0

• TLK110 = 1

• RTL8201 = 2

• JL1101 = 3

• DP83848 = 4

• KSZ8041 = 5

• KSZ8081 = 6

• LAN867X = 7

SPI Ethernet:

• DM9051 = 10

• W5500 = 11

• KSZ8851 = 12

PPP:

• generic = 1

• SIM7600 = 2

• SIM7070 = 3

• SIM7000 = 4

• BG96 = 5

• SIM800 = 6

For ESP32-classic, the clock mode for RMII Ethernet has these options:

• Ext_crystal_osc = 0

• Int_50MHz_GPIO_0 = 1

• Int_50MHz_GPIO_16 = 2

• Int_50MHz_GPIO_17_inv = 3

For ESP32-P4, the clock mode is a bit simpler as the clock pin can only be GPIO 32 / 44 / 50 (default) and there are only 2 modes, either external crystal or clock generated by the ESP.

• Default = 0

• Ext_crystal (GPIO-50) = 1

• Int_50MHz (GPIO-50) = 2

And the not yet supported other clock GPIO pins:

• Ext_crystal (GPIO-32) = 129 (1 | (32 << 2))

• Int_50MHz (GPIO-32) = 130 (2 | (32 << 2))

• Ext_crystal (GPIO-44) = 177 (1 | (44 << 2))

• Int_50MHz (GPIO-44) = 178 (2 | (44 << 2))

Note

Currently only GPIO-50 is supported, but later the other GPIO pins could be used and then these fixed values should be used.

M5Stack ESP32-S3 Atom with W5500 AtomPoE SPI Ethernet

Make sure SPI is configured with CLK: GPIO-5, MISO: GPIO-7, MOSI: GPIO-8

networkimportconfig,3,'{"nwpluginID":4,"enabled":"true","route_prio":150,"sn_block":"false","start_delay":1000,"en_ipv6":"true","phytype":11,"phyaddr":0,"CS":6,"IRQ":-1,"RST":-1}'