Wake-on-LAN (WoL) is an ethernet networking standard that lets a computer to be turned on or awakened from a low-power state by a network message. This message, called a “magic packet,” is sent from another device on the same local network.
This functionality is very useful to access a computer remotely without needing to physically turn it on first. The computer’s network card must support the feature, and it needs to be enabled in the system’s BIOS/UEFI settings.
WOL is based on the following principle: When the PC shuts down, the NIC still gets power, and keeps listening on the network for a ‘magic’ packet to arrive. This packet must contain a certain byte-sequence, but can be encapsulated in any kind of packet (IPX, IP, anything).
This article picks some useful Wake-on-LAN tools for Linux.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion here.
Click the links in the table below to learn more about each tool.
| Wake-on-LAN Tools | |
|---|---|
| gWakeOnLAN | Small graphical utility that lets you wake up machines |
| Turn On | Small GNOME utility |
| wakeonlan | Perl script |
| virtwold | Wake-on-LAN for libvirt based VMs |
| Awake on Lan | Wake up computers remotely using Wake-on-LAN packets |
| wol.rs | Wake On LAN magic packet command line tool and crate |
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