AiMesh Binding erratic?

[vibroverbus]

AiMesh network AX68U with AC66U-B1 node.
Merlin 388.8.2 on the host, Asus latest on the node.

I have been binding fixed location devices that would sometimes randomly 'roam' then seem to be stuck on the weaker signal (as reported by others), as well as an odd client or two that seem to insist on preferring the weaker node signal.

Today I find binding seems to not work? In the GUI I can select the binding and it seems to complete but afterwards I dont get the "BOUND" icon for the client? Is binding broken in Merlin? Its not a huge deal just curious.
(and I know, Cue the AiMesh haters - such is the way of things, don't bother please... it works nicely for me overall... )

 

[aex.perez]

Used to have that problem, took some time to figure out the right setting for my specific envrionment, router / node placement, and signal strength and so on.
Ended up with this;

Been rock solid since, for years. Setting or 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz under the Wireless - Professional tab. Using SmartConnect, and a Guest 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, all working great and roaming, and binding all the devices correctly.

Buy it took time, and some trial and error to find the settings that work consistently with how my router and node are placed and the environment they are in.
Even so, external forces can often influence as they come into and outof range, but have landed on the right wireless channels to minimize the changes helping to maintain stability of the devices and the repective router/node that they are bound and fixed to. The ones I don't bind eiter roam (like a cellphone/tablet) or move about based on signal strength at a given time. It's not 100% but its close enough that it doesn't make a difference and if needed a quck unbind/rebind if needed if it doesn't fix itself.

There is no one size fits all, so you'll need to experiment and see what works best in your instance...

 

[routeraround]

My RT-AX88U Pro is one side of the house with a with an RT-AC68U node in the middle. Everything works great except for one IP camera which is at the opposite side of the house (upstairs) to the 88U. It will connect to the 88U 99% of the time. It is driving me absolutely nuts! I've tried every setting imaginable but no difference. I wish Merlin had the binding option.

 

[vibroverbus]

Used to have that problem, took some time to figure out the right setting for my specific envrionment, router / node placement, and signal strength and so on.
Ended up with this;
View attachment 62249
Been rock solid since, for years. Setting or 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz under the Wireless - Professional tab. Using SmartConnect, and a Guest 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz, all working great and roaming, and binding all the devices correctly.

Buy it took time, and some trial and error to find the settings that work consistently with how my router and node are placed and the environment they are in.
Even so, external forces can often influence as they come into and outof range, but have landed on the right wireless channels to minimize the changes helping to maintain stability of the devices and the repective router/node that they are bound and fixed to. The ones I don't bind eiter roam (like a cellphone/tablet) or move about based on signal strength at a given time. It's not 100% but its close enough that it doesn't make a difference and if needed a quck unbind/rebind if needed if it doesn't fix itself.

There is no one size fits all, so you'll need to experiment and see what works best in your instance...

Yeah thanks for the general roaming tip but this is more about "why doesn't the actual BIND function work anymore?" There's functions for it but it seems broken.

 

[vibroverbus]

My RT-AX88U Pro is one side of the house with a with an RT-AC68U node in the middle. Everything works great except for one IP camera which is at the opposite side of the house (upstairs) to the 88U. It will connect to the 88U 99% of the time. It is driving me absolutely nuts! I've tried every setting imaginable but no difference. I wish Merlin had the binding option.

Its weird because it used to work. I have one device that shows the bind icon (click on it & it claims it will unbind that device) properly. Then I have 3-4 other devices that USED to Bind properly and these are all listed in the "Roaming Block List" (and I did NOT add them there manually I think they got added when I used the BIND function) but no longer show being "Bound".

I can only assume this got broken during some firmware update and I didn't notice it until now... Just wondering if others have experienced it sounds like yes...

 

[vibroverbus]

Yeah OK solved. Just needed more research.

nvram setting sta_binding_list apparently has a character limit. When it hits the limit all the bindings break. This is about 8-9 device bindings which I didn't think I had but maybe I did add more fixed-location-device bindings than I thought at some point in the past.

Recapping:

Symptoms were - only ONE device was showing 'binding' despite having had 'bound' multiple in the past, and, I had devices doing weird node associations.

Looked at nvram and found:

sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>,undefined|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,7|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,3|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,3|XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,3<BB:BB:BB:BB:BB:BB>1>XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX,3

Where AA = "Backhaul" MAC, BB = "Fronthaul" MAC, and XX = end device MACs.

This wc to 252 characters - a post below claims that 255 is the limit, but I wonder....

After backing up, I fairly aggressively and impulsively 'cleaned' this up to:

sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>

Immediately afterwards was able to bind devices again (now only binding 2 or 3). MORE INTERESTINGLY the node assignments are now much more sensible. One example: a thermostat that sits about 6 feet away from the main router that had been insisting on going past it to the AiMesh node 1 floor below on the opposite side of the house - now binds to the router that it is almost right next to as one would hope. Same true of several other devices doing weird associations.

Does seem like a bug here. Firmware should ideally notify if all binding slots are being used when clicking in the GUI, but ideally but even short of that - it shouldn't break binding if the NVRAM fills up.

The reading that pointed me in right direction:

Solved - AiMesh Binding RT-AX86U

Just added an RP-AX56 mesh node with a wireless backhaul to my RT-AX86U network. Was working great, but I noticed a couple of wifi light switches were moving back and for between the the two (causing dhcp deauth reason unknown events, and 30sec outage on device while it reconnected), I decided...

www.snbforums.com

Beta - ASUSWRT 386 RC2 public beta with full functions AiMesh 2.0

Am I the only one to have a static routing problem on the mesh node when the backhaul is wifi? When the backhaul is wired, the static routing is fine. Here is a post detailing the tests performed. @ASUSWRT_2020 https://www.snbforums.com/threads/static-route-xt8-node-problem.67795/ I'm thinking...

www.snbforums.com

 

[aex.perez]

Its weird because it used to work. I have one device that shows the bind icon (click on it & it claims it will unbind that device) properly. Then I have 3-4 other devices that USED to Bind properly and these are all listed in the "Roaming Block List" (and I did NOT add them there manually I think they got added when I used the BIND function) but no longer show being "Bound".

I can only assume this got broken during some firmware update and I didn't notice it until now... Just wondering if others have experienced it sounds like yes...

Binding working just fine for me

 

[routeraround]

I'm very confused by all this.

Can I clear something up please... if I go to the AIMesh tab and click the binding icon for a device, what should come up? All I get and all I've ever had is the standard pop up box with the device icon (default/change), name, IP, MAC, Device, "Block Internet Access" etc. Nothing to bind to the node.

My sta_binding_list was blank so I changed it to 'sta_binding_list=AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>'. On reboot it became 'sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>0>' and still no binding.

Can someone please help my sanity!

 

[vibroverbus]

I'm very confused by all this.

Can I clear something up please... if I go to the AIMesh tab and click the binding icon for a device, what should come up? All I get and all I've ever had is the standard pop up box with the device icon (default/change), name, IP, MAC, Device, "Block Internet Access" etc. Nothing to bind to the node.

My sta_binding_list was blank so I changed it to 'sta_binding_list=AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>'. On reboot it became 'sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>0>' and still no binding.

Can someone please help my sanity!

Yeah no thats not right. When you click on the "chain link" you should get something like this (my network obv your nodes will be different).

Are you sure you're clicking right on the bind icon? If you click anywhere else you get that 'device info' page.

I wouldn't manually eff with the sta_binding_list ever normally, except as i say it seems like it gets corrupted if you try and add more than 8 or 9 devices.

The format of the sta_binding_list parameter is seems to be node information inside angle-brackets, then a list of clients bound to that node following that are vertical bar ("pipe") delineated. (spaces for readability only - no spaces in the parm)

< NODEMAC1 > x > DEVMAC1 , y | DEVMACn , y < NODEMAC2 > x > DEVMAC1 , y | DEVMACn , y

What the other numeric parms are I'm not sure... but seems to be always (usually?) nodes x=1, and clients y=3. I looked around and doesn't seem to be any doc on it anywhere... I would get something like interface or priority or route or something? Despite me saying its dumb to screw around with manually, because curiosity, I did play around a bit this morning with manually adding MAC's to sta_binding_list and it seems to work as long as I follow that format and don't go over 8 or 9.

 

[aex.perez]

I'm very confused by all this.

Can I clear something up please... if I go to the AIMesh tab and click the binding icon for a device, what should come up? All I get and all I've ever had is the standard pop up box with the device icon (default/change), name, IP, MAC, Device, "Block Internet Access" etc. Nothing to bind to the node.

My sta_binding_list was blank so I changed it to 'sta_binding_list=AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>'. On reboot it became 'sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>0>' and still no binding.

Can someone please help my sanity!

For a Device, MAC and IP binding

On the Router/Node uner AiMesh, click on the device, then the clients that are bound to the node,
then on the chain link (highlighted ones are bound) and if unbound you'll get a choice of what Router/node to bind to
if already bound you'll get a choice to unbind, the icon next to it forces the device to reconnect where it can (if bound, its a preference but will device will connect to best signal strengh between device and node/router it finds at the moment)

But I've had bound devices to a Router/node bounce around to connect based on conditions at a given time, but normally, excluding external influences, things pretty much stay where thy're supposed to be, but it wasn't always like that. Took time, patience, trial and error to get there. Still some devices, equal distant between nodes or Router and node, like a Doorbell or Thermostat I don't have bound and do travel between nodes, based on those influences I can't control. The priority is to connect, the preference is to the node/Router that's its bound to. I prefer the device connects over where I where I want it too. the Binding is more a like than an absolute "connect only to via here" if that makes sense.

Especially when devices reboot, like a firmware upgrade, of the three it will take a while for things to settle down and devices to get where I would like them to be. I've got an order to the device reboot that minimizes that (in my environment/instanct) but that also took trial and error to get it exactly right, if I'm being honest mostly right, as it's not 100% (but +95%).

 

[routeraround]

Yeah no thats not right. When you click on the "chain link" you should get something like this (my network obv your nodes will be different).
View attachment 62272

Are you sure you're clicking right on the bind icon? If you click anywhere else you get that 'device info' page.

I wouldn't manually eff with the sta_binding_list ever normally, except as i say it seems like it gets corrupted if you try and add more than 8 or 9 devices.

That's the dialogue I don't get. Yes, I'm clicking the bind icon. I've reset the binding list back to empty now anyway.

For a Device, MAC and IP binding
View attachment 62274

View attachment 62275

Top one I get, bottom one I've never seen!

Very odd. Thanks for the replies guys, not sure where to go from here. Firmwares are in my sig. I did a full reset on the last update, Router and node.


EDIT: I've tried it in another browser (Firefox) and it's working Not sure what the hell's going on but I guess we can close this. Sorry to have wasted your time but I really appreciate the help.

 

[vibroverbus]

EDIT: I've tried it in another browser (Firefox) and it's working Not sure what the hell's going on but I guess we can close this. Sorry to have wasted your time but I really appreciate the help.

Interesting. Did you ever try the Asus mobile app? When my system was broken it wouldn't bind from the mobile app either (due to the sta_binding_list being all filled up I believe). In your case the mobile app should have actually worked.

 

[vibroverbus]

Also interesting: My AIMesh network is now behaving demonstrably differently. Very odd.
I get more clients reguarly roaming to my slave node than I've ever seen.
I would generally say this is 'better' but it wasn't like I had trouble before I just saw most clients reluctant to associate on the slave node.

The only thing I can attribute that to is removing the "undefined" from sta_binding_list maybe?
One of the links above has another example where a guy had had "undefined" in his sta_binding_list I'm wondering if thats common/legit or some kind of bug or "upgrade garbage".

 

[HeadBanger]

I’ve an issue where if I bind clients they stick to the node for a few minutes and then drop off the network completely. The only way to recover this is to reboot, let them connect and quickly un-bind them before they drop off again.

I’m wondering if my list is full/corrupt in NVRAM too which causes this.

Does the command

sta_binding_list=AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>

completely wipe the bound clients list?

Thanks,
HB

 

[routeraround]

Interesting. Did you ever try the Asus mobile app? When my system was broken it wouldn't bind from the mobile app either (due to the sta_binding_list being all filled up I believe). In your case the mobile app should have actually worked.

I don't have a smartphone

Since binding the IP cam, it appears to be sticking and I can access it. Fingers crossed!

 

[vibroverbus]

I’ve an issue where if I bind clients they stick to the node for a few minutes and then drop off the network completely. The only way to recover this is to reboot, let them connect and quickly un-bind them before they drop off again.

I’m wondering if my list is full/corrupt in NVRAM too which causes this.

Does the command

sta_binding_list=AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>

completely wipe the bound clients list?

Thanks,
HB

First of all thats a typo. Fixed it in the post. Needs an opening angle bracket.

sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>

Second, I have no idea if that will help you, for your symptom some clients - particularly older hardware - resist "steering" to nodes so it might be that - maybe the client software is refusing to be steered and the AiMesh node it wants to connect to is refusing to accept it. If it is "letting you bind" aka use the 'chain' link and then shows 'bound chain' when you do... I would be skeptical that there's anything wrong with your binding list.

Thirdly, literally answering your question, from my testing, yes, that would reset your binding list. Although that's not the syntax to set it so its not "a command". But first step would be to just find out what your sta_binding_list DOES have in it.

nvram get sta_binding_list

Would be interested to see how many people report seeing the word "undefined" in there which for sure sounds like a software bug. But I also think not a lot of those who use AiMesh try to use binding very much, which is why this isn't more broadly noted.

BTW, from my testing, if you empty it completely that will also work fine as the first time you try and bind a client it will create the entry for the appropriate node. But no guarantees. Be aware hacking around with your NVRAM is dangerous if you're not real comfortable with UX management and have backups etc.

 

[HeadBanger]

First of all thats a typo. Fixed it in the post. Needs an opening angle bracket.

sta_binding_list=<AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA>1>

Second, I have no idea if that will help you, for your symptom some clients - particularly older hardware - resist "steering" to nodes so it might be that - maybe the client software is refusing to be steered and the AiMesh node it wants to connect to is refusing to accept it. If it is "letting you bind" aka use the 'chain' link and then shows 'bound chain' when you do... I would be skeptical that there's anything wrong with your binding list.

Thirdly, literally answering your question, from my testing, yes, that would reset your binding list. Although that's not the syntax to set it so its not "a command". But first step would be to just find out what your sta_binding_list DOES have in it.

nvram get sta_binding_list

Would be interested to see how many people report seeing the word "undefined" in there which for sure sounds like a software bug. But I also think not a lot of those who use AiMesh try to use binding very much, which is why this isn't more broadly noted.

BTW, from my testing, if you empty it completely that will also work fine as the first time you try and bind a client it will create the entry for the appropriate node. But no guarantees. Be aware hacking around with your NVRAM is dangerous if you're not real comfortable with UX management and have backups etc.

Thank you for such a comprehensive reply!
I will get the bound list first as you suggest.

HB