AiMesh node from LAN port?

[JGN0123]

JGN0123 - How did your chip swap go?

I actually have my router with the blown WAN port actively participating in my AIMesh!!! I ended up googling a bit about blown WAN ports and ran into some posts about people using the Dual WAN option to get past this issue, but not as a node in a AIMesh - only as a primary router (nobody mentioned Mesh in those conversations). I don't know of any way to configure those settings for a AIMesh node. Finally, the out-side the box option hit me.

I took my broken router and configured it as my primary router, setup the DUAL WAN with LAN 1 configured as the Primary WAN port and connected it to my cable modem. It picked up and operated just fine. A day or so of testing and all my clients seem to work just fine, all picked up and connected without any reconfiguration of Wireless settings and all seemed good. I then reset my old Primary router and made it an AIMesh node. Plugged the WAN port into the new primary router's LAN port and I now have a wired AIMesh node!

This is working great. Now I have to tune the location of the second node and run a network cable to it, depending on location, but all is working.

If your chip fix doesn't do it, or you don't want to bother with it - rearrange your routers and use Dual WAN to make your broken router your Primary router for your mesh.
- L

I had configured the broken router as dual wan like you did 2 years ago when it first got knocked out by the lightning. It did not work well. No internet after after days, then I had to unplug and plug back the power. That was the reason I bought the new one and set the broken one as AP.

The chip I ordered has just arrived from China. I'm gonna replace the chip this weekend and test it out.

If yours setup works well then great! If you can solder/desolder then I suggest you should replace the chip.

 

[JGN0123]

Yes, same SSID (all APs/all frequencies, e.g. ONE SSID FOR ALL), ... Typically different channels. Roaming is mostly a client controlled activity and I'm typically stationary or stationary enough to remain within the access point I'm connected to. However if I do walk room to room it will reconnect. Not sure I'd rely on it for WiFi phone calls without causing a hiccup but that's not really in my use case list (and I'd guess not in 99% of home use cases).

I had mine setup as AP for years until Merlin finally supported AiMesh. AP works fine, but when you are on a Facetime call and you walk around the house, you get disconnected. With AiMesh, you don't get disconnected.

You were right that there're disadvantages such as no GUI control for nodes, but you can config your node with ssh commands. I have my node, attached with a usb hdd, setup as a samba, ftp, minidlna, mt-daapd server.

 

[TNCS]

I'm not doubting you but Asus does promote wrote backhaul: https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1035140/
AP may work better and I'll try it in the near future to see if it works better. Thanks for the info.
- L

Looks like Asus did a good implementation of AiMesh more than my expectation than. Wish they did a better job of documentation.

 

[JGN0123]

JGN0123 - How did your chip swap go?

- L

The swap was successful. WAN port works as normal now.

 

[Maloon]

Hi,

I have 2 RT-AC5300 configured as Router + AP, both connected using 2 wires with link aggregation. I use WiFi calls, and when I am in a phone call walking around my house and my iPhone changes AP, I only lose about 0.5 seconds of audio call, and it doesn't disconnect.

 

[JGN0123]

Hi,

I have 2 RT-AC5300 configured as Router + AP, both connected using 2 wires with link aggregation. I use WiFi calls, and when I am in a phone call walking around my house and my iPhone changes AP, I only lose about 0.5 seconds of audio call, and it doesn't disconnect.

Wifi calls are fime but FaceTime calls get disconnected.

 

[holiday]

Hello friends, I come with SOLUTION! This is working with AC68U / AC1900P and should work with other routers, but may require slight modification.

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

That gets the aimesh node working over Ethernet using the first switch port (#1).
To survive reboot here is what I did:
Enable JFFS scripts:

nvram set jffs2_scripts="1"

Create / Edit services-start script.

nano /jffs/scripts/services-start

Add following code to services-start file.

#!/bin/sh

sleep 10

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

Save contents of file.
Now make script executable (IMPORTANT / DON'T FORGET)

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

That's all.

 

[willwhitworth]

Hello friends, I come with SOLUTION! This is working with AC68U / AC1900P and should work with other routers, but may require slight modification.

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

That gets the aimesh node working over Ethernet using the first switch port (#1).
To survive reboot here is what I did:
Enable JFFS scripts:

nvram set jffs2_scripts="1"

Create / Edit services-start script.

nano /jffs/scripts/services-start

Add following code to services-start file.

#!/bin/sh

sleep 10

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

Save contents of file.
Now make script executable (IMPORTANT / DON'T FORGET)

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

That's all.

Thank you so much for this! My WAN port on one of my nodes got fried in a storm the other night and this got the node working again over ethernet. The only problem I've having is following the steps to make it survive a reboot.

When I type:

nano /jffs/scripts/services-start

It returns:

-sh: nano: not found

What do I need to do to install nano?

 

[willwhitworth]

I just realized this is in the Asus-Merlin forum and I'm running the stock firmware at the moment. Would anyone mind telling me how I can make the following commands survive a reboot on the stock firmware?

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

 

[Killiam]

holiday - I got this working however during the node enrolment phase (Administration - Operation Mode - AiMesh Node) a factory reset is performed and these changes are nuked. Is there a work around for this? Maybe a way to flag the hardware as ready to be enrolled as an AiNode without going through the GUI?

Hello friends, I come with SOLUTION! This is working with AC68U / AC1900P and should work with other routers, but may require slight modification.

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

That gets the aimesh node working over Ethernet using the first switch port (#1).
To survive reboot here is what I did:
Enable JFFS scripts:

nvram set jffs2_scripts="1"

Create / Edit services-start script.

nano /jffs/scripts/services-start

Add following code to services-start file.

#!/bin/sh

sleep 10

robocfg vlan 1 ports "2 3 4 5t"
robocfg vlan 2 ports "1 5t"
nvram set lanports="2 3 4"
nvram set wanports=1

Save contents of file.
Now make script executable (IMPORTANT / DON'T FORGET)

chmod a+rx /jffs/scripts/*

That's all.