amtm amtm step-by-step install guide - L&LD

[thelonelycoder]

I guess it gave me that impression because instead of saying "install Skynet" it said "Open Skynet" without an install option where as with Diversion it said "install Diversion". So it implied it was already installed, and when I launched it it tried to run and gave me that USB failure. I didn't get a bad command from the terminal like one would get if something didn't exist. This was using a brand new formatted and fresh set up USB stick that had never been in the router, and I had run the "format jffs" option in the router firmware and then updated the firmware. Seems unlikely it would still be installed on the router after that, especially given that Diversion was also previously installed in the same jffs partition and it was wiped.

So you see my confusion.

For amtm to rightfully assume that Skynet is present and installed, two conditions have to be true:
- The file /jffs/scripts/firewall is present.
- An entry matching the grep search pattern "sh /jffs/scripts/firewall .* # Skynet" in /jffs/scripts/firewall-start is found.

 

[#TY]

Is it safe to use the USB 3.0 port now? I have a Samsung USB 3.1 Flash drive. I formatted and for now, plugged it into the USB 3.0 port of the RT-AC5300. Everything seem fine but I havent installed anything on it yet. I also set the USB Setting to 3.0 in the router settings.

Am I asking for trouble by doing this?

Or
Is it more advisable to leave the USB key in the USB 3.0 port but change the setting to USB 2.0 on the router?

Or
Is it more advisable to put back the USB key in the USB 2.0 port on the router and change the setting to USB. 2.0?

 

[Treadler]

Is it safe to use the USB 3.0 port now? I have a Samsung USB 3.1 Flash drive. I formatted and for now, plugged it into the USB 3.0 port of the RT-AC5300. Everything seem fine but I havent installed anything on it yet. I also set the USB Setting to 3.0 in the router settings.

Am I asking for trouble by doing this?

Or
Is it more advisable to leave the USB key in the USB 3.0 port but change the setting to USB 2.0 on the router?

Or
Is it more advisable to put back the USB key in the USB 2.0 port on the router and change the setting to USB. 2.0?

I’m using a Samsung you have mentioned. 3.0 port, 3.0 mode. No issues seen.

 

[#TY]

I’m using a Samsung you have mentioned. 3.0 port, 3.0 mode. No issues seen.

Awesome, that's what I have done as well. So far so good. Thank you

 

[alpha45]

​

Finally, amtm time! Like hammer time but with more up-to-date scripts.

Copy the 'curl' command from the Code box below.

curl -Os https://raw.githubusercontent.com/decoderman/amtm/master/amtm && sh amtm

Try this as a tip to copy the curl command fully without needing to scroll within the Code box:

In the code box above, or from the amtm home page (I just copied it here for your convenience, it is the same code at this time), don't do a double click on the word 'curl' above, rather, do a triple click. The click-speed isn't too important, but when you do it properly, the whole command in the Code box will be selected.

Once it is selected, right-click on it and select copy. Then, at the command prompt in the PuTTY window (you're at the command prompt after entering your username and password), simply right-click to paste it. Then, hit Enter to execute the command.

Congratulations! You've installed your first script!
​

When the AMTM window appears, where does it say if I have to install AMTM, I don't understand if it should be installed at that moment or not?
Thanks

 

[thelonelycoder]

When the AMTM window appears, where does it say if I have to install AMTM, I don't understand if it should be installed at that moment or not?
Thanks

When opening amtm and the file is not located at /jffs/scripts, it will ask you to "install" it by moving the file to that directory.

 

[netware5]

This is a step-by-step guide that will show how to optimally set up a USB drive for Asus’ RMerlin powered routers .....................

Prepare the USB Drive for the swap file, Entware, and scripts.

• .......................................................................
• Using amtm's 'fd' command, format the USB drive to Ext4 with journaling and​

......

What about increased speed of damaging the flash memory? Does a journaling FS really fits to USB flash drives?

 

[L&LD]

What about increased speed of damaging the flash memory? Does a journaling FS really fits to USB flash drives?

I feel it is more than offset by the ability to repair itself. And when I tested to see any performance differences; again negligible. For the very few dollars that new USB drives go for these days, I think we can live dangerously.

 

[netware5]

I feel it is more than offset by the ability to repair itself. And when I tested to see any performance differences; again negligible. For the very few dollars that new USB drives go for these days, I think we can live dangerously.

Yes, you are right about cheap USB sticks But I try to avoid burden of changing damaged USB flash drives. As you probably know I am now under migration from RT-N66U to RT-AX88U. The old one was in operation since 2013, but I used the MicroSD card instead of USB flash. That MicroSD card never failed during these 6 years, but it has been formated as ext2. As the router was always connected to UPS that was not a problem.

Now the new one has no MicroSD card slot and I shall use an USB flash drive for instalation of Entware. I am not planing to use it for anything else. The new router will be always powered by UPS also. So I am wondering shall I use journaling FS or not? I really want to avoid burden to deal with failed USB drives.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, you are right about cheap USB sticks But I try to avoid burden of changing damaged USB flash drives. As you probably know I am now under migration from RT-N66U to RT-AX88U. The old one was in operation since 2013, but I used the MicroSD card instead of USB flash. That MicroSD card never failed during these 6 years, but it has been formated as ext2. As the router was always connected to UPS that was not a problem.

Now the new one has no MicroSD card slot and I shall use an USB flash drive for instalation of Entware. I am not planing to use it for anything else. The new router will be always powered by UPS also. So I am wondering shall I use journaling FS or not? I really want to avoid burden to deal with failed USB drives.

Unless you're writing log files every minute to the USB drive, I don't see it being an issue. Also, consider buying the larger capacities as they will naturally be more resilient to wearing out too. I bought a cheap 256GB USB drive for my use and it has not given me any issues, yet.

I also think that if the USB drive's file system gets mangled, that is also a 'damaged' USB drive too that will also necessitate the burden of getting it working again.

You're free to do as you wish, but I think you're overthinking it and given the level of hardware at the cost, we have available today, it is more prudent to use the journaling file system instead.

 

[Grisu]

IMO a cheap (or old spare) external 128GB SSD for 25€ or $ will probably do a much better job than any USB stick:
faster
no 2.4GHz interferences (with good USB-cable) and
no overheating problem due to distant connection via cable.

 

[L&LD]

@Grisu, yes we have many options today.

 

[RMerlin]

Avoid any cheap USB disk. Based on my personal experience, the floor has dropped in terms of low reliability in the USB disk market. I see a lot of early failures with "discounted" USB thumbdrives, even from well known brands like Kingston and Corsair. My go-to brand these past few years has been Patriot. Out of 3-4 drives I owned, I recently had my first failure - a 5-7 years old drive that I used to carry daily in my pocket, so it went through a lot of activity.

Search the web for feedback about reliability. Those Corsair than myself and a collegue purchased (and all of which died within 3 months) turned out to have a very high failure rate based on online feedback, and NCIX also sold a lot of refurbished drives of that specific model - indicating a pretty high turnaround of under warranty failures.

You can probably get a fairly cheap 64 or 128 GB SSD these days indeed, but it might require more power.

 

[JohnD5000]

I'm running Merlin on my RT-AC86U (with 2 Aimesh RT-AC68U nodes).
I have 2 USB drives:
- 2 TB SSD drive (SanDisk Extreme Portable USB 3.1) plugged into the 3.0 USB port that I use to store data backups (I have backup software that automatically save data from 3 computers that I have)
- 2 TB physical (platters) portable drive plugged into the 2.0 USB port that stores movies, kids shows etc that my young son streams to my TVs.

Both are formatted as NTFS and I'm using Merlin stock USB setup. My memory usage is around 92-95% even though I run a very vanilla setup. I've never used scripts and such but this looks promising.I have some questions:

1) Would I perform the swap file on the SSD or Hard drive?
2) Will this drop my high memory usage? If so, what can I expect?
3) "Note: MIPS routers are limited to ext2 and ext3"... is my RT-AC86U a MIPS router or should I use ext4?
4) Do I need to convert both drives or just the drive that the swap file will be created on?
5) In post #34, EmeraldDeer recommends a disk partition method which amtm does not support creating. Is setting up multiple partitions preferred to one partition? If so, would Mini Tool Partition Wizard be used instead of L&LD method?

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

1 The SSD would be highly preferred.
2 No, but it will give the router a way to handle more memory-intensive operations without crashing.
3 I would recommend Ext4 with journalling.
4 Just the drive the swap file will be on.
5 @thelonelycoder has incorporated many more checks and balances in the meantime, including contributions from @ColinTaylor too. Use; amtm.

Again, make sure to have a safe and secure backup of your data on the drive you will put the swap file on. This is a destructive process.

 

[JohnD5000]

4 Just the drive the swap file will be on.

Again, make sure to have a safe and secure backup of your data on the drive you will put the swap file on. This is a destructive process.

Thanks for the quick reply,
1) would there be any benefit in converting both drives to ext4?
2) would these drives (or at least drive with swap) be able to read by Windows? (sometimes I plug in drive in windows to move data since it is faster than going over my network)

 

[L&LD]

1 Not if needing to read them with a Windows PC.
2 You can configure up to 3 partitions with the latest version of amtm. The Ext4 with journalling for the swap file (and any other scripts you may need, use at least 16GB to future-proof this partition) and at least one other partition formatted as NTFS (which you may need to do on a computer) for your data.

 

[JohnD5000]

1 Not if needing to read them with a Windows PC.
2 You can configure up to 3 partitions with the latest version of amtm. The Ext4 with journalling for the swap file (and any other scripts you may need, use at least 16GB to future-proof this partition) and at least one other partition formatted as NTFS (which you may need to do on a computer) for your data.

So, I should create 3 partitions, 1 for swap ext4 (how big do you recommend) 1 for scripts ext4 (16 GB) and remainder for my data NTFS? or two partions 1 16 GB for both swap and scripts and one remainder NTFS for data?

 

[JohnD5000]

I decided to try this on a 64 GB USB stick before attempting on my 2 TB SSD. I followed steps up until "The router is now able to take advantage of the USB drive and the swap file we created on it to better manage the physical RAM it has and to always use as much as possible for the task(s) it is currently focused on."

Created 2 partitions, 1st ext4 16 GB, 2nd NTFS 46 GB.
But the USB is not mounted and Tools/Memory/Swap says "no swap configured".
Here is a printout of the amtm log which looks like it worked to me. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?
Thanks

............
​

Never mind....I missed a step. Sorry.

 

[a5m]

Firstly big thanks to @RMerlin @L&LD
@Adamm @thelonelycoder @ColinTaylor and anybody else I'm forgetting for not only creating and sharing these amazing tools but for the documentation and guides to get everything up and running!

Finally built up the courage to install amtm, disk check, Entware, Skynet and Diversion (in that order). I know, installing Diversion installs Entware, but I didn't decide on that until after. Anyway, after installing Diversion it asks to confirm to reboot the router so I did that but it turned off my RT-AC86U instead. I was doing some reading on the forum waiting for it to reboot and looked up and saw all the lights were off. I pushed the power button off then on and it came back up just fine.

Curious to know if this is normal? I'm a bit OCD and it sort of threw off how smoothly and perfectly everything was going. Still all in all everything seems to be working fine and I'm very happy I decided to do this. Thanks to you all it was way easier than I expected.