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

[abir1909]

Yes, I would not use the router like that. If you depend on the network to be stable and reliable.

To answer your question above, two partitions.

Good luck.

Got it. Thanks a lot.

 

[bsod]

Glad the guide is still useful! You're welcome.

I'm going to guess a few things here that aren't 100% clear right now, please confirm or fix my assumptions!

What firmware is your RT-AC86U running?

Did you do the hotfix for amtm that @thelonelycoder recently released?

What scripts, features, and other customizations are you running on your router past the suggested defaults?

Is the main drive where the scripts live? Or do they live where the swap file is installed on?

What model and capacity drives are you using? Are you regularly and heavily using the 'data' drive? What is the normal use of the data drive?

Are the two drives using more power (combined) than the USB ports can deliver (at their max)? What are the specs for the drives? Particularly with regards to power (maximum).

Not all USB drives are compatible with all Asus routers (even between Asus models, for some drives). Can you try different manufacturers to find a more compatible drive (this is hit or miss, there is no list to consult)?

How about using a UGreen external enclosure and an SSD instead? That option works the best, overall.

Depending on the answers to some of the questions above, your best path forward may be a dedicated NAS instead for the 'data' USB drive. But, let's cross that bridge if/when we get to it.

Thanks for your help!
I actually have a home server for data, I don't really know why I called the USB data too but it's only being used to install entware (and entware packages) too via amtm.

I have various USB drives, some SanDisk from 3 different eras, some Corsair but they are all doing the same thing with the swap file. Something about the USB 2.0 port is making these devices undetectable after a reboot unless I replug them back in. The USB disks all work fine, and it I move the drive I'm currently using in the USB 3.0 port to the USB 2.0 port (using another drive in it's place) the drive does the same thing.

It seems to be connected to using a swap file because if I keep the drive just for entware instead it works okay.

I've attached my scripts and version. I have the latest version of everything. I tried the hotfix with a fresh install just now and the same problem happens.

Is it really a big deal if I just keep swap and the installed packages on the same drive? My original plan was to have a dedicated swap drive and dedicated entware drive but it's causing me issues.

Would I be better trying the swap file on the USB 3 port instead?

Do you think an enclosure and SSD is worth the money? I do have an old 2.5 HDD I could buy an enclosure for, would that work okay?

I'm happy to cut down my script use to only one or two if need be. I do like unbound but can always use stubby, skynet I'm not too worried about, it's more diversion that is important to me.

 

[trevcharm]

hi all!

i'm having problems trying to initialise my first run of amtm using the guide in the OP.
i'm not very experienced with configuring routers at all, most of the discussions and details go over my head.
my larger goal in tweaking my router setup is to get yaz fi working so that i can have certain ssid's set to send all traffic either via vpn or to bypass vpn.

I'm using an rt-ac86u with merlin 386.3_2, i'm using putty 0.76 on win 10, ssh over 5ghz wifi. i have a formatted (to ntfs) 1gb usb flash drive plugged in to the usb2.0 port on the back of the asus.

just to note - "Type '/jffs/scripts/amtm' without the quotes and hit Enter" didn't work, but just typing amtm did. i know current versions of merlin have it built in, but i thought the full command might work anyway as well.

it first gave me the choice of what colour scheme to use, and then gave this error (and gives this error on subsequent runs of amtm since):

https://ptpimg.me/856g6z.png

however the devices currently connected to the router all have working internet access with no issues, with all traffic going through vpn client 1 at the moment.

i've tried reddit and whirlpool forums for some advice so far (

https://www.reddit.com/r/Asus_Merlin/comments/plkezn/settings_to_easily_split_vpn_wan_on_an_asus/

and https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9lkn50q3?r=69888465#r69888465), but have been recommended to ask here with this particular issue so i signed up today.

thanks in advance for any help and suggestions!

 

[thelonelycoder]

t first gave me the choice of what colour scheme to use, and then gave this error (and gives this error on subsequent runs of amtm since):

The error message is quite clear, the router cannot resolve the two domains. Find out why.

 

[trevcharm]

yes, that is the reason i'm posting here. i have no idea why, or how to find out.

 

[thelonelycoder]

yes, that is the reason i'm posting here. i have no idea why, or how to find out.

Start by seeing where resolving stops from the router level.
In the SSH terminal enter

traceroute diversion.ch

The last successful hop is where it goes no further, post the output, with info you have.
Also, can you open the Diversion Website in a browser on a device connected to that router.
Open a command line terminal on that device and enter tracert diversion.ch (for Windows machines) or traceroute diversion.ch in a MAC.

 

[trevcharm]

thank you.

typing the address "diversion.ch" works in firefox (on my win 10 PC, connected to that router).

here is the win10 command prompt tracert result, and the putty traceroute result:

 

[thelonelycoder]

thank you.

typing the address "diversion.ch" works in firefox (on my win 10 PC, connected to that router).

here is the win10 command prompt tracert result, and the putty traceroute result:

Post the output of the following from your Windows PC:

ipconfig/all

Looks like your router does not route traffic properly.
Try disabling your VPN and run amtm again.

 

[trevcharm]

ipconfig /all:

 

[trevcharm]

oh - after disabling my vpn, amtm initialised and gave me a different options screen! formatting my usb drive to ext4 now.

edit: i got it working now! thanks so much for your help, i'm not sure why my vpn was causing issues like that but it's all working well now

 

[MrSweetE90]

This is a great start for anyone new, I was contemplating creating a thread because I couldn't seem to find anything that started from scratch. With that said, can I check something. I have the Asus AC88U and while installing Diversion I got to the step where it asks you to modify the IP Pool start and end address and the AC88U has 192.168.50.x address, nonetheless I kept the 50 and changed the end of the IP to 2 and end on 3. However, on the next step 192.168.50.2 wasn't a reserved address. I then quickly found another thread where somebody mentioned the LAN IP address, so I changed that to from the 192.168.50.x to 192.168.1.3, then I changed the start and end pool to diversions example but again it said 192.168.1.2 isn't reserved, however, 192.168.1.1 was fine. Everything seems okay, my new router address is now 192.168.1.3 but I just wanted to check as this didn't appear to follow diversions example.

 

[L&LD]

Try the following instead.

Put the router's LAN IP, IP address at 192.168.1.254.

Put the LAN DHCP Server's scope to:
Starting Address: 192.168.1.51
Ending Address: 192.168.1. 150

The above will put your router's address to 192.168.1.254.

All the DHCP clients that attach will be given an address between 192.168.1.51 to 192.168.1.150. So, for 100 client devices.

You will be able to use 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.50 for Diversion. (And also the range 192.168.1.151 to 192.168.1.253 too).

 

[thelonelycoder]

This is a great start for anyone new, I was contemplating creating a thread because I couldn't seem to find anything that started from scratch. With that said, can I check something. I have the Asus AC88U and while installing Diversion I got to the step where it asks you to modify the IP Pool start and end address and the AC88U has 192.168.50.x address, nonetheless I kept the 50 and changed the end of the IP to 2 and end on 3. However, on the next step 192.168.50.2 wasn't a reserved address. I then quickly found another thread where somebody mentioned the LAN IP address, so I changed that to from the 192.168.50.x to 192.168.1.3, then I changed the start and end pool to diversions example but again it said 192.168.1.2 isn't reserved, however, 192.168.1.1 was fine. Everything seems okay, my new router address is now 192.168.1.3 but I just wanted to check as this didn't appear to follow diversions example.

View attachment 39280

Wrong.
1. On the LAN - LAN IP page set the IP Address back to 192.168.50.1
2. On the LAN - DHCP Server page set the IP Pool Starting Address to 192.168.50.3, just as it says in the description.
3. In Diversion go to ep, 5 and change the pixelserv-tls IP to 192.168.50.2

 

[MrSweetE90]

Wrong.
1. On the LAN - LAN IP page set the IP Address back to 192.168.50.1
2. On the LAN - DHCP Server page set the IP Pool Starting Address to 192.168.50.3, just as it says in the description.
3. In Diversion go to ep, 5 and change the pixelserv-tls IP to 192.168.50.2

I'll do that now, can I ask however. Being's as the settings above look exactly the same as it originally was, why would it work this time? Also, by changing 50 to 1 so my IP's are 192.168.1.x what affect has this had on the network, everything "appears" to be working okay including the YouTube ad blocking which was nice to witness

 

[L&LD]

You had originally put the DHCP Starting and Ending addresses as .2 and .3. No other devices could join (via DHCP). And you used the .3 as the router's address. Which left the .2 as the device you used to configure the router with. And, no other addresses are available (via DHCP) at that point.

 

[MrSweetE90]

You had originally put the DHCP Starting and Ending addresses as .2 and .3. No other devices could join (via DHCP). And you used the .3 as the router's address. Which left the .2 as the device you used to configure the router with. And, no other addresses are available (via DHCP) at that point.

I literally figured that out as I was setting it back up again, I wasn't entirely sure what it meant by having a start and end pool of 2 and 3 but you confirmed what I guessed because I was daydreaming after your reply and my sons oculus quest wouldn't get an ip address but connected straight away when I changed dhcp to static. Last but not least I hope, but was there any dominos affects of changing 50 to 1?

 

[L&LD]

No, you can change the .50 to anything you want. At the most, you may need to reboot the router and certain client devices to get them to see the new IP.

I do not use the .50.x or the 1.x defaults for any of my customers' (or my) networks. Each network has a unique setup.

This is an easy way for me to tell when a router has been reset too (inadvertently by the customer, or, by a rogue teen).

 

[TheLyppardMan]

I did have my RT-AX88U set to 10.0.4.1 (router), 10.0.4.100-199 (IP Pool Range) and used 10.0.4.200-254 for any static, manually-assigned IP range devices (such as my NAS), but when my BT Smart Hub 2 arrived with my new Full Fibre 500 service, I decided to set my RT-AX88U to match the SH2 range, which would simplify swapping the devices over if I had to use the BT device in the event of a fault on my ASUS router. So my settings are now as follows: 192.168.1.2 is reserved for the pixelserv IP blocking address, 192.168.1.3 is for the non-ad-blocking IP address, 192.168.100-199 is now my IP Pool Range, 192.168.1. 200-253 is for any manually-assigned IP range devices and 192.168.1.254 is the router's IP address.

 

[MrSweetE90]

No, you can change the .50 to anything you want. At the most, you may need to reboot the router and certain client devices to get them to see the new IP.

I do not use the .50.x or the 1.x defaults for any of my customers' (or my) networks. Each network has a unique setup.

This is an easy way for me to tell when a router has been reset too (inadvertently by the customer, or, by a rogue teen).

Great to know, its all back to normal now and I'm sort of glad things never went perfectly, I find it's when things go wrong and you have to question things when you start to understand better. I'm going to have a mooch at some other scripts now, before I go to the dedicated Div

I did have my RT-AX88U set to 10.0.4.1 (router), 10.0.4.100-199 (IP Pool Range) and used 10.0.4.200-254 for any static, manually-assigned IP range devices (such as my NAS), but when my BT Smart Hub 2 arrived with my new Full Fibre 500 service, I decided to set my RT-AX88U to match the SH2 range, which would simplify swapping the devices over if I had to use the BT device in the event of a fault on my ASUS router. So my settings are now as follows: 192.168.1.2 is reserved for the pixelserv IP blocking address, 192.168.1.3 is for the non-ad-blocking IP address, 192.168.100-199 is now my IP Pool Range, 192.168.1. 200-253 is for any manually-assigned IP range devices and 192.168.1.254 is the router's IP address.

Can you elaborate on the pixelserv IP blocking address? You have 2 as your reserved pixelserv address and use 3 for non ad blocking, how do you then choose between them?

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Great to know, its all back to normal now and I'm sort of glad things never went perfectly, I find it's when things go wrong and you have to question things when you start to understand better. I'm going to have a mooch at some other scripts now, before I go to the dedicated Div

Can you elaborate on the pixelserv IP blocking address? You have 2 as your reserved pixelserv address and use 3 for non ad blocking, how do you then choose between them?

Everything goes through Diversion/pixelserv, except for any devices I add to the LAN/DNSFilter list (see screenshots).