"Superior" is subjective. Merlin adds options not found in stock. Stock may have security fixes Merlin doesn't yet. EtcAsus forums are saying this is good frimware, is this superior to merlins latest release?
Nice diagram. Is that your creation?Good or bad (firmware) depends on your expectations and desires.
Stock firmware in general is reliable and stable for straight forward use of the router, that is using the consumer router for the basic functions as 3-in-one "router + network switch + wireless access point" for home usage. Or even shorter: to enable wireless Internet in your home [period].
View attachment 43263
The previous firmware version did run on my router without a reset or any interaction from the release / installation date to the date of installation of the next firmware release (over 100 days).
The extra add-ons (everything listed below Network Map in General) and custom configuration through SSH usually cause the troubles.
Asuswrt-Merlin adds more features to the user interface and supports further customization beyond the stock firmware features.
Yes it is, be aware it is just a visualized functional diagram.Nice diagram. Is that your creation?
After deploying the 3.0.0.4.386.49703 firmware update manually through the web interface, the router locked up and failed to restart successfully. Could I have left it longer? Perhaps. But with no feedback on progress after the normal firmware update time and being patient thereafter, it certainly seemed to have failed.
I manually reset and restored to factory defaults, then reapplied the update.
It eventually completed the update and I restored my settings, but I ended up with problems with DDNS not connecting to NoIP automatically and OpenDNS failing to function anymore. The router locked up again once afterwards and that was enough for me, combined with the DDNS and OpeVPN issues to decide to roll back to the previous firmware release which was stable and functioning well.
Manually re-entering all the settings is not an option I am willing to perform except as an absolute last resort.
IMHO, if a successfully applied firmware update cannot accept the previous firmware's router settings, either during the update process, or from a restore file, then I would consider it a flawed implementation.
Using a restore file from a prior firmware version is not recommended at all. Go back to the prior firmware to use the restore file or bite the bullet and reset with initialize and fumble finger the settings back in.After deploying the 3.0.0.4.386.49703 firmware update manually through the web interface, the router locked up and failed to restart successfully. Could I have left it longer? Perhaps. But with no feedback on progress after the normal firmware update time and being patient thereafter, it certainly seemed to have failed.
I manually reset and restored to factory defaults, then reapplied the update.
It eventually completed the update and I restored my settings, but I ended up with problems with DDNS not connecting to NoIP automatically and OpenDNS failing to function anymore. The router locked up again once afterwards and that was enough for me, combined with the DDNS and OpeVPN issues to decide to roll back to the previous firmware release which was stable and functioning well.
Manually re-entering all the settings is not an option I am willing to perform except as an absolute last resort.
IMHO, if a successfully applied firmware update cannot accept the previous firmware's router settings, either during the update process, or from a restore file, then I would consider it a flawed implementation.
RT-AC68U
2.4 GHz Network Name: xxx1
Network Key: yyy1
5 GHz Network Name: xxx2
Network Key: yyy2
Advanced Settings - Wireless - General - 2.4 GHz
Channel bandwidth: 20 MHz
Control Channel: 6 (or 1 or 11)
Advanced Settings - Wireless - WPS
Enable WPS: OFF
Advanced Settings - Wireless - Professional - 2.4 GHz
Modulation Scheme: Up to MCS 7 (802.11n)
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Explicit Beamforming: Disable
Universal Beamforming: Disable
Advanced Settings - Wireless - Professional - 5 GHz
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Universal Beamforming: Disable
Advanced Settings - LAN - LAN IP
Host Name: router1
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Advanced Settings - LAN - DHCP Server
IP Pool Starting Address: 192.168.1.3 (3 because there is a Media Bridge with address 2)
Advanced Settings - WAN - Internet Connection
Enable UPnP: No
Advanced Settings - Administration - System
USB Mode: USB 2.0
Time Zone: (GMT+1:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern
DST time zone changes starts: month = 3, weekday = 5th Sun, 2 hours
DST time zone changes ends: month = 10, weekday = 5th Sun, 3 hours
USB application - Servers Center - Media Server
Enable UPnP Media Server: OFF
USB application - Servers Center - Media Server
Network Printer Server
Network Printer Server: OFF
I made a Javascript in tampermonkey to automate all configs. Honestly as a software engineer I find appalling how a proper parser to/from nvram settings hasn't been made. With the ammount of router reboots it really is a pain in the butt and takes forever to finish the configuration.You shall really (yes REALLY) keep other means of your configuration besides the backup file.
As said restoring the backup file only (yes ONLY) works with the firmware version it was made with.
Make screenshots of the configuration changes you make from Factory Defaults or even better to my opinion: keep a simple text file with all the changes you make.
Like this:
Code:RT-AC68U 2.4 GHz Network Name: xxx1 Network Key: yyy1 5 GHz Network Name: xxx2 Network Key: yyy2 Advanced Settings - Wireless - General - 2.4 GHz Channel bandwidth: 20 MHz Control Channel: 6 (or 1 or 11) Advanced Settings - Wireless - WPS Enable WPS: OFF Advanced Settings - Wireless - Professional - 2.4 GHz Modulation Scheme: Up to MCS 7 (802.11n) Airtime Fairness: Disable Explicit Beamforming: Disable Universal Beamforming: Disable Advanced Settings - Wireless - Professional - 5 GHz Airtime Fairness: Disable Universal Beamforming: Disable Advanced Settings - LAN - LAN IP Host Name: router1 IP Address: 192.168.1.1 Advanced Settings - LAN - DHCP Server IP Pool Starting Address: 192.168.1.3 (3 because there is a Media Bridge with address 2) Advanced Settings - WAN - Internet Connection Enable UPnP: No Advanced Settings - Administration - System USB Mode: USB 2.0 Time Zone: (GMT+1:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern DST time zone changes starts: month = 3, weekday = 5th Sun, 2 hours DST time zone changes ends: month = 10, weekday = 5th Sun, 3 hours USB application - Servers Center - Media Server Enable UPnP Media Server: OFF USB application - Servers Center - Media Server Network Printer Server Network Printer Server: OFF
Asuswrt does all of these, including converting old format to new format when required. It happened when they enabled password encryption, or when the storage format for Parental Control schedulers got changed. This is done by the code inside router/rc/format.c in the source code.There are new settings? Load default values for those ones.
There are deprecated settings? Just ignore them.
There are settings that changed? Transform those to the new schema. Not possible? Load default ones.
And I'd hope this is automated in some way also. Not everyone will read the changelog or understand it. If you have auto update on, this would be a blocker. I say that because if a reset is required, the upgrade should force it, then your router would suddenly not be working. This is a tricky scenario.If a factory default reset is truly needed (for instance when Asus changes the size of the nvram storage), it is explicitly documented in their changelog.
I doubt you mean here that the factory default reset should be done automatically...And I'd hope this is automated in some way also.
Their auto-update mechanism allows them to specify a minimal version. That way, if for example 388_20000 required a factory default reset when coming from 386_xxxxx, they could set the minimal version for an auto-update to 388_10000, requiring you to manually update it if ou haven't already upgraded to a 388 build.If you have auto update on, this would be a blocker.
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