Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 beta is now available for all supported models (and a few new ones). This marks the switch to the new 386 code base from Asus, which introduces a few changes of its own:
- AiMesh 2.0 (better node management, shared Guest Networks, topology optimizer and more)
- Both AC and AX models are once again based on the same code base
- Speedtest powered by Ookla (note: can be limited by your router's CPU speed)
- Switch to OpenSSL 1.1.1 (so we can now fully move everything to 1.1.1 on our end)
- IPSEC IKEv2 support
- Instant Guard (new simple-to-configure mobile VPN client based on IPSEC)
And numerous under the hood changes, such as better Guest Network handling (the first Guest Network can now be shared with AiMesh nodes) and various other enhancements.
On Asuswrt-Merlin's own end of things, this release mark the addition of two new models:
- RT-AX86U
- Experimental support for the GT-AC2900 (done in collaboration with Asus)
The latter comes with a few caveats:
- The non-ROG webui is used (meaning some ROG-exclusive features are currently NOT supported)
- VPNFusion is not supported (as it's tied to Asus's own closed source OpenVPN implementation)
The non-ROG UI has been implemented by Asus, they also took care of adding GeForceNow QoS support to our code base. This will serve as an experiment to see if other GT models could be added in the future with their collaboration.
Upgrade notes:
- If coming from a
previous alpha build, you MUST do a factory default reset after flashing this beta firmware.
- If coming from
stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is recommended, but not mandatory.
- If
going back to stock Asus firmware, a factory default reset is STRONGLY recommended.
- If updating your
GT-AC2900 from an older 384_xxxx firmware, reformatting your JFFS partition is
STRONGLY recommended.
- Direct upgrade from 384.18 or 384.19 should be fine, but be prepared to do a factory default reset if something does not work as expected.
Here are the highlights of changes since 384.19:
- Merged with beta GPL 386_41035. Since it's a beta GPL, logging activity will be a bit more verbose than normal. Just don't panic at log entries you don't understand, not everything means that your router is not working properly. Most of this is debugging info, NOT error reporting.
- Added support for the RT-AX86U and the GT-AC2900 (the latter is experimental)
- Updated components: OpenVPN (2.5.0), OpenSSL (1.1.1h), nano (5.2), curl (7.72.0), zlib (1.2.11), lz4 (1.9.2), e2fsprogs (1.45.6), dropbear (2020.81), miniuppnpd (2.2.0-20201129 snapshot), ipset userspace (7.6, which is compatible with the kernel's v6 protocol).
- Various changes to OpenVPN to support 2.5.0, remove deprecated features (like the old ciphers setting), tweak the webui, and fix a few issues. Please review the detailed list of changes in the Changelog.
- Firmware update server is now hardcoded rather than stored in nvram, for security purposes, and check frequency changed from every 48 hours to every 24 hours
- Added an option to run the Speedtest through a specific OpenVPN client (the webui will automatically detect which client is currently running and add it to the list of available interfaces)
- fq_codel is no longer supported under Adaptive QoS, due to architectural changes made by Trend Micro, preventing Asuswrt-Merlin's previous patch from injecting fq_codel into rules generated by the Trend Micro engine.
- Fixed some ISPs that failed to renew DHCP leases when Adaptive QoS was enabled.
- Removed largely unused and outdated support for the Cloudcheck mobile app (I bet virtually none of you knew it even existed
- Improvements to the DNSPrivacy preset list implementation, and the addition of AdGuard and CIRA Canadian Shield to the list
- Increased the number of available mount points for third party web pages from 10 to 20.
- And a brand new website to better accommodate the list of supported models, and make publishing new releases easier (and more automated) for me. It was completed a few months ago, but was waiting to launch it at the same time as the first 386 beta release).
There are a number of specific areas that will require thorough testing:
- OpenVPN (note that some issues may be caused by VPN tunnel providers who haven't properly updated their own server. That was the case for PIA for instance which only recently updated their servers to be compatible with 2.5.0 clients.)
- ipset (the warning about the protocol version is normal, and just a warning telling you that the kernel supports version 6, and your ipset executable supports both version 6 and 7)
- While testing AiMesh is ok, do note that AiMesh is closed source, and therefore any issue within it are outside of my control. Reproduce the same issue with the stock firmware, and if you do, report it to Asus instead
- Everything about the RT-AX86U and GT-AC2900
Please keep discussions in this thread on this specific beta release. Off-topic posts will be either ignored, moved or deleted depending on my mood at the time.
Downloads are
here.
Changelog is
here.