I wanted to just have a peek at the latest ASUS firmware for my RT-AX88U Pro and also check my procedure for running BACKUPMON, so after installing the stock firmware, I did the following to return to Merlin with the latest firmware:
- Uploaded the latest Merlin firmware to my router.
- After a basic setup, restored to factory defaults via the GUI.
- Reset the router with the button on the hardware.
- Did a WPS button reset.
After this, I used the following procedure, which is the BACKUPMON instructions tailored to my particular situation. Note, this is from memory, so I hope I've listed this correctly, but it did work flawlessly:
IMPORTANT:
Asus Router Model: RT-AX88U_Pro [check before proceeding - see WARNING below]
Firmware/Build Number: [check before proceeding - see WARNING below]
EXT USB Drive Label Name: SanDiskSSD [this needs to be the same as it was when the backups were made]
WARNING: Do NOT attempt to restore if your Asus Router Model or Firmware/Build Numbers differ from your backups!
Please ensure your have performed the following before restoring your backups:
1.) Enable SSH and JFFS custom scripts and configs in the router's GUI if not already enabled.
Remember to change the default SSH port from the default 22 to something else for security reasons.
2.) Connect to the router via an SSH Terminal (like Xshell).
3.) Enter "amtm" at the command prompt and install amtm if it has not already been installed.
4.) From within amtm enter "fd" to format the connected USB drive to Ext 4 (recommended) on your router.
Label it with exactly the same name as when the backups were made by BACKUPMON (see above)!
5.) Enter "dc" to run the disc-checker script and after the router has been rebooted, check the disc-checker log by entering "dcl".
6.) If everything seems OK with the USB drive, SSH back in to amtm and create a swap file (if required).
7.) Connect to the router using WinSCP or similar, then,
8.) Restore the backupmon.sh & backupmon.cfg files (located under your backup folder) into your /jffs/scripts folder.
9.) Add additional permissions for the two backupmon files to the same as the other files in the scripts folder.
Failure to do this will result in permission-denied errors when you try to restore your backup.
10.) Exit WinSCP and reconnect via Xshell (if they are what you are using).
11.) Once back in amtm, you should see BACKUPMON listed as being installed.
Enter "bm" from the menu to open it and choose "manual restore"
12.) If everything has been set up correctly, you should see a list of folders containing your backups.
13.) Choose the one you want and after the restore finishes, perform another reboot. Everything should be restored as normal!