[beta] Dual WAN helper script (discontinued)

[thelonelycoder]

One question I do have: if I switch off the "ping" option to get some stability, will the router semi reliably failover and then failback? I assume that the ping was to establish that the primary WAN was working again, so how would it do that otherwise?

Free ping pong and it even raises your blood pressure without breaking a sweat!

Switch the ping off, the script should handle that part. If it still works...

 

[darkfinger]

Free ping pong and it even raises your blood pressure without breaking a sweat!

Switch the ping off, the script should handle that part. If it still works...

Thanks!

 

[darkfinger]

I've played with Dual WAN for a couple of days now. None of the configurations I've tried have ended up working. Seems hopelessly broken on 384.3 (not saying it's Merlin that's broken -- it's identical on the latest ASUS f/w too).

I thought I might try going back to the legacy 380.69_2. But I can't find it to download for my 86u.

 

[RMerlin]

I thought I might try going back to the legacy 380.69_2. But I can't find it to download for my 86u.

The RT-AC86U didn't exist back then, it was launched with firmware 382.

 

[peraburek]

@darkfinger - please open Support ticket with Asus account I think they call it Asus VIP support or something like that

We need much more complaints in order to push Asus to do something

DualWan is broken for sure here is the list what doesn't work (tested) wih latest Asus original firmware

For Load Balancing mode
load balancing is not working properly
policy routing is not working properly

For Failover mode
failover doesn't work properly
failback doesn't work properly
ping watchdog doesn't work properly

I have opened a few tickets with Asus support already, and I they have asked for syslog and I have sent them complete log

I have written them step-by-step description how to replicate problem (bug) every time (there are no exceptions) so it is clearly a bug

Since I have 5 Asus AC68U I have asked Asus to send me written confirmation that Asus DualWan feature is not working, so I can return Asus routers to my dealer in order to get money back and order Synology routers, their DualWan feature called SmartWAN simply works.

Asus told me they will try to fix DualWAN until end of March 2018, but personally I highly doubt that. There are so many things wrong with Asus DualWan implementation, they need more manpower and more time to fix all major bugs related to DualWan, not to mention smaller bugs for example port forwarding in dualwan scenario, or separate dyndns for wan1 and wan2 etc.

Gut feeling tells me they will asign one person to work on this ticket just in order to avoid sending written confirmation DualWan is broken and giving money back for 5 routers.

Their solution could probably work to some extent, still a lot of the things will be still broken, but they will concentrate on Asus mesh and other new marketing bs features, while features already built in are missing funcionality in everyday life.

On top of that, Asus support is highly buerocratic. They told me I can't get support for LTE dongle listed as supported by Asus. I have asked them why, and they told me: it is not supported in your country. On Asus 3g/4g supported dongles list, the very same dongle is supported if you are in Sweden. So I have asked them, lets pretend I live in Stockholm, can you fix your own bug in that case?

Or do I really need to move to Sweden just in order that Asus fix their own bugs?

I could start crowdfunding campaing just as proof-of-concept in order to spread the word and humiliate such "we don't give a f##k attitude"

They have ignored the question, but if you thing reasonably about this "supported but not in your country problem, even though it is officialy listed as supported" it leaves bad feeling like they are pissing on common sense. It could be this is support daily practice.

 

[darkfinger]

The RT-AC86U didn't exist back then, it was launched with firmware 382.

Thanks Merlin

 

[e_lasman]

I'm running 384.4_2 on AC68U and dual-wan works just fine. However I'd like to update public IP whenever failover happens and it looks like /jffs/scripts/wan-start isn't being called when "Connected" switches to "Hot-standby". Can anyone suggest better script which is being called on a such switch?

 

[peraburek]

@e_lasman

what setup do you use?
Primary WAN - DHCP, PPPoE, etc.
Secondary WAN - WAN, USB, Ethernet LAN ?

your dual-wan settings :

Allow failback - checked or unchecked
Detect Interval - ?
Failover Execution Time - ?
Enable Ping to Internet - Yes or No

I am pretty sure failover (with failback) does NOT work, because I have tested it in every possible configuration (DHCP, PPPoE, etc.)
failover is as stupid as it gets, it only detects "cable disconnected" which makes "Enable Ping to Internet" useless

Asus is denying obvious issues, I have explained them how to reproduce bugs (problems) every time without exception

 

[e_lasman]

I've WAN & Eth1 both PPPoE and failover works fine. "Allow failback" is disabled, otherwise it switches back and forth every 10-15 seconds making whole stuff unusable, though pri and sec provides are the same so I don't really care. Other params are:
detect 5, failover exec 6, ping yes to amazon.com
The only problem I see now is that since "spare" connection remains in "hot standby" the script in /jffs/scripts/wan-start isn't being called whan failover happens. The script should update IP address at freedns.afraid.org and this is not happening

 

[PF68]

Hey guys, what a piece of crap this dual wan... moved my 87u to the latest Merlin firmware mainly to get a bit more stability and extra funtionality... was not expecting much help with dual wan though... and judging by some posts I've seen Asus Support will not help much either...

I just wished I read this forum before actually buying my Asus 87u... Everything runs beautifully on HTML ...

Right now I would be happy If I could manually turn my USB modem in "Cold Standby" state as my Primary WAN... Sometimes it gets into "Hot Standby" state and other times in "Cold Standby" without any change on the USB modem state whatsoever... at least none that I can perceive... There should be an easy way from the interface to manually force any of the available connections as the Primary WAN, either from "Hot Standby" or "Cold Standby" states... because this doesn't happen automatically... not in a reliable, predictable or consistent way anyway...

My USB modem (actually an USB LTE Router) should actually be the Primary WAN... I actually gave up on using my old Wireless ADSL router as backup ... it offers low speed anyway... and as I already mentioned Dual Wan or Load Balancing doesn't work anyway... Load Balancing was a mess... it actually made things worst... I didn't even made the effort to set out routing rules... I want it to dynamically distribute the connection requests based on the defined weights and not on static rules... probably with some routing rules it would work but for me this defeats the whole purpose... We end up manually and artificially simulating some basic form of "load balancing"...

What's even more stupid is that I actually have to use Dual WAN so that the 87u properly connects / uses the USB modem... If I disable Dual WAN the USB modem goes into "Cold Standby" state and I find no way to activate it!

In order to make it work, I have to enable Dual WAN, declare the USB modem first as Secondary WAN, reboot, and after confirming it is working I can then declare it as Primary, and reboot again. Honest... I'm completely lost... this seems to defeat any logic...

Sorry for the somewhat long text. Hopefully clear enough. I'd appreciate any tips, particularly on how to actually activate a USB Modem connection in standby state. I don't mind keeping the dual wan mode, even if I only use one ISP... I just wished it would reliably and consistently work...

I'm open to try the mentioned script, but I don't think it will help with the transition of the USB Modem from Standby to Primary.

 

[peraburek]

@e_lasman and @PF68

register your router here - https://account.asus.com
open ticket with ASUS support and tell them it is not working
install latest Firmware, do factory reset, after issue appears export syslog (LOG) and send them
you need to send them admin password as well, so they can test this issue

be sure to tell them to forward your complaint(s) to Firmware Development Team
it is firmware bug (poor coding) so they need to fix it on firmware level (software)
don't give up, otherwise they will continue to ignore dual-wan issues, and push asus ai mesh and other bs

Asus support sent me some "romantic" video where everything is working

here is how it "works" in reality
dual wan is going back to non-working Primary WAN every 30 seconds (or whatever period you have defined in failback)

syslog is full of errors like "WAN Connection: Fail to connect with some issues."

router Asus RT-AC68U
Firmware Version: 3.0.0.4.384_20648 (Asus latest @ 20th May 2018)

 

[PF68]

Thanks perabuck! I'll give it a try with the latest Asus Firmware and let's see how it goes. I'm somewhow a bit skeptic. For sure I'll need to loose some time with a few tickets without this beeing solved any time soon... but at least one tries... maybe if enough people nags them they will actually make something about it... maybe...

Meanwhile I found out that if I manually set Primary WAN (USB Modem) to "Off" and then "On" it transitions from "Cold Standby" to "Hot Standby". Then because this is in Dual WAN mode, if I do "On"+"Off" on the Secondary WAN (Cable unplugged) it manually forces a failover to the Primary and it then eventually connects... It's like Dual WAN needs some strong hints to actually failover as needed...

I see nothing obvious in the syslog... let's see what Asus people have to say about it...

 

[peraburek]

@PF68 - I agree, if we had SSH command to switch WAN interface we could create script that would work much better then asus dual (full of bugs) wan

We have to fight our way with asus support, until they realize that issue really exist, and it needs to be addressed

 

[peraburek]

hello @thelonelycoder

I have finally got somebody in ASUS to take a look at ticket I have opened regarding Dual WAN issues

I have asked them, how can I switch connection manually, and they wrote me following:

Switchto Primary WAN：

nvram set wan0_primary=1
nvram set wan1_primary=0
rc rc_service 'restart_wan_if 0'

Switch to Secondary WAN：

nvram set wan0_primary=0
nvram set wan1_primary=1
rc rc_service 'restart_wan_if 1'

are you willing to test & update your script?

in case of FAIL-OVER (from Primary WAN to Secondary WAN) how can we do background test (ping to certain IP address for example) to be sure Primary WAN is working before doing FAIL-BACK from Secondary WAN to Primary WAN

 

[thelonelycoder]

hello @thelonelycoder

I have finally got somebody in ASUS to take a look at ticket I have opened regarding Dual WAN issues

I have asked them, how can I switch connection manually, and they wrote me following:

Switchto Primary WAN：

nvram set wan0_primary=1
nvram set wan1_primary=0
rc rc_service 'restart_wan_if 0'

Switch to Secondary WAN：

nvram set wan0_primary=0
nvram set wan1_primary=1
rc rc_service 'restart_wan_if 1'

are you willing to test & update your script?

in case of FAIL-OVER (from Primary WAN to Secondary WAN) how can we do background test (ping to certain IP address for example) to be sure Primary WAN is working before doing FAIL-BACK from Secondary WAN to Primary WAN

I figured the nvram commands out a long time ago and it does not change the fact that the Wanduck code still does it's own checks and switches forth and back. The manual setting is simply ignored when I run that code.

So, no new things to test for me. They have to fix it at their end.

 

[peraburek]

So, no new things to test for me. They have to fix it at their end.

I agree, here is answer I got from ASUS HQ

Here is the Answer from our HQ:

First of all, our dual wan does not use watchdog. We used other process “WANduck”.
So change the watchdog behavior will not affect failover and failback.
In many countries, wan suddenly disconnect few mini seconds is normal condition but do not affect network surfing.
So our default principle is not to immediately do failover and failback. We test many times to make sure the primary wan status then take action.
WANDUCK use the following condition and not only cable status.

Check the psychical connection.
Check if router get the WAN IP.
Check default route
(Optional) Check ping status. (enable the ping will increase the detection time to 4 seconds per time.
(Optional) Check DNS. Wan type must be PPPoE and Internet detection set to DNS probe.

WANDUCK = Asus check that gets nothing right

WATCHDOG = WAN->DUAL WAN->Enable Ping to Internet (Yes) with defined Target (whatever domain or IP address)

the problem is, ASUS has not integrated WATCHDOG with FAIL-BACK so dual-wan fail-back logic is severely broken
router is not checking if primary wan interface is working properly before switching from secondary wan to primary wan

 

[andrusha7778]

Hi all! I have a lot issues with asus Dual wan, especially with LTE (huawei e3372). My last working config was pri wan on wan port, secondary wan on eth4 (it was old mikrotik with lte module, works much better). But the problem is that when lte moden has broken physically (was broken by hands) my AC68 starts to switch between interfaces and shows that "ISP DHCP does not working properly" on both interfaces.
So, anybody... is there ANY WAY to make dulawan with failover and failback? Can somebody post working config for AC68U?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi all! I have a lot issues with asus Dual wan, especially with LTE (huawei e3372). My last working config was pri wan on wan port, secondary wan on eth4 (it was old mikrotik with lte module, works much better). But the problem is that when lte moden has broken physically (was broken by hands) my AC68 starts to switch between interfaces and shows that "ISP DHCP does not working properly" on both interfaces.
So, anybody... is there ANY WAY to make dulawan with failover and failback? Can somebody post working config for AC68U?

There are numerous flaws and bugs in the closed source software and the open pieces sprinkled troughout the remaining open source parts. It is impossible for non-Asus coders to fix them.
Trial and error is the only way. My script cannot fix these issues. That is the reason I stopped development.

 

[peraburek]

Hi all! I have a lot issues with asus Dual wan, especially with LTE (huawei e3372). My last working config was pri wan on wan port, secondary wan on eth4 (it was old mikrotik with lte module, works much better). But the problem is that when lte moden has broken physically (was broken by hands) my AC68 starts to switch between interfaces and shows that "ISP DHCP does not working properly" on both interfaces.
So, anybody... is there ANY WAY to make dulawan with failover and failback? Can somebody post working config for AC68U?

@andrusha7778

register your router here - https://account.asus.com
open ticket with Asus support and write them DualWAN is not working!
install latest Asus Firmware, do factory reset, after issue appears export syslog (LOG) and send them
you need to send them admin password as well, so they can test this issue

be sure to tell them to forward your complaint(s) to Firmware Development Team
it is firmware bug (poor coding) so they need to fix it on firmware level (software)
don't give up, otherwise they will continue to ignore dual-wan issues, and push asus ai mesh and other bs

there is no working config for DualWAN on AC68U, because Asus DualWAN (wanduck) code is full of bugs
Asus has to fix this, otherwise it will never work, but they won't do this if we don't create enough pressure on them

I guess you have Primary WAN = DHCP (cable modem providing Public IP?) and Secondary WAN = USB 3G/4G Stick (Huawei E3372)

there is problem with Failover - it does NOT work in WAN1=DHCP without enable "Enable ping to Internet" and target set to something like 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1
there is problem with Failback - it does NOT work properly, because it is switching working connection (secondary wan) to non-working connection (primary wan) every X seconds, without even testing if Primary WAN works (ICMP target test)

there are ton of other problems with Asus DualWAN code (Load Balancing is not working properly, policy routing is not working properly etc.)
Asus is doing DNS probing as a test, DNS probing target is dns.msftncsi.com - this is NOT working reliably, so even you don't have connection Asus router does nothing
they should switch to ICMP (ping) as probing method, and multiple targets in order to prevent false-positives

if you want working DualWAN, Synology routers RT1900ac or RT2600ac can do that, Synology calls this Smart WAN and it WORKS

it has to be configured properly (interface check enabled, gateway check disabled - because some ISP blocks ICMP ping to gateway IP, so you should use 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 and 208.67.222.222) and it will work very reliably

 

[peraburek]

update: after MONTHS of e-mailing with ASUS support, recording videos and doing tests in order to show them that Dual WAN is NOT working

the HQ told me that a new Beta FW is coming in two months to fix many of the DUAL WAN Bugs.

lets cross fingers and hope for the best