Can I save config on RT-AC86U and load on RT-AX86U_PRO?

[BosseSwede]

Background:
I have a network consisting of two locations with different subnets each served by an ASUS RT-AC86U router.
The two LAN sections are connected together using an OpenVPN server running on the main LAN to which the secondary LAN router connects via the Internet.
Both routers are connected by 250/250 fiber to the Internet on different locations. They both have public IP addresses assigned from the respective ISP company. This was set up in spring a year ago and works very well.
All units on both sections "see" each other as being on the same network.

Task:
Now I am going to upgrade the router on the main LAN to RT-AX86U_PRO and I am wondering if I can save the config of the current router to file and then load that file into the new router and it will be configured identically as the old router?

It would save a lot of time and error possibilities compared to manually configuring all the settings for DHCP assignments, Port Forward, routes, VPN handling etc etc.

Any advice?

 

[Tech9]

In general you'll get an answer not to do it, but in reality it works with some exceptions and if you know the firmware differences. You always have an option to reset your router. I would say try it and see what works for you. If something doesn't work correctly after - reset and configure manually.

I've done it successfully with RT-AC86U to RT-AX86U as an experiment:

Replacing AC86U with AX86U - what about settings?

I am gonna replace an old AC86U with an AX86U. After installing merlinwrt, is there a way to "copy" my settings over? Or do I have to reconfigure the new router step by step? I'd like to keep settings, DHCP allocations etc. if possible.

www.snbforums.com

VPN you may have to reconfigure. The newer routers have VPN Fusion.

 

[ATLga]

Background:
I have a network consisting of two locations with different subnets each served by an ASUS RT-AC86U router.
The two LAN sections are connected together using an OpenVPN server running on the main LAN to which the secondary LAN router connects via the Internet.
Both routers are connected by 250/250 fiber to the Internet on different locations. They both have public IP addresses assigned from the respective ISP company. This was set up in spring a year ago and works very well.
All units on both sections "see" each other as being on the same network.

Task:
Now I am going to upgrade the router on the main LAN to RT-AX86U_PRO and I am wondering if I can save the config of the current router to file and then load that file into the new router and it will be configured identically as the old router?

It would save a lot of time and error possibilities compared to manually configuring all the settings for DHCP assignments, Port Forward, routes, VPN handling etc etc.

Any advice?

No

 

[Tech9]

No

No because you have tried it yourself or because you repeat someone else's answer? Read the post above yours.

 

[ATLga]

No because you have tried it yourself or because you repeat someone else's answer? Read the post above yours.

I read your post. I don’t repeat other people. Answer is still no.

 

[Tech9]

So you have tried it between what models? I've done it successfully between:

RT-AC68U -> RT-AC1900P
RT-AC68U -> RT-AC66U B1
RT-AC86U -> RT-AX86U
RT-AX86U -> ZenWiFi XT8

When I get RT-AX86U Pro I'll repeat the experiment between RT-AX86U and RT-AX86U Pro.

 

[L&LD]

Yawn.

The correct answer is still 'no'.

And if I remember correctly, RMerlin has stated so.

Regardless if it seems to work superficially for someone, for a certain length of time.

 

[bbunge]

Another no. There is too much difference between the AC86U and the AX86U Pro. Not worth the risk. Does not take much time to set up the AX86U Pro. I did a reset and manual config with a mesh node last night. Took me 20 minutes!

 

[Tech9]

ZenWiFi XT8 -> ZenWiFi TX9

XT9

Just taken the plunge on the XT9 after horrible issues with the XT8 a couple of years ago. Upgraded from a 4 year old Orbi, which has been flawless. Had a couple of issues after 1 day with the XT9. Slow speeds etc. Got latest firmware. Did a full factory reset, been stable for a couple of days...

www.snbforums.com

RT-AC86U -> RT-AX86S
RT-AX86U -> GT-AX6000

RT-AX86S vs RT-AX86U vs RT-AX86U Pro

When you go into the Guest Network Pro there are predefined guest networks, one being labeled IoT. The issue I encountered using this pre defined network is there was no option to disable AP isolation. In the ”normal” guest networks, the option to enable/disable AP isolation is available. I...

www.snbforums.com

For who knows what to do the correct answer is - it depends. For who doesn't - reset and reconfigure.

 

[L&LD]

For testing, anything is possible for the few short minutes of the test.

For the people using Asus routers to power their networks, the answer is still no.

 

[Tech9]

Now I am going to upgrade the router on the main LAN to RT-AX86U_PRO

By the way, for OpenVPN performance this upgrade will result in minimal improvements. For Wi-Fi coverage - perhaps similar situation, region dependent. I would replace the older RT-AC86Us for reliability concerns and firmware support, but it won't be much of upgrade on 250/250 ISP. AX-class clients to local network will have better throughput. The rest - about the same as user experience. WireGuard VPN is something new you can play with in GUI. Also available with RT-AC86U, but with custom scripts. Future Pro features firmware may add extra benefits, but it's in beta stage at the moment.

 

[BosseSwede]

I've done it successfully with RT-AC86U to RT-AX86U as an experiment:

Oh-boy, did I ignite a fire by my question....

I am grateful for your comments, they are encouraging since I am pretty tired of trying to replicate a working setup onto a new router when I have so many places to stumble on...

My current router has configurations customized for:
- Network address (3rd octet of IP setting)
- WAN MAC address (to get the public IP from my ISP on startup)
- WiFi SSID/Password, channel selection etc
- DHCP reservations for 20+ devices
- Port forward for 5 OpenVPN channels to various servers on my LAN plus Http, Subversion server and SSH
- Routing settings to make the LAN's on my two locations talk to each other
- Router login user/pwd

So I will try to set it up with WAN disconnected and with WiFi switched off using the WiFi on/off button and connecting using a cable from my laptop.
Then a test with uploading the saved config should show if it got there all right.

Question:
If I switch off WiFi can I still configure WiFi params?
I would like to change the SSID of the new router so it won't mess with all the IoT devices I have running through the main router via WiFi.

 

[BosseSwede]

By the way, for OpenVPN performance this upgrade will result in minimal improvements. For Wi-Fi coverage - perhaps similar situation, region dependent. I would replace the older RT-AC86Us for reliability concerns and firmware support, but it won't be much of upgrade on 250/250 ISP.

Well the main site was upgraded last week to 1000/1000 Mbps.
And when I was looking for a new router for another project a month or so ago I noted that the AC86U I bought only a little over a year ago for the secondary site is no longer available...
So I thought I should get a newer but similar for the main site (I hate the routers laying flat on the table). Then I found that the closest I could get was this AX86U-PRO...

 

[Tech9]

DHCP reservations for 20+ devices

Your major "work" is DHCP reservations - they are transferrable in SSH and not that many. The rest is perhaps 15-20min time done slowly. I don't know why you worry about settings transfer. In this case I would transfer the DHCP reservations only and do the rest manually. All you need is few screenshots from your RT-AC86U. VPN settings - manually for sure.

If I switch off WiFi can I still configure WiFi params?

You don't need to with Wi-Fi disabled. Enable it when you need it and configure it the way you want it. The router will start with default settings.

 

[bennor]

- DHCP reservations for 20+ devices

This is a non issue if using Asus-Merlin firmware since there are various methods of backing up DHCP manual reservations and restoring them. From YazDHCP to backing up/restoring the dhcp_staticlist and possibly the custom_clientlist. There are discussions elsewhere on methods to backup the manual DHCP reservations. Some methods should work on stock Asus firmware.

 

[BosseSwede]

OK, thanks.
I have already created the screenshots of the old router config pages so typing it back in should not be such a big deal. But I have a bad habit of typos and a MAC with one letter wrong will not work...

I guess I should not go for reading back a config from the other router anyway.
Bye.

 

[L&LD]

Screenshots are useless for quickly setting up a new router (or the same router after a reset).

Either 'Print' PDF files that you can copy and paste from, or, create text files for your input data.

 

[BosseSwede]

Screenshots are useless for quickly setting up a new router (or the same router after a reset).

Either 'Print' PDF files that you can copy and paste from, or, create text files for your input data.

I did copy the text on the router's pages for DHCP and PortForward so I have that ready to be copied from...
That should take care of the typo problem.

 

[BosseSwede]

I did copy the text on the router's pages for DHCP and PortForward so I have that ready to be copied from...
That should take care of the typo problem.

Turns out there is a different way to do it:
If I enable SSH login in the GUI then I can save the current DHCP settings simply by logging on and executing the following command:

# nvram get dhcp_staticlist > dhcpsettings.txt

Now the file dhcpsettings.txt contains the current data on the router.
So I can copy the content of the file out to my laptop and then on the new router do the inverse on the command line:

# nvram set dhcp_staticlist="the content of the saved file"

It would be nicer if I could tell the system to load the values from a file dhcpsettings.txt which I create on the target router and stuff it with the data in the original file, but doing this does not work:

# nvram set variablename=<dhcpsettings.txt

So is there a way to tell nvram to read input data from a file?
Normal Linux bash commands seem not to work fully here...

 

[ColinTaylor]

So is there a way to tell nvram to read input data from a file?
Normal Linux bash commands seem not to work fully here...

It can be done. There are numerous posts describing this process:

nvram get dhcp_staticlist > mystaticlist.txt

nvram set dhcp_staticlist="$(cat mystaticlist.txt)"