ChannelHog - Monitor And Force Maximum 5GHz Bandwidth

[L&LD]

From post 1 of this thread.

ChannelHog will monitor your current 5GHz channel bandwidth on a daily basis and if it detects anything lower then 160MHz it will restart the 5Ghz radio. This script also includes optional Discord notification support.

Note: Your clients will temporarily be disconnected from the 5GHz band in the event of a restart, this usally takes 1-2 minutes and occurs at 4.45am.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Could this script be used to restart the Wifi when DFS is detected?
My Wifi is running on channel 120, but several times a month it "detects" DFS (probably a false positive) and moves to channel 36 or so and stays there.
Could this script detect it and restart 5GHz?

I've just posted a script here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ax86u-doesnt-switch-back-to-dfs-channel.77728/post-784233

 

[Adamm]

I've just posted a script here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ax86u-doesnt-switch-back-to-dfs-channel.77728/post-784233

Looks a stripped-down channelhog on a faster cronjob? I think a pull request could have been the more collaborative approach if you found any bugs.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Looks a stripped-down channelhog on a faster cronjob?

No, it's just a script I wrote for myself over a year ago. I created it independently without reference to ChannelHog.

I think a pull request could have been the more collaborative approach if you found any bugs.

I've never used ChannelHog as it doesn't (AFAIK) address the problem I was trying to solve.

 

[Adamm]

I've pushed v1.1.2 which should solve the issue for the XT8. For any other affected models please post the output of;

[ -z "$(nvram get odmpid)" ] && model="$(nvram get productid)" || model="$(nvram get odmpid)"; echo $model

 

[RMerlin]

Why, is it the complexity introduced by Asus, or Broadcom?

Might be a hardware design issue that was worked around through software (PCI express devices not connected to the expected lanes or enumerating in the wrong order), I don't know.

 

[visortgw]

Quick question: Does ChannelHog survive a router reboot, or do I need to add a cron job (as in "sh /jffs/addons/channelhog/channelhog.sh start") to run shortly after boot?

 

[Yota]

Might be a hardware design issue that was worked around through software (PCI express devices not connected to the expected lanes or enumerating in the wrong order), I don't know.

Your guess is sound, they probably wouldn't be worth re-changing the hardware for such a small mistake, which reminds me of the RT-N66U and the little-known MicroSD slot inside.

 

[aex.perez]

Curious if there is something I'm missing. I have an AX88, with two hardwired AX86 Aimesh nodes - poking around nvram I find the AX88 is set to 160Mhz (Thanks Channelhog for keeping it there) and 36/100. But looking at the hardwired AX86 Aimesh nodes, they are set to 80Mhz and no specific channel, running Channelhog on those confirms 80Mhz.

Is there a way to all three working at 160Mhz and 36/100 (or similar) to get 160Mhz support through the house?

 

[ugandy]

Quick question: Does ChannelHog survive a router reboot, or do I need to add a cron job (as in "sh /jffs/addons/channelhog/channelhog.sh start") to run shortly after boot?

it adds its own crontab entry during install

 

[archiel]

Hi @Adamm I am a big fan of Channelhog and have a query regarding AiMesh nodes. Once Channelhog runs it seems to be potluck as to whether my node (AX58) notices this and follows channels. Is there a way to adapt the script - or add a separate cron job - so that 11 minutes after Channelhog runs (to allow for DFS checks) a reboot instruction is sent to any wireless nodes and if so what is the command to reboot a node (from the router)? Thanks, Archiel.

 

[aex.perez]

Hi @Adamm I am a big fan of Channelhog and have a query regarding AiMesh nodes. Once Channelhog runs it seems to be potluck as to whether my node (AX58) notices this and follows channels. Is there a way to adapt the script - or add a separate cron job - so that 11 minutes after Channelhog runs (to allow for DFS checks) a reboot instruction is sent to any wireless nodes and if so what is the command to reboot a node (from the router)? Thanks, Archiel.

My AX88 (Merlin 386.8) runs at at 160Mhz and looking at NVRAM I see where its set to use 160Mhz bandwidth using 36/100, but on my AX86's mesh nodes (Merlin 386.7), they stay at 80Mhz. Was thinking I would have to abandon AIMesh and turn them into AP's to get the control to have them run at 160Mhz. But if you get 160Mhz on your AX58 maybe I need to consider running stock firmware on those instead and see if that works to get 160Mhz on them... ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

 

[Adamm]

a reboot instruction is sent to any wireless nodes and if so what is the command to reboot a node (from the router)?

That’s a good question… if you figure it out I’ll automate it.

 

[archiel]

That’s a good question… if you figure it out I’ll automate it.

It would be great if you could give me some guidance -

After ChannelHog runs all may be well or the Node (an RT-AX58U) will either show as not connected or weak, where weak=2.4GHz link only

if it is not connected then running service restart_wifi on the Router will change the status to weak. After rebooting the node, AiMesh then shows Great (=5 GHz link)

From the GUI if I go to AiMesh, select the Node and select Management, I can then select Reboot Node. This produces a pop-up asking if I want to proceed or cancel.

What I do not understand is how to find the command issued by OK.

 

[stebrick]

I've pushed v1.1.2 which should solve the issue for the XT8. For any other affected models please post the output of;

Thanks for the update.

It seems that the addon can detect my XT8 channels correctly but it still restarts my 5GHz-1 radio. Checking channel bandwidth after I made sure the 5Ghz-2 was already on 160MHz channel:-

ChannelHog: [*] 80MHz 160MHz Channel Width Detected - Restarting 5GHz-1  Radio

 

[tooandrew]

2 questions:
1) do you think this will work on the rt-ax3000
and
2) if so whats the easiest way to ensure it starts automatically on power cycle? im not that familiar with linux in general, let alone embedded linux.

 

[DJones]

2 questions:
1) do you think this will work on the rt-ax3000
and
2) if so whats the easiest way to ensure it starts automatically on power cycle? im not that familiar with linux in general, let alone embedded linux.

I can at least answer question 2. Once installed and started it will start automatically each boot. You just set it and forget it.

 

[jb1187]

I combined @Adamm and @ColinTaylor code so that after WIFI is brought down/up it will compare the current channel to the targeted channel and reboot WIFI (should then force targeted channel) if needed. I parse the log file and compare when last 'Radar detected' event occurred so that no unnecessary reboot of WIFI occurs if < 30 minutes.

if [ "$restart5ghz1" = "true" ]; then
    wl -i "$port5ghz1" down
    wl -i "$port5ghz1" up
fi
if [ "$restart5ghz2" = "true" ]; then
    wl -i "$port5ghz2" down
    wl -i "$port5ghz2" up
fi

#After down/up event
#Get targeted and current WIFI channel
#Currently only checks $port5ghz1.

targetChanSpec="$(nvram get wl1_chanspec)"
targetChan=${targetChanSpec%/*}
currentChanSpec="$(wl -i $port5ghz1 chanspec | awk '{print $1}')"
currentChan=${currentChanSpec%/*}

#Compare if current channel differs from target channel
if [ "$targetChan" != "0" ] && [ "$currentChan" != "$targetChan" ]; then
    
    #Check log for 'Radar detected'
    lastRadarFoundLine="$(grep "Radar detected" /tmp/syslog.log | tail -1)"
    
    if [ ! -z "$lastRadarFoundLine" ]; then
        #Parse date from last radar detected log line
        lastRadarFoundY="$(date +"%Y")"
        lastRadarFoundPY=$((lastRadarFoundY-1))
        lastRadarFoundM="$(echo $lastRadarFoundLine | awk '{print $1}')"               
        case $lastRadarFoundM in
            Jan) MON="01" ;;
            Feb) MON="02" ;;
            Mar) MON="03" ;;
            Apr) MON="04" ;;
            May) MON="05" ;;
            Jun) MON="06" ;;
            Jul) MON="07" ;;
            Aug) MON="08" ;;
            Sep) MON="09" ;;
            Oct) MON="10" ;;
            Nov) MON="11" ;;
            Dec) MON="12" ;;
        esac   
        lastRadarFoundM=$MON
        lastRadarFoundD="$(echo $lastRadarFoundLine | awk '{print $2}')"
        lastRadarFoundT="$(echo $lastRadarFoundLine | awk '{print $3}')"
        
        #No year is listed in log so apply current year as a work-around. If combined radar found date is greater than current date then change year to previous year.
        lastRadarFoundCombined="$(date +%s -d "$(echo $lastRadarFoundY"."$lastRadarFoundM"."$lastRadarFoundD"-"$lastRadarFoundT)")"
        lastRadarFoundCombinedPY="$(date +%s -d "$(echo $lastRadarFoundPY"."$lastRadarFoundM"."$lastRadarFoundD"-"$lastRadarFoundT)")"
        currentTime=$(date +%s)           
        if [ "$lastRadarFoundCombined" -gt "$currentTime" ]; then
            lastRadarFoundCombined=$lastRadarFoundCombinedPY
        fi
        
        #Restart wireless if greater than 30 minutes from last radar detection
        currentTime30M=$(date +%s -d@"$(( `date +%s`-30*60))")
        if [ "$lastRadarFoundCombined" -ge "$currentTime30M" ]; then
            logger -st ChannelHog "[*] Channel (${currentChan}) can't switch back yet as still in Non-Occupancy Period."
        else
            logger -st ChannelHog "[*] Channel has changed from ${targetChan} to ${currentChan}. Restarting WiFi."
            service restart_wireless
        fi
    fi                   
fi

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @jb1187.

Thanks for sharing your merged scripts with us.

 

[dev_null]

Keep in mind that the log may not always show "Radar detected". Nine out of 10 times I see wl_chanspec_changed_action as the only entry prior to a channel change.

So users that use the script above may want to consider that grep term.

Before coming across @ColinTaylor 's script, I was testing out an email notification of channel change using several hacks including pruning the log after grepping the chanspec entry. But his is so much more elegant.