[Experimental] Asuswrt-Merlin 384.13 test - AiMesh/DNSSEC through OpenSSL

[skeal]

I have my two nodes with stock fw and I'm able to establish a ssh session.

How did you set it up without webui access?

 

[Olivier]

How did you set it up without webui access?

I just enabled ssh in Administration -> System -> Service on the AIMesh router. So you will be able to establish a remote session via ssh on the nodes with the same login/password that you defined on the router.

 

[Stephen Harrington]

You cannot SSH into a router with stock firmware on it. As well you don't have webui access to the node.

Not correct. I have 3 X RT-AC68U as AIMesh Nodes on latest stock firmware and I SSH into them and reboot if needed occasionally. I think the “Enable SSH” setting from the Parent AIMesh Router or AP “mirrors” itself to the Nodes as part of the AIMesh setup/sync process.

Edit - Beaten to the punch by @Olivier, but confirming what he says

 

[skeal]

I just enabled ssh in Administration -> System -> Service on the AIMesh router. So you will be able to establish a remote session via ssh on the nodes with the same login/password that you defined on the router.

Not correct. I have 3 X RT-AC68U as AIMesh Nodes on latest stock firmware and I SSH into them and reboot if needed occasionally. I think the “Enable SSH” setting from the Parent AIMesh Router or AP “mirrors” itself to the Nodes as part of the AIMesh setup/sync process.

You guys are awesome, I just tested the SSH and boom I'm in. I am eternally grateful!!

 

[Jumpstarter]

You cannot SSH into a router with stock firmware on it. As well you don't have webui access to the node.

You do if it turned on with the main router. I am able to ssh into mine.
Stock firmware supports ssh.

 

[Jumpstarter]

I am having some dropout issues, but first THANK YOU MERLIN! I have been waiting to get aimesh on your builds as a feature and am excited you finally were able to for us!

I am having some issues with my main router completely dropping all connections when I add a specific node...
AC88 - Main Router, your alpha 2 build
AC68 - AIMesh node, your alpha 2 build
AC5300 - AIMesh node, your alpha 2 build (The one causing the problems)
All nodes are wired, have set up with wireless and wired. Also set priority to wired on both with no change in issues.

Set up worked perfectly with no errors when NOT using mesh on the new alpha 2 build or previous 349.12 final.

I can get everything up and running perfectly with the 88 as the main router and 68 as mesh node. The issue occurs specifically when the 5300 is added to the system as a node. It completes the set up properly then about every 30-60 seconds, the 88 will drop all connections, including internet, and reconnect temporarily before repeating this cycle non-stop.

If I set the 5300 as a regular wired AP and not a node, there are no issues at all. My log (With misc lines removed such as DHCP requests from normal clients) shows:

Log https://pastebin.com/raw/AB1HDHGC

I have done all the normal troubleshooting. Full resets on each unit with fresh setups. Ensured firmware uploads properly again, disconnected clients on 5300, etc. It occurs whenever I try to add the 5300 as a node and no other time. No scripts or customizations.

I also see a bunch of errors which indicate a loop in the system when the 5300 is connected but it occurs even with no wired clients attached to it and does NOT occur when in AP mode.

Any ideas?

As a side question, do all settings transfer to nodes, such as Bluetooth coexistence?

Thank you again!

Can anyone confirm they are experiencing this same issue on their rtac5300 since switching to 384.13 alpha? Wan dhcp failures?

 

[Grisu]

You cannot SSH into a router with stock firmware on it. As well you don't have webui access to the node.

Why not, must be very new? AFAIK I always could enable telnet and SSH on stock firmware and then SSH and reboot.

 

[marcwkh]

So....again, whats the benefit of this?

You're introducing potential errors for sake of a few degrees.

10 degrees difference could mean doubling component service life

 

[Kingp1n]

I have my nodes with static ips

I asked him the same question in private conversation, reply was as follows;

Code:
pwr config --cpuwait on

Haven’t test it yet but sounds logical!

Do we input this command thru SSH or added to the start-up script? I will test stock node FW vs merlin node FW to check CPU for any differences...

 

[Marin]

Reading more about the AiMesh topic and trying to learn as much as I can about it. I was able to set up 4 routers last night as AiMesh nodes and had some questions about router vs node behavior. Forgive me if this has been asked before and feel free to forward me to any of the related posts:

1. Can you change a node’s IP to a different one? For some reason my 4 nodes don’t come up on my list of connected devices so I can’t manually set them static IPs via DHCP. Would assume you could do that via SSH?

2. Now that there is Merlin firmware available for the nodes, any opinions as to what FW would be your best option (stock vs Merlin’s). I realize that Merlin’s FW would not be utilized as well on a node but what would be the advantage to have it vs not?


3. Are there any ways/tests to show or validate that your nodes are working as they should? Do you simply look at them on the main AiMesh router GUI and if they have any devices connected to them then they must be working correctly? Testing speed when you are close to them? What else can you use?

4. Has anyone tried a different AiMesh router-node setup? For example, instead of connecting all nodes to one router, have a few them connected to one router and the rest to another (AP)?

5. Does the wireless signal drop significantly on a node if it is not too close to the main router? What would be reasonable distance to keep in mind?

6. Finally, does WPS need to be ON for the nodes to work correctly? What about the “hide the SSID” option? Should this be disabled?

Thank you!





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FTC]

I have my nodes with static ips

Do we input this command thru SSH or added to the start-up script? I will test stock node FW vs merlin node FW to check CPU for any differences...

You can do both.. of course if you do this in a start-up script it will work after a reboot. The effect is instantaneous.

 

[skeal]

1. Can you change a node’s IP to a different one? For some reason my 4 nodes don’t come up on my list of connected devices so I can’t manually set them static IPs via DHCP. Would assume you could do that via SSH?

What I did was, figured out the mac address and added mac,ip and host name to LAN manual assignments, and rebooted. This set the IP on the node.

2. Now that there is Merlin firmware available for the nodes, any opinions as to what FW would be your best option (stock vs Merlin’s). I realize that Merlin’s FW would not be utilized as well on a node but what would be the advantage to have it vs not?

Merlin advised to keep stock firmware so you can update all the nodes from the firmware page of the main router.

6. Finally, does WPS need to be ON for the nodes to work correctly? What about the “hide the SSID” option? Should this be disabled?

I have WPS off and my node is running perfect. After full set up I ran this from a SSH window:

service restart_wireless

Makes the clients reattach.
EDIT: I'm using wired back haul.

 

[Grisu]

1. Can you change a node’s IP to a different one? For some reason my 4 nodes don’t come up on my list of connected devices so I can’t manually set them static IPs via DHCP. Would assume you could do that via SSH?

2. Now that there is Merlin firmware available for the nodes, any opinions as to what FW would be your best option (stock vs Merlin’s). I realize that Merlin’s FW would not be utilized as well on a node but what would be the advantage to have it vs not?


3. Are there any ways/tests to show or validate that your nodes are working as they should? Do you simply look at them on the main AiMesh router GUI and if they have any devices connected to them then they must be working correctly? Testing speed when you are close to them? What else can you use?

4. Has anyone tried a different AiMesh router-node setup? For example, instead of connecting all nodes to one router, have a few them connected to one router and the rest to another (AP)?

5. Does the wireless signal drop significantly on a node if it is not too close to the main router? What would be reasonable distance to keep in mind?

6. Finally, does WPS need to be ON for the nodes to work correctly? What about the “hide the SSID” option? Should this be disabled?

2. yes better to leave them on AsusWRT, so updates are easier and no benefit with Merlin on mesh-nodes - just like Merlin told some posts before.
4. yes, they should take any Mesh-node they can get while LAN is taken prefered, star or daisy chain whatever got fastest connection.
5. you cant say it in meters, a solid wall and a meter is too much, otherwise >10m sight should be fine. Best done with speedtests near wireless nodes. Signal strength is only one part of the game, too many dependencies.
6. WPS may be needed to connect first time over wifi, others reported disabled they stay connected as well.
Why would you hide SSID? Guest SSID are NOT supported on nodes! Same as with AP-mode where they would get full access to main router.

 

[heysoundude]

So....again, whats the benefit of this?

You're introducing potential errors for sake of a few degrees.

Right, if they want their electronics cooler, they should move more air (coolant) over the surfaces that generate heat.

Further, to the question of component longevity (MTBF, I presume), while it might be nice for the router to last 10 years, chances are MOST people's needs will evolve faster than that - how often do most people update their phones/tablets?
best to keep network infrastructure as capable as the devices running on it, I should think.

 

[Marin]

2. yes better to leave them on AsusWRT, so updates are easier and no benefit with Merlin on mesh-nodes - just like Merlin told some posts before.
4. yes, they should take any Mesh-node they can get while LAN is taken prefered, star or daisy chain whatever got fastest connection.
5. you cant say it in meters, a solid wall and a meter is too much, otherwise >10m sight should be fine. Best done with speedtests near wireless nodes. Signal strength is only one part of the game, too many dependencies.
6. WPS may be needed to connect first time over wifi, others reported disabled they stay connected as well.
Why would you hide SSID? Guest SSID are NOT supported on nodes! Same as with AP-mode where they would get full access to main router.

Great! Thank you so much everyone!


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[DAVID LONG]

why is your ED448 column servfails?

Mine fails also.

 

[Plompie]

My AC86U did not survive the night stable...
The log is silent up to 05:54 AM, than shows some strange switching off and on the Ethernet ports I never seen before and after that an error from my Alarm system that the main internet connection is down around the same time. In the morning around 7AM noticed myself the internet was down indeed. WiFi and nodes seem still online.
After a reboot of the router it was working fine again for the rest of the day.

Any suggestions? Or unrelated / bad luck?

Jul 15 05:54:18 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 05:54:22 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 05:56:26 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 05:56:29 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 05:58:35 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 05:58:37 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 06:00:41 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 06:00:45 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 06:43:07 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 06:43:09 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 06:45:14 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 06:45:18 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 07:27:48 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 07:27:50 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex
Jul 15 07:29:55 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link DOWN.
Jul 15 07:29:59 kernel: eth3 (Ext switch port: 2) (Logical Port: 10) Link UP 100 mbps half duplex

 

[JemTheWire]

Having now got a stable AIMesh Master/Node setup that appears to be working as it should, I’m struggling to SSH into the node.

I know the node’s IP address as I have that fixed IP (192.168.0.2) my DCHP reservation list. Also confirmed by a network scan.

However, 192.168.0.2:22 returns a connection error. I am obviously missing a trick here, but just can’t see what I am doing wrong.

UPDATE:

DOH. Solved. My SSH terminal MACRO was pointing to the wrong port. I had forgotten that in my previous setup of router/access point I had changed the default port.

 

[marcwkh]

Right, if they want their electronics cooler, they should move more air (coolant) over the surfaces that generate heat.

Further, to the question of component longevity (MTBF, I presume), while it might be nice for the router to last 10 years, chances are MOST people's needs will evolve faster than that - how often do most people update their phones/tablets?
best to keep network infrastructure as capable as the devices running on it, I should think.

Coolant is good, but how about the dust? I don't clean my router often.
As long as i don't change my router as often as phone, i see no point against tricks to extend service life of router

 

[MNoisy]

Sounds like there is a dhcp issue with the changes and the RT-AC5300, I don't see how, but there is.

Just a quick update that I tried the stock ASUS firmware 3.0.0.4.384_45717-gadd52a8 on the 5300 and set it up as a node with absolutely no issues. After I ensured that ran properly for a while, I tried the Merlin alpha2 firmware on the 5300 again. Set it up as a node, and the crashing started again immediately.

So it is definitely the Merlin firmware on the 5300 that is causing the crashes on the 88 as my main router. The logs from when it was working with the stock 5300 firmware didn't show anything special from what I can tell compared to the errors I already posted.

I did see some 'removal request for address of fe80:XXXX:, but no knowledge of it' when it was working with the stock firmware as a node, but not much more.

So in summary...

WORKING
AC88 - Main Router, your alpha 2 build
AC68 - AIMesh node, your alpha 2 build
AC5300 - AIMesh node, 3.0.0.4.384_45717-gadd52a8

NOT WORKING
AC88 - Main Router, your alpha 2 build
AC68 - AIMesh node, your alpha 2 build
AC5300 - AIMesh node, your alpha 2 build (The one causing the problems)


Is there anything I can do to provide any more technical details to you guys to get this resolved?

Thank you!