Extroot on asuswrt-merlin?

[advarp]

Apologies if this is a dumb question.

First of all, congrats on the asuswrt-merlin software, it is great!

I am a bit confused about one issue however...

After upgrading firmware on a gl-iNet mt1300 and reinstalling all the features they left out in the new firmware (eg file sharing) plus adblock I ran out of memory and had to reset to factory and start again ending up with 2% free memory. I have managed to install Extroot using a usb drive. It seems to work ok, Luci reports 98% free memory now while before I was on 2%.

Anyway I am thinking of using extroot on the Asus RT AC86 and RT AX86... Would this be necessary to start with?

I have found nothing about extroot on asuswrt-merlin googling around...so maybe it is not possible / does not make sense?

Many thanks for shedding any light on this matter.

 

[ColinTaylor]

No it's not needed on Asus routers.

 

[advarp]

Ok I see...thanks

 

[ColinTaylor]

Note also that extroot expands storage in OpenWrt not memory.

 

[advarp]

Yes, I am rather new to all this and trying to learn as much as I can... So the MT1300 has some measly 32MB NOR Flash while RT AC / AX 86 have 256MB NAND, therefore quite a bit more space...

How can i find out how much Flash space I have left? E.g. when using df -h I get:

admin@RT-AC86U-D340:/tmp/home/root# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
ubi:rootfs_ubifs 77.2M 68.2M 9.0M 88% /
devtmpfs 207.9M 0 207.9M 0% /dev
tmpfs 208.0M 872.0K 207.2M 0% /var
tmpfs 208.0M 1.8M 206.2M 1% /tmp/mnt
mtd:bootfs 4.4M 3.3M 1.1M 75% /bootfs
tmpfs 208.0M 1.8M 206.2M 1% /tmp/mnt
mtd:data 8.0M 616.0K 7.4M 8% /data
tmpfs 208.0M 1.8M 206.2M 1% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock9 47.0M 6.5M 40.5M 14% /jffs
/dev/sdb1 5.8G 189.7M 5.3G 3% /tmp/mnt/Entware
/dev/sdb2 7.8G 120.0K 7.4G 0% /tmp/mnt/extroot
/dev/sda1 2.7T 1.4T 1.3T 52% /tmp/mnt/NetDrive
tmpfs 208.0M 1.8M 206.2M 1% /www/require/modules/menuTree.js

Which figures above show the total and used / free Flash? If I can read this somewhere please point me to it...

As seen from above, I also set up a swap partition and I have :
admin@RT-AC86U-D340:/tmp/home/root# free -m
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 426020 392744 33276 1800 34024 54988
-/+ buffers/cache: 303732 122288
Swap: 15925244 26760 15898484

As you can see, I have been learning about these and in the process tried all kinds of things ... I have a USB stick with three partitions, 8GB for extroot (now not to be used), 6GB for EntWare and rest for Swap. These sticks are huge, 32GB.... I am trying to find smaller ones but its not easy... I will convert the unused ext4 for extroot to something else, maybe exFAT... So much space available, wasted.

One last question... I have a RT-AX86U coming. How can i make the transition from RT AC86U to RT AX86U as fast and not painful as possible? Not using any AI stuff. I see it is not recommended to save and restore settings (?), but anything else I can just transfer over? The stick with Entware will work just plugged in the new router? The scripts in jffs just copied over? The two routers are quite similar. Again, if there is a guide to migrate from AC to AX I'm very happy to read...

Sorry for my long post and Many Thanks!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Asuswrt uses storage in a completely different way to OpenWrt. Addon software from Entware installs and runs from the USB drive (symlinked from /opt). You don't ever install things in the router's root filesystem.

You don't need a separate partition for swap. You can just create a swap file and place it in the main (ext4) USB filesystem. The router's built-in amtm command will help you do this. There is no performance penalty for using a swap file vs. a swap partition.

Save yourself a load of aggravation down the line by setting up your RT-AX86U afresh without trying to reuse old software installs from the old router.

 

[advarp]

Asuswrt uses storage in a completely different way to OpenWrt. Addon software from Entware installs and runs from the USB drive (symlinked from /opt). You don't ever install things in the router's root directory.

You don't need a separate partition for swap. You can just create a swap file and place it in the main (ext4) USB filesystem. The router's built-in amtm command will help you do this. There is no performance penalty for using a swap file.

Save yourself a load of aggravation down the line by setting up your RT-AX86U afresh without trying to reuse old software installs from the old router.

Oh, yes thank you - I read on amtm docs that it can also do the swap file (amtm is great!) but I wanted to learn how to do swap partition (and I also read that the swap file can get corrupted). free -m shows that the swap is being used.

As per above listing - is it possible to figure out e.g. from the df -h command maybe how much storage is available on the router and how it is distributed? (Can I read this info somewhere perhaps - what all the entries mean). Again, Google did not get me anything on this.. RAM stats are right there in the GUI, but storage ones seem not to be.

Thank you!

PS the AX arrived - stressful times ahead...

 

[ColinTaylor]

As per above listing - is it possible to figure out e.g. from the df -h command maybe how much storage is available on the router and how it is distributed? (Can I read this info somewhere perhaps - what all the entries mean). Again, Google did not get me anything on this.. RAM stats are right there in the GUI, but storage ones seem not to be.

The only internal filesystem you should use (and therefore be concerned about) is /jffs. All the other internal storage is pre-sized and for the firmware's exclusive use. You can see the JFFS usage in the output of your df -h and also in the webUI on the Tools - System Information page.

 

[advarp]

The only internal filesystem you should use (and therefore be concerned about) is /jffs. All the other internal storage is pre-sized and for the firmware's exclusive use. You can see the JFFS usage in the output of your df -h and also in the webUI on the Tools - System Information page.

Ok, got it! I learned something new again. Thank you.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Oh, yes thank you - I read on amtm docs that it can also do the swap file (amtm is great!) but I wanted to learn how to do swap partition (and I also read that the swap file can get corrupted). free -m shows that the swap is being used.

As per above listing - is it possible to figure out e.g. from the df -h command maybe how much storage is available on the router and how it is distributed? (Can I read this info somewhere perhaps - what all the entries mean). Again, Google did not get me anything on this.. RAM stats are right there in the GUI, but storage ones seem not to be.

Thank you!

PS the AX arrived - stressful times ahead...

Safe yourself the hassle of using a partition. amtm handles the file creation and makes sure swap is activated when rebooting. Also, management is a breeze if you ever run into problems.

Seriously, we write these scripts to make complex things simple for users. Do us a favor and use what we present for free. Also support is easier had here as 99% of things that go wrong have been resolved multiple times before.