[Official Release] AiMesh Firmware v3.0.0.4.384.20308 for All Supported Products

[David Williams]

My thoughts:

1. Antenna placement is not a simple subject. You would do best to Google it and study up; then experiment.

2. The AiMesh client list seems to perform as you noted. I would be more concerned with how the clients actually perform.

3. Do you have non-homekit devices on 2.4GHz that do not have the same issues? Or maybe these issues relate to antenna placement.

That's the best I can do!

OE

Thanks for the info. I added another question to the original post. If you happen to know the answer I would appreciate it.

 

[Quad80]

As an FYI, it would seem any AiMesh node that has WPS on, even if router is WPS set to off, is functional and thus likely vulnerable to insecurities of WPS. This is confirmed here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.43125/page-43#post-381868

According to @arthurlien there is no way to currently toggle WPS on nodes. Methinks this should be addressed quickly, perhaps in the next firmware.

 

[RandomName23]

As an FYI, it would seem any AiMesh node that has WPS on, even if router is WPS set to off, is functional and thus likely vulnerable to insecurities of WPS. This is confirmed here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.43125/page-43#post-381868

According to @arthurlien there is no way to currently toggle WPS on nodes. Methinks this should be addressed quickly, perhaps in the next firmware.

You could try ssh into the node and setting it off in nvram.

nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram commit

Haven’t tried this yet myself so no idea if it works

 

[sol1109]

Has anyone been able to get email notifications to work from the Aiprotection section? I have hits in the 2 way intrusion detection but never receive any emails.

Yes, if you use gmail and have two factor authentication turned on you have to create an app password. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en

 

[OzarkEdge]

4. Since originally writing this I have hardwired the AC88U to the AC3100. I went in and changed Connectivity Priority to Ethernet Connection Type shows wired but now I am seeing Asus device under Wifi for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz when I do View List. Is this correct? Before hardwiring they were not showing up on the list.
I resolved #4 by removing and resetting the node and readding back to the AiMesh with network connected. Not sure if that is the way its supposed to work but figured I should report.

I feel that the router pop-up 'mesh client list' and 'client status list' are buggy in the way that they automatically refresh/lose/gain clients. Plus mine lists a 2.4 GHz router client (ZTE mobile) as wired... consistently.

I feel that the 'node client list' is buggy in the way that it exhibits similar behavior... my one wired node client comes and goes, but is mostly not listed here while it is always listed on the above two lists. Regardless, that wired client (VoIP ata) is functioning.

My AC68U router and AC68U node are not listed on any client list, which seems correct no matter the backhaul, as they are not 'clients'.

Adding a factory default node is recommended. Mine was new, updated to AiMesh firmware, factory reset, and then added. Seems to be networking fine. Was your node at factory defaults when you first added it, or was it your old router and maybe needed the NVRAM cleared?

Adding a wired node to the mesh should not make a difference(?)... and maybe WiFi is still in play/required(?).

Perhaps it comes down to buggy/troubled cosmetic monitoring and they are still sorting it out.

And maybe you needed a clean node install... maybe not. I don't think the wired connection is required to add the node as they do not require this... it may/should be a 'don't care'. What may matter is having router and node radios too close together such that they 'corrupt' each other.

Given they released the firmware, I'm looking for router/node (mesh) stability and for client networking performance, and ignoring the imperfect monitoring of clients. That said, your node listed as wireless client 'ASUS' is puzzling... maybe just a bad first install... sometimes you can 'feel' it!

BTW, a WiFi signal analyzer app on a smart phone may help to discover your WiFi coverage/range, such as Android WiFi Analyzer by Kevin Yuan, or better, if you know of one.

OE

 

[LimJK]

You could try ssh into the node and setting it off in nvram.

nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram commit

Haven’t tried this yet myself so no idea if it works

RandomName23,

I tried it ... I observed that on AiMesh Node(s), WPS for 2.4GHz is always ON and WPS for 5.0GHz is always OFF by default after normal setup; so for the exercise we just need to turn WPS for 2.4GHz OFF

• it works for me, WPS on AiMesh Node can be turn OFF with the following modifications in bold
  
• I can confirm that Roaming continues to work in my setup, I validated that with a Network Analyser
• Certainly you need to remember to turn it back ON when you need to search for AiMesh Node(s) from AiMesh Router.
• I do not know if there are other conditions that WPS needs to be ON for AiMesh to work. So just a gentle reminder that DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK

nvram set wps_enable_x=0
nvram commit
reboot

PS: for AiMesh Router just use GUI to turn off WPS

 

[Lars]

Hi, I've got a strange problem, I have 3x ac86u, one as main router and two that I use as nodes (one in the hallway and one in the bedroom, I have an Escam K108 Mini NVR s that I use for 5hd hikvision camera ,and when i insert the network cable from nvr to the asus node i always lose the connection from the node to nvr i can see that the network lamp stops lithing for a few seconds then it works again, very unstable connection and yes i have tried several network cables, and I have also tried the same node that I use in the hallway still bad unstable, the node I use in the bedroom, I also use on my computers and it works well stable but not stable to my nvr,but if i connect my nvr to my ac86u main router,then it works good. The node in the bedroom works well to my computers using cables to my computers,but not to my nvr as i use for my surveillance camera,im using all my nodes wireless.nodes working great but not on my nvr using cable,but cable to my main router its working,tried for 2days now im giving up,need som help,using cable to my node from nvr losing conections,the light also go away some secunds on the node also.I got a new nvr box foscam yesterday, nvr i still have the same problem?now im using cable in the citchen cable to the node new cable to the node from the foscan nvr sgot the same problem please whats wrong,why is this problem,never had this problem on my orby rbk53.

 

[apotts]

RA is used for client handoff between access points. Disabling it wouldn't give you a more stable operation, if it does you are only masking the symptoms..

Mine is not a T Mobile units (I am in the UK). "More stable" = the nodes stop crashing. With RA disabled, AIMesh works very well, with seemless handoff between nodes, so I am quite happy with it. You just have to remember to disable that RA.

And yes, I have hard reset the routers several times in this process!

 

[RandomName23]

RandomName23,

I tried it ... I observed that on AiMesh Node(s), WPS for 2.4GHz is always ON and WPS for 5.0GHz is always OFF by default after normal setup; so for the exercise we just need to turn WPS for 2.4GHz OFF

• it works for me, WPS on AiMesh Node can be turn OFF with the following modifications in bold
  
• I can confirm that Roaming continues to work in my setup, I validated that with a Network Analyser
• Certainly you need to remember to turn it back ON when you need to search for AiMesh Node(s) from AiMesh Router.
• I do not know if there are other conditions that WPS needs to be ON for AiMesh to work. So just a gentle reminder that DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK

nvram set wps_enable_x=0
nvram commit
reboot

PS: for AiMesh Router just use GUI to turn off WPS

Great! I still have not checked this myself but I did SSH in and noticed there were a few wps_enable properties. You could use a command like the following to show them. 'nvram show | grep wps_enable'. At any rate I noticed on my main router that both wps_enable_x and wps_enable were set set to 0 so I would probably recommend setting both that way. I still have some question about this as I have a tri-band router and I can turn WPS on/off for every band which means I would think there would be 3 nvram variables that I need to modify.

 

[Quad80]

You could try ssh into the node and setting it off in nvram.

nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram commit

Haven’t tried this yet myself so no idea if it works

Appreciate the suggestion, but I don't know how to do that. Frankly, I shouldn't have to know how to do it. The firmware should either allow direct node access to toggle these things, or it should propagate the settings from the router to all nodes. It shouldn't need some backdoor way to modify.

 

[RandomName23]

Mine is not a T Mobile units (I am in the UK). "More stable" = the nodes stop crashing. With RA disabled, AIMesh works very well, with seemless handoff between nodes, so I am quite happy with it. You just have to remember to disable that RA.

And yes, I have hard reset the routers several times in this process!

I don't know why people can't understand this, if you disable RA it is NOT AIMesh doing the seamless handoff, it is your CLIENT deciding it wants to switch nodes. If you disable RA you essentially just have an access point with some of the Aimesh added features like centralized management.

 

[RandomName23]

Appreciate the suggestion, but I don't know how to do that. Frankly, I shouldn't have to know how to do it. The firmware should either allow direct node access to toggle these things, or it should propagate the settings from the router to all nodes. It shouldn't need some backdoor way to modify.

I completely agree but until Asus allows us to modify node settings, adjusting the NVRAM is our only option at this point. It's actually really easy.

Telnet or SSH into your node via the IP address of the node and login with your admin credentials at which point you will have a command prompt.
Type these commands and then you should be good.
nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram set wps_enable_x=0
nvram commit
reboot

 

[Quad80]

I completely agree but until Asus allows us to modify node settings, adjusting the NVRAM is our only option at this point. It's actually really easy.

Telnet or SSH into your node via the IP address of the node and login with your admin credentials at which point you will have a command prompt.
Type these commands and then you should be good.
nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram set wps_enable_x=0
nvram commit
reboot

See, I don't use telnet or SSH. I vaguely know what they are, but I'm not a linux guy, so I don't understand them completely. Also, I'm slightly concerned that modifying these directly, that it might screw things up during the next firmware upgrade, or if/when then fix this officially. I don't think there's a high chance anything nefarious will happen, so as long as they fix it relatively quick.

 

[Ken Atkinson]

Noticed on App that my node AC66U-B1 also shows as having an "ASUS" connection on both 2.4/5ghz. wireless where I have selected ethernet as backhaul but seems to be operating fine and traffic stats shows very little traffic on wi-fi bands with bulk of traffic on wired LAN , odd but maybe as mentioned reporting/monitoring not 100% accurate at present.

 

[Quad80]

Noticed on App that my node AC66U-B1 also shows as having an "ASUS" connection on both 2.4/5ghz. wireless where I have selected ethernet as backhaul but seems to be operating fine and traffic stats shows very little traffic on wi-fi bands with bulk of traffic on wired LAN , odd but maybe as mentioned reporting/monitoring not 100% accurate at present.

Is this what you're seeing?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.44375/page-14#post-381539

 

[Ken Atkinson]

Is this what you're seeing?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.44375/page-14#post-381539

Yes

 

[RandomName23]

See, I don't use telnet or SSH. I vaguely know what they are, but I'm not a linux guy, so I don't understand them completely. Also, I'm slightly concerned that modifying these directly, that it might screw things up during the next firmware upgrade, or if/when then fix this officially. I don't think there's a high chance anything nefarious will happen, so as long as they fix it relatively quick.

It's always a good time to learn . At any rate, when you makes changes in the UI it just modified the NVRAM values so there is little chance that you will screw anything up during the next firmware upgrade. If you are worried you could always make a note of the values that you changed and before you do a firmware upgrade change them back. Or since there are really no configurations to the nodes you could always factory reset them pretty quickly. The properties mentioned are either on/off so 1 = on, 0 = off. You can also compare values between your main router where you turned WPS off and the nodes where it isn't by using the command.

nvram show wps_enable
nvram show wps_enable_x

You should see that on your main router they are both set to 0 and on your node they would be set to 1.

 

[Quad80]

It's always a good time to learn . At any rate, when you makes changes in the UI it just modified the NVRAM values so there is little chance that you will screw anything up during the next firmware upgrade. If you are worried you could always make a note of the values that you changed and before you do a firmware upgrade change them back. Or since there are really no configurations to the nodes you could always factory reset them pretty quickly. The properties mentioned are either on/off so 1 = on, 0 = off. You can also compare values between your main router where you turned WPS off and the nodes where it isn't by using the command.

nvram show wps_enable
nvram show wps_enable_x

You should see that on your main router they are both set to 0 and on your node they would be set to 1.

Yeah, I probably should learn. I come from pre Win95 days, so I know all about using DOS and text prompts, but every time I've tried anything with Linux my brain just kind of goes wonky. Maybe I've become soft. Anyway, depending on what @arthurlien says about how long it might take to fix officially, I may jump in and do it manually. He seemed to acknowledge they're looking into it, at least, and at the pace of updates from these guys so far, I suspect we'll see something relatively soonish.

However, just one clarification, if I may. There are two commands where I'd have to toggle it off:

nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram set wps_enable_x=0

Are these the two bands? I've been reading the posts here and am a little confused because some people are saying that even after using the SSH commands, they're still seeing WPS enabled on 2.4 GHz for the node (i.e., they've only been able to toggle 5 GHz WPS setting on node). Wasn't sure if this was a fix to that or not.

 

[RandomName23]

nvram set wps_enable=0
nvram set wps_enable_x=0

Are these the two bands? I've been reading the posts here and am a little confused because some people are saying that even after using the SSH commands, they're still seeing WPS enabled on 2.4 GHz for the node (i.e., they've only been able to toggle 5 GHz WPS setting on node). Wasn't sure if this was a fix to that or not.

I believe they are for the different bands since you can turn WPS on/off in the UI per band. I haven't had a chance to try it yet myself so I don't know for sure. Maybe if you are near your router you can try it and report back for us.

 

[Quad80]

Yes

@arthurlien has mentioned they're going to look into it.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/o...-supported-products.44375/page-15#post-381728

Strange thing is, I never saw this until recently. It didn't start with a firmware update, either, from what I could see. It just started happening with no changes on my end.