quick question about DHCP reservations

[iFrogMac]

Hey guys,
Just a quick question about adding DHCP reservations to ASusWRT. Does it require clicking the apply button to save reservations? I've had routers on both sides of the fence where the DHCP reservation was saved when created, and that's it. Then on the other side, some required you to click apply, or save to save the changes.
I wanted to make sure clicking apply was necessary with the Asus routers so I wouldn't be unnecessarily disconnecting my clients just to add a reservation after clicking apply. (which I've been doing automatically) after adding a reservation.
Thanks

 

[Tech9]

Yes, you have to click Apply at the bottom of the page.

 

[iFrogMac]

Yes, you have to click Apply at the bottom of the page.

OK, I've been doing that all along, I just wasn't sure if I was required to since routers treat this section of settings differently. Thanks again.

 

[Tech9]

Easy to test - make changes, switch to another GUI page, come back to the DHCP page. Your changes are gone, if you don't click Apply.

 

[iFrogMac]

Easy to test - make changes, switch to another GUI page, come back to the DHCP page. Your changes are gone, if you don't click Apply.

Yep, I've had that experience when changing WiFi settings in the past, I found I had to change each band separately and save then move on vs I couldn't change all wireless settings at once and then click Apply.

 

[Tech9]

change each band separately

Two different radios inside. They have different settings.

 

[iFrogMac]

Two different radios inside. They have different settings.

I know, I was mainly just sharing differences in learning different router interfaces. Some let multiple settings be changed all at once, some don't. It also depends on the category of settings as well. Either way all is ok now. I had looked through @OzarkEdge 's install notes a while back and had changed my router's DHCP range back to the 192.168.1.x range. I also followed the suggestion on leaving 0-9 for manual assignment. So, that's where the DHCP reservations come in. I've given the iMac .2, and the Airport .3 so they will always be given the same ip. I put the Airport back on the network, so I can have the extra Ethernet ports in more ideal location to where the devices are that would need them rather than long cable runs from the router itself. Currently I've turned the Airport's wireless off. Now I have 3 extra ports in the area I need vs just one.

 

[Tech9]

I see. Did you feed the cat?

 

[iFrogMac]

I see. Did you feed the cat?

If I still had a cat (or other pets) they would have been fed, yes

 

[OzarkEdge]

I had looked through @OzarkEdge 's install notes a while back and had changed my router's DHCP range back to the 192.168.1.x range. I also followed the suggestion on leaving 0-9 for manual assignment. So, that's where the DHCP reservations come in.

To clarify my note,

- set router LAN static IP (192.168.1.1) and DHCP server IP Pool of dynamic and manually-assigned IPs (192.168.1.10-254 leaves static IPs .1-9 for non-DHCP use)

The choice of IP range is yours... 192.168.1.* is commonly used/understood and used here for example... and perhaps it is more easily assumed and exploited(?).

Router DHCP server-assigned IPs assigned dynamically from within its IP Pool are termed dynamic and manually-assigned IPs (aka reservations)... or simply dynamic IPs (even though they can be very static/unchanging!).

User-assigned IPs assigned manually on the client from outside of the DHCP server IP Pool are termed static IPs.

OE

 

[iFrogMac]

To clarify my note,

- set router LAN static IP (192.168.1.1) and DHCP server IP Pool of dynamic and manually-assigned IPs (192.168.1.10-254 leaves static IPs .1-9 for non-DHCP use)

The choice of IP range is yours... 192.168.1.* is commonly used/understood and used here for example... and perhaps it is more easily assumed and exploited(?).

Router DHCP server-assigned IPs within its IP Pool are termed dynamic and manually-assigned IPs.

User-assigned IPs assigned manually on the client from outside of the DHCP server IP Pool are termed static IPs.

OE

Yeah, I figured the suggestion was just a guideline. I followed your outline though because I wanted the traditional local ip range. I'm used to 192.168.1.x for non Apple routers. For the Airport it's typically 10.0.1.x. The starting at 192.168.10 for the DHCP assigned IP range, also made sense for my setup, because whenever I do assign manual IPS, I typically start with .2, .3, etc to make it easy to remember linear assignments, so it made sense to exclude those so they could manually be used without running into conflicts, if the DHCP server were to assign one of those IPs. As far as other parts of your notes I applied were turning off smart connect, and using separate SSIDs, which is also good for my setup as I have devices that need to stay on a specific band, and if I need to pair a new device, makes it much easier to manually connect to 2.4Ghz with the phone to do the setup and switch back to 5Ghz once the device is set up and configured.

Regarding your suggestions on SIP Passthrough, I left it enabled, I don't have a VOIP service, but I will occasionally use software such as Skype, or Apple's FaceTime, etc but I don't think those apply here.
I disabled all 3 sources of UPNP found in the AsusWRT settings under WAN, the G-Force NOW setting, and the UPNP setting for the media server in usb applications. If I need to open a port, I'll do a manual port forward. I had been using UPNP for remote access to Plex, and a software package called SERVIIO Media Server, as I had given Alexa access to play my content, but since I haven't used those skills in a couple years. I decided to just disable them, and disable remote access as to not leave unused ports open.

So, I think that's a brief up to date summary of the changes I've made to the router and network, based on your guidelines and suggestions.
I also made sure remote access for WAN and DDNS are disabled too.

 

[Tech9]

I also made sure remote access for WAN and DDNS are disabled too.

You can use both, if you want to. DDNS only tracks public IP change. VPN Server may give you a safe access to your network when you're outside your home and also access to your ISP at home. Useable when you travel, when connected to public Wi-Fi hot spots. Just VPN to your home and use your more trusted ISP connection. Asus App will think you are locally connected and will also work as expected. OpenVPN app is available for iOS.

Use some different port than standard 1194, if you want to try it. Otherwise you'll be scanned by bots very often.

 

[cptnoblivious]

You can use both, if you want to. DDNS only tracks public IP change. VPN Server may give you a safe access to your network when you're outside your home and also access to your ISP at home. Useable when you travel, when connected to public Wi-Fi hot spots. Just VPN to your home and use your more trusted ISP connection. Asus App will think you are locally connected and will also work as expected. OpenVPN app is available for iOS.

Use some different port than standard 1194, if you want to try it. Otherwise you'll be scanned by bots very often.

Just for a data point: 1194 isn't in my top 10 scanned ports according to Skynet. And I've run my OpenVPN server on it for some time. It surprised me as well.

YMMV of course

 

[Tech9]

I guess, no one wants to mess with you, Captain.

 

[iFrogMac]

I did some reading of a couple articles by Tim Higgins on the main SNB site, and also disabled OFDMA, and MU-MIMO as he suggests they don't help home networks, and may make things worse. He did mention recent info that suggests that Mu-MIMO may actually be good now, but he wasn't able to confirm it as of time of writing the articles, and the forum thread based on the article also suggests that he hadn't confirmed either. Along the same line, I will probably also disable TWT as that doesn't seem to be any benefit either to home networks.
@thiggins Has any of this info changed in the past few months since you wrote those articles / threads? I know the RT-AX86U was not one of your test devices. Probably because it hadn't come out yet.

 

[Tech9]

You have to move to a larger place first. Your apartment is too small to see any OFDMA/MU-MIMO benefits. It needs client support as well.

 

[iFrogMac]

You have to move to a larger place first. Your apartment is too small to see any OFDMA/MU-MIMO benefits. It needs client support as well.

Also, according to Tim''s articles just because a client may support AX, doesn't guarantee these features are even enabled either. I know with my devices, my iPhone 12 Pro Max is WiFi 6 enabled, but can do only up to 80Mhz channels, and don't know if it supports TWT, or OFDMA. So, the only real benefit I seem to have over an AC router are slightly improved speeds on my internet connection from those devices.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I did some reading of a couple articles by Tim Higgins on the main SNB site, and also disabled OFDMA, and MU-MIMO as he suggests they don't help home networks, and may make things worse. He did mention recent info that suggests that Mu-MIMO may actually be good now, but he wasn't able to confirm it as of time of writing the articles, and the forum thread based on the article also suggests that he hadn't confirmed either. Along the same line, I will probably also disable TWT as that doesn't seem to be any benefit either to home networks.
@thiggins Has any of this info changed in the past few months since you wrote those articles / threads? I know the RT-AX86U was not one of your test devices. Probably because it hadn't come out yet.

If using wireless AiMesh, be sure to compare backhaul performance before and after tearing down such default settings.

OE

 

[iFrogMac]

If using wireless AiMesh, be sure to compare backhaul performance before and after tearing down such default settings.

OE

I only have the one router. Not using AIMesh currently, in fact I looked for options to turn that off initially after setting up the router. According to older threads, there isn't a way to completely turn the AIMesh feature off, even on a single router.

 

[Tech9]

So, the only real benefit I seem to have over an AC router are slightly improved speeds on my internet connection from those devices.

It depends on where you are coming from, but this is correct in most cases. If you already had a good AC Wave 2 capable router, a new AX router will show improvement to AX capable clients only. For example, if you have good working AC86U, upgrading to AX86U gives you nothing to existing AC clients, about 45% faster speeds to common AX 2-stream clients, 100% boost if you are lucky with 160MHz wide channel and you have a device with AX 160MHz support. AX radio is good for full speed wireless backhaul between two routers.