RC-AC68U - Media Bridge mode - Bonjour/ZeroConf/Multicast filtering?

[fiasko]

I was just hit by this issue as well. Main router is AC87U and AC56U acting as a Media Bridge. I have huge issues to get Spotify Connect to work. All routers are using latest Merlin firmware (378.54_2.). I tried Asus own firmware as well in the Media Bridge, but it didn't help. I wonder if Asus is doing any attempts to fix this? Or could Merlin fix this in his builds? If I connect my laptop with Ethernet cable to Media Bridge decive, Spotify connect will work. But not befor that.

 

[alkie]

I was just hit by this issue as well. Main router is AC87U and AC56U acting as a Media Bridge. I have huge issues to get Spotify Connect to work. All routers are using latest Merlin firmware (378.54_2.). I tried Asus own firmware as well in the Media Bridge, but it didn't help. I wonder if Asus is doing any attempts to fix this? Or could Merlin fix this in his builds? If I connect my laptop with Ethernet cable to Media Bridge decive, Spotify connect will work. But not befor that.

Sorry to hear man. I gave up on asus for media bridges. I now use a netgear with stock firmware as my media bridge and it works fine. I still use my AC-68U as the main router.

 

[fiasko]

Sorry to hear man. I gave up on asus for media bridges. I now use a netgear with stock firmware as my media bridge and it works fine. I still use my AC-68U as the main router.

Thanks for the sympathy. Have you tried DD-WRT for the Asus? And what netgear router you have which works? And does it work with the native Netgear firmware, or does it require some custiom one?

 

[alkie]

Thanks for the sympathy. Have you tried DD-WRT for the Asus? And what netgear router you have which works? And does it work with the native Netgear firmware, or does it require some custiom one?

I tried DD-WRT, Stock firmware, and Merlin builds. None of them worked. DD-WRT seems to have the same issue regardless of what router you install it on. I am currently using a netgear AC 1450 that has been flashed to AC 1750. Its using the latest stock firmware and is rock solid.

http://advancedhomeserver.com/upgrade-a-netgear-ac1450-router-to-ac1750-r6300v2/

 

[highwire]

TL;DR: I can't get it working either.

I have a RT-AC87U as my main router and a RT-AC66U as an AP. My Apple TV is connected via wired Ethernet to the 87U. If I connect my iPhone or Mac via wireless (2.4 or 5) or wired on the 87U, then AirPlay works. If I connect via wireless or wired on the 66U, then AirPlay stops working. So this issue isn't just in Media Bridge mode, it's also in AP mode. IIRC, my Gooooogling led me to information that the AP is not correctly forwarding the multicast packets (group IP address 224.0.0.251) that Bonjour/mDNSResponder uses to advertise the availability of the Apple TV to the devices across the network.

Cisco has a guide for setting up their equipment and they mention enabling global multicast routing and IGMP multicast forwarding (snooping). On ASUS routers, this is found under LAN -> IPTV. BUT, those settings aren't available in AP mode (and probably Media Bridge mode), so they can't be set via the GUI. I assume they are disabled by default, because that's the default on the main router. Also on the 87U under Wireless -> Professional (5GHz), there is also a 'Enable IGMP Snooping' setting that is disabled by default.

 

[alkie]

You didn't say how the 66u is connected to the 87u. Either way you are probably having the same problem we are having. I've tried all the combinations of igmp snooping on/off and different firmware (Stock, Merlin, DD-WRT) and I could not get it to work. I had other routers which I also installed the latest builds of DD-WRT on and they had the same problem. I reached out for help and was ignored. Thankfully, the stock build that I'm running on my Netgear 1450 works like a champ.

My current setup is:

DLNA
Media Server ->AC68U --WIRELESSBRIDGE-- NETGEAR1450 -> TV

Airplay
iPhone ->AC68U --WIRELESSBRIDGE-- NETGEAR1450 -> Receiver

 

[highwire]

You didn't say how the 66u is connected to the 87u.

The 66U is connected to the 87U by connecting the WAN port of the 66U to one of the LAN ports of the 87U. The 87U gives the 66U an IP address and takes care of all the DHCP duties of the devices connected to the 66U.

I may have made some progress since my last post (I decided to give it one more shot).

Here's what I did. On the 87U:
LAN -> IPTV: Enable multicast routing (IGMP Proxy) : Enabled
LAN -> IPTV: Enable efficient multicast forwarding (IGMP Snooping): Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Multicast Rate(Mbps): OFDM 12
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled

... and a reboot.

On the 66U:
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Multicast Rate((Mbps): OFDM 12
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Multicast Rate(Mbps): OFDM 12

... and a reboot.

Now when my iPhone or Mac is connected to the wireless network (2.4 or 5) on the AP (i.e., the 66U), the AirPlay icon appears when it did not before. I can ping/telnet/etc, using the .local hostname (i.e., Couch-potato.local) now, and I can connect via AirPlay.

Now to see if it lasts, because other people have complained that even if it appears to be working, it often just stops after a period of time.

 

[john9527]

You may want to check out this site....
https://www.packetmischief.ca/2012/09/20/airplay-vlans-and-an-open-source-solution/

You can implement those changes on Merlin fw in an avahi-daemon.postconf script. I don't use Airplay, so can't personally verify that it works.

 

[highwire]

You may want to check out this site....
https://www.packetmischief.ca/2012/09/20/airplay-vlans-and-an-open-source-solution/

You can implement those changes on Merlin fw in an avahi-daemon.postconf script. I don't use Airplay, so can't personally verify that it works.

The last time I tried tackling this issue, I installed the entware 'avahi-utils' package on both the 87U and the 66U. I setup startup scripts to start it so that all the interfaces (2.4GHz, 5GHz, wired-LAN and WAN) would all be bridged to carry multicast traffic. Either I didn't set it up properly, or it just didn't work because of some other reason.

 

[alkie]

The 66U is connected to the 87U by connecting the WAN port of the 66U to one of the LAN ports of the 87U. The 87U gives the 66U an IP address and takes care of all the DHCP duties of the devices connected to the 66U.

I may have made some progress since my last post (I decided to give it one more shot).

Here's what I did. On the 87U:
LAN -> IPTV: Enable multicast routing (IGMP Proxy) : Enabled
LAN -> IPTV: Enable efficient multicast forwarding (IGMP Snooping): Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Multicast Rate(Mbps): OFDM 12
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled

... and a reboot.

On the 66U:
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 2.4GHz -> Multicast Rate((Mbps): OFDM 12
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Enable IGMP Snooping: Enabled
Wireless -> Professional -> Band 5GHz -> Multicast Rate(Mbps): OFDM 12

... and a reboot.

Now when my iPhone or Mac is connected to the wireless network (2.4 or 5) on the AP (i.e., the 66U), the AirPlay icon appears when it did not before. I can ping/telnet/etc, using the .local hostname (i.e., Couch-potato.local) now, and I can connect via AirPlay.

Now to see if it lasts, because other people have complained that even if it appears to be working, it often just stops after a period of time.

If you have your 66u's wan port connected to the 87u's lan port then devices connected to your 66u may be on a different network. Generally in this configuration I would disable dhcp on the 66u and instead of connecting it to the 87u using its wan port I would connect it using the lan port. That way everything is on the same subnet. Generally this is the only way multicast will work without PIM which is generally not supported on home routers.

BTW- The current settings for my ac68 main router is:
Enable IGMP Snooping: Disabled
Multicast Rate: Auto

Airplay and DLNA work with this configuration. I haven't had the need to test it with other configurations.

 

[raven-au]

If you have your 66u's wan port connected to the 87u's lan port then devices connected to your 66u may be on a different network. Generally in this configuration I would disable dhcp on the 66u and instead of connecting it to the 87u using its wan port I would connect it using the lan port. That way everything is on the same subnet. Generally this is the only way multicast will work without PIM which is generally not supported on home routers.

BTW- The current settings for my ac68 main router is:
Enable IGMP Snooping: Disabled
Multicast Rate: Auto

Airplay and DLNA work with this configuration. I haven't had the need to test it with other configurations.

Yep, that's right.

Plugging into the WAN port might work with DD-WRT if assign WAN port to switch is selected, otherwise you'll have problems.

 

[BPerry]

Did anyone have any success with this? I have similar problem with my setup. I have a TalkTalk (ADSL2) router which my RT-AC68U (stock ASUS firmware 3.0.0.4.378_4585) is connected to via 5GHz in Repeater mode. When trying to stream HD video to the TalkTalk STB, it keeps on pausing about every 90 secs for maybe 20 secs before it gets going again. All the various threads talk about IGMP this or that, but none of those options are available in Repeater mode. I've tested running the 68U in Access Point mode when connected via ethernet to the TT router and all works perfectly then. It also affects DLNA streaming to a Pure Jongo device, it plays nicely for a bit and then just stops. You have to reconnect to the media server and then it will work fine for a bit and then repeats the problem again. We also notice odd drops outs/reconnects on tablet devices when playing games that are 'always connected'.

 

[Shelbrain]

Nope, no success on my end. I wonder if someone with a newer model can try to replicate our problems to see if upgrading my router would fix the issue

 

[TerminX]

Same problem here, for a very long time. The fact that this hasn't been fixed after more than a year has really put me off buying ASUS routers in the future, but everything else seems to suck too. I got it to work by running Tomato on the router that's configured as the bridge and left ASUSWRT on the primary one.

 

[Shelbrain]

Same problem here, for a very long time. The fact that this hasn't been fixed after more than a year has really put me off buying ASUS routers in the future, but everything else seems to suck too. I got it to work by running Tomato on the router that's configured as the bridge and left ASUSWRT on the primary one.

I agree. It's a shame because I love the Asus routers in every other respect for my needs at home. I am moving soon and will try to run new Cat5E/Cat6 in the new house but I may give Tomato a try in the meantime. How is Tomato working out for you?

 

[TerminX]

I agree. It's a shame because I love the Asus routers in every other respect for my needs at home. I am moving soon and will try to run new Cat5E/Cat6 in the new house but I may give Tomato a try in the meantime. How is Tomato working out for you?

It's working pretty well, but all the routers I have currently are RT-AC66Us and they're all unstable as hell no matter what firmware I put on them. The particular variant of Tomato I have loaded is AdvancedTomato, which is a build of the Shibby firmware with the UI overhauled. When the router isn't rebooting because it feels like it, it's nice. I would definitely recommend anyone who is tired of ASUSWRT to give it a try... it's built with an outdated version of the Broadcom SDK and lacks ASUSWRT features like hardware acceleration (which I had to disable anyway as, again, my RT-AC66Us are all unstable pieces of shirt) but it makes up for it in other ways.

Off topic, but I just ordered replacement power adapters for my routers after noticing that the adapter that came with the router is 19v 1.58a but the replacements are 19v 2.1a. Inadequate power could definitely explain hardware rebooting with no apparent reason...

 

[followmsi]

The latest Merlin release ( RT-AC68U_378.55_0.trx ) fixed my problem.
I have had the same problem ... AirPrint was not working. ( MDNS issues in Media Bridge Mode ? )

This setup below works fine for me ..
RT-AC68U as Main Wireless Router ( Merlin Fork from john9527 - RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.43_2-13E1j9527.trx )
RT-AC68P in Media Bridge Mode using the 5GHz radio only. ( Merlin - RT-AC68U_378.55_0.trx )

Now AirPrint works like a charm.
I guess AirPlay will also work fine now ..

Cheers

 

[Svenpup]

For the last three years or so I had two D-Link DIR-632 running a 2012 version of DD-WRT; one as the AP and one as a Client Bridge. This configuration was rock solid, but didn't quite have enough horsepower now that we have a dozen wireless devices, steaming video, etc.

I replaced the AP with a RT-AC68u, and kept the DIR-632 bridge. All the devices connected to the bridge would maintain a connection for a few minutes, but then they would drop out. A reboot would again fix it, but only for a few minutes.

I loaded the latest Merlin build (378.56_2) with the same results.

Finally I loaded DD-WRT v3.0-r28211 on the AC68u and now the bridge is stable (at least for a few days now).

I really liked the idea of running Merlin, with the much more user friendly UI. Until I read this thread I was planning on picking up an AC56u to use as a bridge, assuming that it would be stable, but now I am not so sure. Do you guys think I will be able to use an AC56u as a bridge, or would it just be a waste of money?

 

[alkie]

For the last three years or so I had two D-Link DIR-632 running a 2012 version of DD-WRT; one as the AP and one as a Client Bridge. This configuration was rock solid, but didn't quite have enough horsepower now that we have a dozen wireless devices, steaming video, etc.

I replaced the AP with a RT-AC68u, and kept the DIR-632 bridge. All the devices connected to the bridge would maintain a connection for a few minutes, but then they would drop out. A reboot would again fix it, but only for a few minutes.

I loaded the latest Merlin build (378.56_2) with the same results.

Finally I loaded DD-WRT v3.0-r28211 on the AC68u and now the bridge is stable (at least for a few days now).

I really liked the idea of running Merlin, with the much more user friendly UI. Until I read this thread I was planning on picking up an AC56u to use as a bridge, assuming that it would be stable, but now I am not so sure. Do you guys think I will be able to use an AC56u as a bridge, or would it just be a waste of money?

I had a similar problem in which I was running older hardware with ddwrt rock solid then when I upgraded I started having problems. I never got dd-wrt to be stable for multicast at the time that I tested. It sounds like you are running a much newer version than the one that I tested. If they have a similar build for the 56u it may work for you. However, at the time it did not work for me.

 

[sfx2000]

Turn off IGMP Proxy if you have an Apple TV on your network - it can cause problems... as an AppleTV will act as a Bonjour/mDNS proxy for the network.

IGMP Snoop - on a single AP network, leave it on/enable it - it's a win overall - it'll keep traffic down when not doing AirPlay/DLNA traffic, and it will enable multicast when traffic is there... if you have two AP's, and they both support it, then enable only on one, and hopefully the main one, not the repeated bridge..

Multicast data rates - leave it in auto perhaps, or set it to a low value and turn it up as needed...

HTH...

ots of folks disable IGMP snooping, and then wonder why Bonjour/DLNA services stop working reliably - IGMP has nothing doing with WiFi...