NVRAM [Release] NVRAM Save/Restore Utility

[L&LD]

@JohnD5000, in the beginning, routers just slithered on their bellies.

A few eons (in tech) later, they began to develop legs, with AC class WiFi.

About a million years later, they were able to stand up on their HND legs, particularly the RT-AX88Uaousauras.

HND marks their era!

 

[Stevens243]

HND is mostly just broadcom's way of marking their (modernized) territory. Though, the Jurassic comparison is apt as well.

https://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/Broadcom_SOCs

 

[Butterfly Bones]

HND is mostly just broadcom's way of marking their (modernized) territory. Though, the Jurassic comparison is apt as well.

https://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/Broadcom_SOCs

And there is is! Thanks

HND (Home Networking Division) series

 

[RMerlin]

And they started using that to denote the platform/SDK used by their most recent platform (the bcm490x CPU for instance).

And the previous ARM platform (BCM470x as used by the RT-AC68U) was called Northstar.

 

[JohnD5000]

And they started using that to denote the platform/SDK used by their most recent platform (the bcm490x CPU for instance).

And the previous ARM platform (BCM470x as used by the RT-AC68U) was called Northstar.

According to the WIKI posted above:
HND (Home Networking Division) series includes BCM42XX, BCM44XX, BCM47XX SoCs

Wouldn't that make the RT-AC68U a HND too?

 

[RMerlin]

According to the WIKI posted above:
HND (Home Networking Division) series includes BCM42XX, BCM44XX, BCM47XX SoCs

Wouldn't that make the RT-AC68U a HND too?

Broadcom internally used the HND moniker for all their previous models, however it was never publicly used as part of the SDK name - that only happened with the newer SDK that was released with the bcm4906/bcm4908. The previous SDK was versioned as 7.14, while the newer one is versioned as HND 5.02.

Ultimately, these are all internal development names, hence the lack of coherence for people on the outside. I started referring to these newer models as HND because that is used internally by Asus for the SDK name.

 

[JohnD5000]

Broadcom internally used the HND moniker for all their previous models, however it was never publicly used as part of the SDK name - that only happened with the newer SDK that was released with the bcm4906/bcm4908. The previous SDK was versioned as 7.14, while the newer one is versioned as HND 5.02.

Ultimately, these are all internal development names, hence the lack of coherence for people on the outside. I started referring to these newer models as HND because that is used internally by Asus for the SDK name.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[JohnD5000]

FAQ
Q1: Is the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility included in amtm?
A1: It will be added to amtm. Stay tuned.

This will be great. What is the estimate of how long this will take (are we talking days, weeks, or months)?

 

[L&LD]

@JohnD5000, when it's ready!

 

[Xentrk]

Instructions:

Stupid question:

I did format a 2 GB usb stick (NTFS) with my computer and named it "NVRAM_UTIL".

And connected it to my router. But it is not listed (as "available partitions...") when I try to install the Utility (= choose [1] Install NVRAM Save/Restore Utility ).

All other usb sticks (which contain entware etc.) are available however.

I can see the usb stick from Merlin GUI, and from PuTTY I can see it with command

ls /mnt

How can I get this "Properly formatted USB Drive with designated partition" available for me?

I greatly appreciate your feedback. I just updated the text to help clarify the format options supported for the USB and utilities that one can use to format and create the partitions.

========================================================================
Step (1) - Prepare the USB Stick
========================================================================
- Format the USB stick and give it a volume label of ASUS.

Most USB sticks come pre-formatted as FAT32 or exFAT. exFat is generally not supported by the ASUS routers, and FAT32 does not support access permissions under Linux (access is global). Users will need to format the stick to Linux EXT2, EXT3 or EXT4. Note that some early MIPS based routers, such as the N66U, do not support EXT4 disk format.

You can use the Asuswrt-Merlin Terminal Menu (amtm) format disk feature to format a USB and create up to three partitions. See https://diversion.ch/amtm.html for a descripiton of amtm. Use the amtm support forum https://www.snbforums.com/threads/amtm-the-asuswrt-merlin-terminal-menu.42415/ for questions about amtm and the format disk feature.

Optionally, you can download and install software to format a USB in Linux format. Below are two tools I have used in the past:

- EaseUS Partion Manager (https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager/epm-free.html)
- MiniTool Partition Manager(https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html)

Any volume label may be used. If you change the label, use your new label in place of 'ASUS' in the remainder of this guide.

- Remove the USB stick from your computer and plug it into the router

 

[thelonelycoder]

And now, the Asus router world is complete!

That statement - while true at the moment of writing - implies that script coders can now lean back, retire their activity and rest assured with the knowledge that no more (new) coding invention is expected from them.
I - for one - might disagree with you on that

 

[L&LD]

@thelonelycoder and I'm going to be so glad to be proved wrong too! Can't wait to see what awaits us from all the talented people here.

 

[Xentrk]

I pushed a minor update to the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility Menu (nsrum) and README references. Option 1 has been renamed to:

[1] Install NVRAM Save/Restore Utility Files

Adding the word "Files" will help to differentiate between installing the installation menu vs. installing the utility files.

 

[thelonelycoder]

amtm 3.1.3 is now available

What's new
- Adds support for nsrum - NVRAM Save/Restore Utility to amtm.
- Added developer amtm URL variable to amtm FW, same as in standard amtm.

With the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility, a long awaited missing feature finally makes it into amtm.
I am very pleased to add this third script by @Xentrk to amtm.

How to update amtm
Use u to update to this latest version.

 

[Chris_J]

Excellent!

 

[rgnldo]

I appreciate the efforts in writing the script. Helping a lot.
I don't know if there is a possibility to export to .cfg and .tar extensions (jffs)

settings_$(nvram get buildno)_$(nvram get extendno).cfg

jffs_$(nvram get buildno)_$(nvram get extendno).tar

I see a way to export to the ownCloud.

 

[JemTheWire]

I must be dumb. I have installed the utility, but cannot get to work.

Typing 'nsru' at the command prompt does take me to the folder that the utility is installed in. Entering the 'ls' command lists various .sh files, when I try to run them it simply doesn't.

I know its me, I don't really understand this, but can someone please explain how to run it?

 

[Chris_J]

To run a shell script you type ./ before the name

 

[thelonelycoder]

I must be dumb. I have installed the utility, but cannot get to work.

Typing 'nsru' at the command prompt does take me to the folder that the utility is installed in. Entering the 'ls' command lists various .sh files, when I try to run them it simply doesn't.

I know its me, I don't really understand this, but can someone please explain how to run it?

Read post #1: https://github.com/Xentrk/nvram-save-restore-utility

 

[JemTheWire]

Ah. I simply didn't prefix my command with 'sh'.

Thanks for the pointer.