Replace main unit in AiMesh network?

[Muyfa666]

I have a AiMesh network with a bunch of XT8's.

I plan to replace the main unit with a XT12. Can this be done without resetting all the units and re-add them?

 

[Tech9]

No.

 

[Muyfa666]

Thanks, I'll just have to reset and redo it all, no problem.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have a AiMesh network with a bunch of XT8's.

I plan to replace the main unit with a XT12. Can this be done without resetting all the units and re-add them?

When you upgrade an all-in-one router, you are installing a new network... it should be commissioned from scratch.

OE

 

[the_1337_house]

Yes you can.

1. Leave your existing network as is
2. Login to your Router, go to administration, export your configuration/settings and download the file
3. Power up the new Router without connecting it to the network at all
4. Use an ethernet cable to connect the new Router to a PC/Laptop that is not connected to the rest of the network. Only these 2 devices should be connected, the existing network can remain as is
5. Go to the new Router's main page and you should be prompted to either start a new configuration or import a settings/configuration file
6. Select the latter, importing the file from step 2.
7. The router will restart
8. You can login to the admin interface by using the credentials on the Router you want to replace
9. Go through the settings and ensure everything looks identical to how your Router on the network is configured. Once happy, switch it off
10. Switch off the Router on the network and replace it with the new one
11. Your new Router should be operating exactly as the old one
12. Factory-reset the replaced Router pressing the reset button with a pin after switching it on. Start from scratch setting it up as a Node

 

[Ripshod]

Yes you can.

1. Leave your existing network as is
2. Login to your Router, go to administration, export your configuration/settings and download the file
3. Power up the new Router without connecting it to the network at all
4. Use an ethernet cable to connect the new Router to a PC/Laptop that is not connected to the rest of the network. Only these 2 devices should be connected, the existing network can remain as is
5. Go to the new Router's main page and you should be prompted to either start a new configuration or import a settings/configuration file
6. Select the latter, importing the file from step 2.
7. The router will restart
8. You can login to the admin interface by using the credentials on the Router you want to replace
9. Go through the settings and ensure everything looks identical to how your Router on the network is configured. Once happy, switch it off
10. Switch off the Router on the network and replace it with the new one
11. Your new Router should be operating exactly as the old one
12. Factory-reset the replaced Router pressing the reset button with a pin after switching it on. Start from scratch setting it up as a Node

That's a recipe for disaster. Configuration shouldn't be copied directly between different hardware or (often) different major versions of firmware. New router, new configuration - start from the defaults of the router and firmware you have.

 

[Tech9]

Configuration shouldn't be copied

Are you sure about it? This is how Asuswrt save/restore works in reality:

can configuration information of the same firmware version be exported/imported to each other?

If you overwrite these nvrams with the MAC of a different device's config file, they won't be replaced by the correct one unless you did another factory default reset. You will end up with a mixture of correct and incorrect MACs. On which mac addresses do you refer to? This is the AX88U I...

www.snbforums.com

You are somewhat out of luck with your custom firmware and add-ons.

 

[Ripshod]

Are you sure about it? This is how Asuswrt save/restore works in reality:

can configuration information of the same firmware version be exported/imported to each other?

If you overwrite these nvrams with the MAC of a different device's config file, they won't be replaced by the correct one unless you did another factory default reset. You will end up with a mixture of correct and incorrect MACs. On which mac addresses do you refer to? This is the AX88U I...

www.snbforums.com

You are somewhat out of luck with your custom firmware and add-ons.

The forum has been through this debate many times over the years, so I'm not going to debate it here.
You're happy with what you believe from your intensive testing of various asus routers, and I'm happy with my years of real-world usage.
We'll agree to disagree?

 

[fenriv]

The point is: it wouldn't hurt to try migrating your main router that way, if it fails for some reason, then you can always do a big reset and configure everything from scratch (just make sure to keep the same SSIDs and passwords so the migration will be seamless for other WiFi users).

Just as a side note: i did the switch of a main router as described by @the_1337_house, with the condition of major version of firmware being the same for old and new routers. Worked charmingly well, all 3 mesh nodes connected to the new router without need of re-sync.
Later, I've upgraded the router to the latest available firmware version and now even with different major firmware version it all still works great.

Of course, it's definitely luck that my old router was recent enough to have a cross-over version of firmware with a new one.

 

[Tech9]

I'm happy with my years of real-world usage.

Even your answer is copy/paste from someone else. Your real-world usage experience, the one you are happy with, was telling you just last week your RT-AX88U can't do >350Mbps with AiProtection enabled. My under-world testing experience told you it can actually do >Gigabit.

Seriously, most of the forum experience comes from wrong expectations whatever tool is available in stock Asuswrt will work in modified Asuswrt-Merlin as well. This is not the case and Save/Restore is an example. Is it the best solution? - No. Does it work in Asuswrt? - Yes, most of the time. Asus doesn't have firmware or model restriction, they implemented checks and conversions, they say if unsuccessful - just reset and start over. I put the tool on test and found it working pretty consistently even between different hardware generation devices. Example on top of my testing with no disaster:

Worked charmingly well

 

[Ripshod]

Even your answer is copy/paste from someone else. Your real-world usage experience, the one you are happy with, was telling you just last week your RT-AX88U can't do >350Mbps with AiProtection enabled. My under-world testing experience told you it can actually do >Gigabit

Throwing unfounded, unprovable accusations at me now? That was my own wording. Find where I've copied it from - or keep quiet. In fact, your adversarial behaviour has earned you a place in my ignore list. Hopefully that'll also block your uninvited PMs too.
The fact is when you run a few scripts for years, you tend to forget how they can drag performance down. I don't deny that.

Sorry about the troll folks, they only started following me around recently.

 

[Tech9]

Your choice, of course. Running scripts for years means you're not using stock Asuswrt. I don't know how things were years ago, perhaps there were some changes, but this save/restore function is now actually doing pretty decent job. This is what I was trying to tell you and spent the time to verify it.