RT-AC5300 Wireless Info/Merlin and AiMesh

[outlaw78]

Hello,

I just bought an Asus rt-ac5300 router and have a couple of questions.

Is there a way to see packet information? Specifically, a counter that shows dropped/collisions on both lan ports and wireless? The system log is not my cup of tea. I had an old dlink (DIR-655) router that showed this information on wireless only back in the day and it was how I found out the wireless side of the router was failing.

Secondly, I also have an Asus rt-ac68p router before I upgraded to the ac5300. I bought this router because I am moving into a large house with two stories that will have 5 people living in it and wanted tri-band for all the possible 5 Ghz devices that will be in use at one time and to share wi-fi downstairs which allows me to plug in hard wire devices behind the second one. I assume this is how a mesh network works by allowing all the routers in the mesh to have devices plugged into the lan ports that don't support wireless. However, I do like Merlin Firmware for the information and enhancements he makes. I am curious if aimesh is going to be implemented at all in his versions?

 

[RMerlin]

I am curious if aimesh is going to be implemented at all in his versions?

At this time there are no plan to support AiMesh in my firmware, due to technical limitations.

 

[schwab]

???? Will this enable AiMesh in Merlin ????

I am running ASUSWRT Merlin on an ASUS RT-AC5300

I am interested in enabling AiMesh and a google search suggested writing the commands below to my router will work:

Write these commands in PuTTY:

Code:

nvram set amas_force=1
nvram commit
reboot

 

[RMerlin]

???? Will this enable AiMesh in Merlin ????

I am running ASUSWRT Merlin on an ASUS RT-AC5300

I am interested in enabling AiMesh and a google search suggested writing the commands below to my router will work:

Write these commands in PuTTY:

Code:

nvram set amas_force=1
nvram commit
reboot

Just enabling the webui settings still won't make it work properly.

 

[schwab]

Thanks for your expertise.

Good to know from a professional authority.

 

[outlaw78]

At this time there are no plan to support AiMesh in my firmware, due to technical limitations.

That's too bad. I really like your firmware for optional settings and information. Guess I will just have to fork out the money to have an electrician to come wire my house for Ethernet then, but for the time being I'll run stock firmware till that happens so I can use the AiMesh feature.

Also, did you know if there is an answer to my first question about the packet loss/collision information? I remember reading somewhere that a later version router after the 68p supported it, just didn't remember which one or where to find it.

 

[RMerlin]

Also, did you know if there is an answer to my first question about the packet loss/collision information?

Only information available is through running ifconfig on the router.

 

[wahah23]

Hi Merlin,

I understand that your firmware is not supporting AiMesh because it's not open sourced. But is it possible to compile/publish your future firmware with stock AiMesh feature? Is there any legal concerns as well?

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Hi Merlin,

I understand that your firmware is not supporting AiMesh because it's not open sourced. But is it possible to compile/publish your future firmware with stock AiMesh feature? Is there any legal concerns as well?

Thanks!

The root problem isn't that it's closed source, the problem is that there are compatibility issues between AiMesh and my code, and I cannot address these because AiMesh is closed source.

 

[wahah23]

Gotcha! Thanks for your explanation.

 

[talon_262]

So far, I'd been running the 384_8 betas on my new AC86U for the past couple of weeks (and just upgraded to 384_8 stable tonight) with AiMesh enabled as a AiMesh router for two AC1750_B1s serving as AiMesh nodes, because I just couldn't do without Skynet and Diversion once I had tried them on my AC56U (as well as Merlin's other tweaks and optimizations); so far, I've not run across any showstoppers and things seem to be working well.

I know that Merlin's hamstrung on making AiMesh support official (and play nice with his changes) due to Asus' inaction, so I hope that is rectified sooner rather than later; in any case, I appreciate the work he does.

 

[wahah23]

How did you run AiMesh on Merlin's firmware?

So far, I'd been running the 384_8 betas on my new AC86U for the past couple of weeks (and just upgraded to 384_8 stable tonight) with AiMesh enabled as a AiMesh router for two AC1750_B1s serving as AiMesh nodes, because I just couldn't do without Skynet and Diversion once I had tried them on my AC56U (as well as Merlin's other tweaks and optimizations); so far, I've not run across any showstoppers and things seem to be working well.

I know that Merlin's hamstrung on making AiMesh support official (and play nice with his changes) due to Asus' inaction, so I hope that is rectified sooner rather than later; in any case, I appreciate the work he does.

View attachment 15338

 

[talon_262]

How did you run AiMesh on Merlin's firmware?

See the SSH commands in post #3.

But, as Merlin alluded to in his following posts, it may cause issues, since he can't check and tailor his code against the closed AiMesh sources, so that puts it strictly in "at your own risk" territory.

 

[wahah23]

Thank you and one more question. Have you tried roaming between AiMesh nodes? Are you able to get seamless signal or you still experience a short disconnection between transition? Thanks.

See the SSH commands in post #3.

But, as Merlin alluded to in his following posts, it may cause issues, since he can't check and tailor his code against the closed AiMesh sources, so that puts it strictly in "at your own risk" territory.

 

[DroidST]

How did you run AiMesh on Merlin's firmware?

See the SSH commands in post #3.

But, as Merlin alluded to in his following posts, it may cause issues, since he can't check and tailor his code against the closed AIMesh sources, so that puts it strictly in "at your own risk" territory.

This isn't clear to me as well. From your post in #11, it sounded like you had 2 AC1750_B1s (and assumed you ran stock) for AiMesh with the primary Node connected (wired) to your new 86U running Merlin (which handles your WAN connection).'

Can you detail your setup more and are you running an AiMesh node on Merlin's f/w?

 

[talon_262]

This isn't clear to me as well. From your post in #11, it sounded like you had 2 AC1750_B1s (and assumed you ran stock) for AiMesh with the primary Node connected (wired) to your new 86U running Merlin (which handles your WAN connection).'

Can you detail your setup more and are you running an AiMesh node on Merlin's f/w?

Cable modem -> AC86U (running Merlin as the router with AiMesh options re-enabled via the SSH commands in post #3 and WiFi enabled) - > 24-port Cisco GbE switch -> two AC1750_B1s (running stock Asus FW as AiMesh nodes), each using wired backhaul to the AC86U

 

[king006]

@talon_262,

Thank you for your information! I have now turned on Aimesh in Merlin and left the stock rom on the second router and it has been stable and good for 24 hours.
Does the option remain if you update Merlin?

 

[talon_262]

@talon_262,

Thank you for your information! I have now turned on Aimesh in Merlin and left the stock rom on the second router and it has been stable and good for 24 hours.
Does the option remain if you update Merlin?

So far, yes; I had it on with 384_8beta 2 and it stayed when I upgraded to 384_8 stable.

 

[king006]

So far, yes; I had it on with 384_8beta 2 and it stayed when I upgraded to 384_8 stable.

Thank you for your information!

 

[rjbu]

So far, I'd been running the 384_8 betas on my new AC86U for the past couple of weeks (and just upgraded to 384_8 stable tonight) with AiMesh enabled as a AiMesh router for two AC1750_B1s serving as AiMesh nodes, because I just couldn't do without Skynet and Diversion once I had tried them on my AC56U (as well as Merlin's other tweaks and optimizations); so far, I've not run across any showstoppers and things seem to be working well.

@talon_262 @Dave_90 (@Anyone else trying this out?)
Any issues so far with using Merlin with AiMesh enabled?

Bob