Stubby-Installer-Asuswrt-Merlin

[L&LD]

I suspected as much, but I have to deal with a family that has become accustomed to responsiveness of standard DNS. I guess I'll have to try and see.

Try and see, yes.

But they may have to deal with a parent that is starting to value privacy a bit more.

 

[maxbraketorque]

Try and see, yes.

But they may have to deal with a parent that is starting to value privacy a bit more.

What bothers me more than anything is messing with a very stable router. I've had no issues with my routers accepting each firmware update without resorting to a factory reset and reapplying all settings. I just flash and go. I hope these add-ons do not require more effort to keep updated and working well than this.

 

[L&LD]

What bothers me more than anything is messing with a very stable router. I've had no issues with my routers accepting each firmware update without resorting to a factory reset and reapplying all settings. I just flash and go. I hope these add-ons do not require more effort to keep updated and working well than this.

We all hope for the same things, yes.

• But take a backup of all pertinent areas of your router configuration, including a few screenshots.
• Including the jffs partition.
• Including the actual firmware file with the hash file to verify it.
• Finally, take a deep breath and proceed slowly but methodically, keeping excellent notes along the way what you changed and tried at each step.
• If show stopper issues do come up, simply use your restore tools and backups to quickly get back to where you are now.

Think, if nobody messed with things, we'd still be running a version of Asuswrt that looks (and functions) like this (the image from the original review by Tim Higgins on the main site here);



Yes, we have come a long way from 2011 'state-of-the-art'.

 

[#TY]

What bothers me more than anything is messing with a very stable router. I've had no issues with my routers accepting each firmware update without resorting to a factory reset and reapplying all settings. I just flash and go. I hope these add-ons do not require more effort to keep updated and working well than this.

Im on the same page. As such, avoid beta's and perhaps rushing to update to the next major firmware before thoroughly reading about other people's experiences with it. Generally speaking though, Merlin's builds have been awesome.

 

[Swistheater]

We all hope for the same things, yes.

• But take a backup of all pertinent areas of your router configuration, including a few screenshots.
• Including the jffs partition.
• Including the actual firmware file with the hash file to verify it.
• Finally, take a deep breath and proceed slowly but methodically, keeping excellent notes along the way what you changed and tried at each step.
• If show stopper issues do come up, simply use your restore tools and backups to quickly get back to where you are now.

Think, if nobody messed with things, we'd still be running a version of Asuswrt that looks (and functions) like this (the image from the original review by Tim Higgins on the main site here);



Yes, we have come a long way.
View attachment 16942

That asuswrt gui looks naked without the comfort and protection of merlin wrapped around it.

 

[L&LD]

That asuswrt gui looks naked without the comfort and protection of merlin wrapped around it.

Sure does. Feels lonely and foreign too. And a bit cartoony. lol...

I have no doubt that RMerlin inspired the Asus developers towards a better looking 'skin', to better match the superior code he is constantly pushing them towards too.

 

[#TY]

I honestly believe that Asus would have never sold anywhere near the amount of routers it has had it not been for the Merlin Firmware. You have to be insane to stay with the stock. There is literally zero advantage. I'm not sure why they don't just ship them with Merlin's Firmware pre-installed.

 

[Swistheater]

Probably b/c merlin only does this as a hobby lol.

 

[Swistheater]

I couldn't imagine merlin slaving away at some asus testing office in a room full of routers and fans and a couple of 80's super computers.

 

[#TY]

Probably b/c merlin only does this as a hobby lol.

I pray he never loses interest otherwise we're toast!

 

[Xentrk]

There's a lot to figure out here. Is Stubby is supposed to better than dnscrypt?

TL;DR from https://dnsprivacy.org/wiki/display/DP/DNS+Privacy+-+The+Solutions

DNS over TLS is an approved standard. DnsCrypt is not.

DNS-over-TLS (DoT)

RFC7858 specified DNS-over-TLS as a Standards Track protocol in May 2016 with a port assignment of 853 from IANA. There is active work in this area.

There are now multiple implementations (including Stubby a local DNS Privacy stub resolver) and a number of experimental and public servers deployed.

DNSCrypt

DNSCrypt is a method of authenticating communications between a DNS client and a DNS resolver that has been around since 2011.

• It prevents DNS spoofing.
• It uses cryptographic signatures to verify that responses originate from the chosen DNS resolver and haven't been tampered with (the messages are still sent over UDP).
• As a side effect it provides increased privacy because the DNS message content is encrypted.
• It is an open specification but it has not been standardized by the IETF.
• There are multiple implementations and a set of DNSCrypt servers available.
• OpenDNS offers DNSCrypt

Also check out an in depth comparison from Tenta.

 

[unsynaps]

What bothers me more than anything is messing with a very stable router. I've had no issues with my routers accepting each firmware update without resorting to a factory reset and reapplying all settings. I just flash and go. I hope these add-ons do not require more effort to keep updated and working well than this.

Factory resets are highly needed sometimes because of setting changes due to driver updates and so forth in the firmware.

 

[L&LD]

Factory resets are highly needed sometimes because of setting changes due to driver updates and so forth in the firmware.

Exactly.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[Zonkd]

from what i understand stubby is soon going to support DOH, once that happens i suspect alot of people will be bleeding over to test stubby's new DOH functions lol.

If that is true I am excited.

 

[RMerlin]

If that is true I am excited.

Why? DoH is just a stupid idea from a networking's point of view. The HTTP protocol is designed to transport web data, not name resolution.

 

[Swistheater]

The only benefit I.can see of doh is that your service provider probably wont block port 443 before they block any other port.

 

[Zonkd]

Why? DoH is just a stupid idea from a networking's point of view. The HTTP protocol is designed to transport web data, not name resolution.

Why is because we can fall back on DOH when DOT is blocked and you don’t want to use VPN. DOT performance gains are irrelevant if it’s unusable. Is there opposition to DOH for any other reasons beside overheads/inefficiency/ugliness?

 

[Poseidon]

I'm planning on installing Stubby (via amtm). Once installed is it plug-n-play or is there some manual configuration required/recommended either on Stubby or on the Asus router GUI page?

 

[Butterfly Bones]

I'm planning on installing Stubby (via amtm). Once installed is it plug-n-play or is there some manual configuration required/recommended either on Stubby or on the Asus router GUI page?

You might want to check and verify the installation. There is a menu option to do that after you open it from amtm menu.

I also highly recommended you read post #1 carefully ant thoroughly, maybe more than once (I do!). Pay close attention to this section,

For information on Stubby, including how to install and validate, visit the Stubby-Installer-Asuswrt-Merlin GitHub Repository.

and use the link to got through the validation steps. For the most part it was plug and play for me, but I am also an inveterate tinker.

 

[L&LD]

I'm planning on installing Stubby (via amtm). Once installed is it plug-n-play or is there some manual configuration required/recommended either on Stubby or on the Asus router GUI page?

Listen to the sage advice that Butterfly Bones offers above, but each time I have installed it. It just works!