User NVRAM Save/Restore Utility (R26.2)

[Denny]

@john9527, when I was saying that I was not passing the current directory it meant that I was not doing this:

[admin@nvram-save-r22]$ ./nvram-save.sh /currentdirectory

However I use ./ to launch the script otherwise this will not push thru

 

[TomT]

I'm looking at make changes to the VLAN configuration on my router.

If I backup my settings via the GUI or using this script , will I be able to revert back if I mess things up ?

Thanks

 

[john9527]

@john9527, when I was saying that I was not passing the current directory it meant that I was not doing this:

[admin@nvram-save-r22]$ ./nvram-save.sh /currentdirectory

However I use ./ to launch the script otherwise this will not push thru

How are you logging on? That's not the standard shell prompt. Using Entware/Optware?

 

[john9527]

I'm looking at make changes to the VLAN configuration on my router.

If I backup my settings via the GUI or using this script , will I be able to revert back if I mess things up ?

Thanks

You have a couple of ways to go here....

First, as you develop your VLAN config, do so via telnet/ssh. AFAIK the router is very 'protective' of its VLAN setup, and rewrites it at every boot. So a reboot should allow you to recover from any problems at this stage.

As a safety measure for the first step, and when you start transferring things to the necessary startup scripts, you can use the gui built in save configuration to recover. If one of your scripts causes things to hang at boot, use the WPS reset to factory defaults (which will disable script execution). Then you can edit your scripts and restore the saved config. Just don't try and use a saved config from one code level on a different level.

You can also use this utility in much the same way to recover from a bad script. This utility also can save and restore a backup of the /jffs space, so would allow you to revert back from a bad script a bit easier.

 

[TomT]

You have a couple of ways to go here....

First, as you develop your VLAN config, do so via telnet/ssh. AFAIK the router is very 'protective' of its VLAN setup, and rewrites it at every boot. So a reboot should allow you to recover from any problems at this stage.

As a safety measure for the first step, and when you start transferring things to the necessary startup scripts, you can use the gui built in save configuration to recover. If one of your scripts causes things to hang at boot, use the WPS reset to factory defaults (which will disable script execution). Then you can edit your scripts and restore the saved config. Just don't try and use a saved config from one code level on a different level.

You can also use this utility in much the same way to recover from a bad script. This utility also can save and restore a backup of the /jffs space, so would allow you to revert back from a bad script a bit easier.

Thanks very helpful.
On with trying to work VLANS out !!

 

[HawkInOz]

Will I be able to use this utility to migrate all of my current settings from an RT-N66U [Fork V15E5] to a RT-AC88U, RT-AC3100, or RT-AC5300 (still deciding which) [ASUS/Merlin]? Not sure if the newly released routers are fully supported. Thanks.

 

[YzRacer]

Just signed up to say thanks for this utility! It worked great on my RT-AC66U while migrating from ASUS 376 to the current Merlin. So far no issues after restoring the MIGR backup. Definitely reduced the pain of upgrading!

 

[Santiago C]

LATEST RELEASE: Release 22
27-October-2015
nvram-save-r22.zip

Hi!

It seems Radius IP address is not being saved because it is not included in the provided .ini file

entries:
wl_radius_ipaddr
wl0_radius_ipaddr
wl1_radius_ipaddr
(etc)

 

[maxbraketorque]

I'm sure this is answered somewhere, but I can't find it - How is saving the NVRAM different than saving the configuration from within the router web interface?

 

[martinr]

I'm sure this is answered somewhere, but I can't find it - How is saving the NVRAM different than saving the configuration from within the router web interface?

This same question was asked today in the new firmware post. Does rhis help? http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-380-57-is-now-available.29308/page-9#post-226810

and see joegreat's reply at #176 in the same topic.

 

[maxbraketorque]

This same question was asked today in the new firmware post. Does rhis help? http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-380-57-is-now-available.29308/page-9#post-226810

and see joegreat's reply at #176 in the same topic.

Thanks much. That post and Merlin's nvram FAQ answered all my questions.

 

[Yiannis]

Hello,

happy new year to everyone in this forum.
One quick question: Does this great tool saves OpenVPN configuration (meaning any certification stored at the ASUS router) ?

 

[Henk59]

First time I used this utility (v.22) I have done a migration from AC66U to AC87U, everything went well.
OpenVPN settings, only the certificates .crt file and UDP ports weren't restored so it looks that these settings skipped in John's tool.
But a great utility!

 

[Zirescu]

First time I used this utility (v.22) I have done a migration from AC66U to AC87U, everything went well.
OpenVPN settings, only the certificates .crt file and UDP ports weren't restored so it looks that these settings skipped in John's tool.
But a great utility!

OpenVPN settings are stored in jffs so you'll need to also run the jffs-restore.sh script.

 

[Henk59]

I didn't use or format my jffs ever, I dig in it later.
But in the AC66U router these .crt are somewhere, after reboot the .crt info stays.
I'll saw that the nvram-backup was oke, but the jffs-backup produce fails 'could not backup' 4 times, I didn't format that partition.

 

[john9527]

First time I used this utility (v.22) I have done a migration from AC66U to AC87U, everything went well.
OpenVPN settings, only the certificates .crt file and UDP ports weren't restored so it looks that these settings skipped in John's tool.
But a great utility!

A couple of different scenarios possible here....
- If saving/restoring with both come from and goto firmware levels < 378.55 the certs are in NVRAM and will be restored correctly.
- If the save is done with a level < 378.55 to a level >= 378.55, the certs will be restored to NVRAM, but on the next boot they will be moved to jffs and the NVRAM entries deleted. You should make a new nvram-save here, which will also backup the jffs with the certs.
- If both the save and restore are to >=378.55, the certs are only in jffs, so you need to run the jffs-restore.
- If going backward (the save was done >= 378.55, and you restore to <378.55, the NVRAM values will not be restored, and you will need to manually re-enter them through the OpenVPN gui. (I'll put this on the list to see if I can restore the nvram entries from jffs in this case for a future release)

 

[john9527]

Just posting an FYI here from another thread.

For a couple of firmware realeases, an additional field was added to the MAC Filter lists, that causes a corrupt entry when perfoming an nvram-restore from a version that didn't contain the new field or vice-versa. I plan to track down the exact releases and publish an update after the holidays, but in the meantime, if you see bad entries in the MAC Filter lists after an nvram-restore you can run the following commands to clear them (and then manually reconfigure them).

nvram unset wl_maclist
nvram unset wl0_maclist
nvram unset wl1_maclist
nvram unset wl_maclist_x
nvram unset wl0_maclist_x
nvram unset wl1_maclist_x
nvram commit

 

[Henk59]

- ..
- If both the save and restore are to >=378.55, the certs are only in jffs, so you need to run the jffs-restore.
- If going backward (the save was done >= 378.55, and you restore to <378.55, the NVRAM values will not be restored, and you will need to manually re-enter them through the OpenVPN gui.

Thanks John.
In my case;
The AC68U router run's on Merlin FW 56-2 (nvram back-up) and my new AC87U run's on Merlin FW 57 (AC87U FW. update in several steps, 1). upd. to latest ASUS FW, Factory reset, 2). latest FW Merlin FW 57, Factory reset, 3). nvram restore).
In this sequence I did the Migration, under mentioned FW releases.

(I'll put this on the list to see if I can restore the nvram entries from jffs in this case for a future release)

But that's not a problem, your utility takes out most of type work, the .crt file and UDP port setting is peanut's.

 

[hungarianhc]

Potentially dumb question here... I'm going to upgrade my router tonight to the newest MerlinWRT. I need to do a factory reset. I don't want to lose all of my settings so that brings me to this nvram save / restore utility. I'm thinking save settings, upgrade router, reset settings, and then restore nvram. But then I read this on this page:

Can I just restore my saved settings after I do a factory default reset?
No. The idea behind a factory default reset is to have your router start using the NEW default values. If you restore your saved settings, you will overwrite those new values with the old ones, and you are back to square one.

This is similar to having a PC with a corrupted Windows installation. If you reformat, and immediately after you restore a Ghost/TrueImage/Clonezilla backup on top of the reformatted Windows, you are back to where you were before you did all that work.

So... what's the best way to proceed here? I'd like to upgrade my router firmware, but I'd prefer to not lose my VPN settings, port forward settings, SSID settings, etc. Thanks!

 

[spalife]

First
Save settings with nvram restore utility.

Check nvram save and jffs save files have completed successfully in the nvram save installation/backup folder (date stamp will be affixed to the files).

Steps:
1. Download the firmware update
2. Flash to firmware update
3. Reboot router by holding down wps button for about 10 secs
4. Login to router admin
(change any initial default values such admin name & password, enable jffs partition, custom scripts folder)
5. Login through telnet /ssh into router with admin name & password used to save the settings through nvram save utility
6. Run the nvram restore script
7. Additional step if jffs are not restored , run jffs restore script
8. Check in the Admin GUI if all the settings are restored
9. Reboot the router