Openwrt Router Firmware

[xiaofan]

@xiaofan , what's ur recommendation of Linksys WRT32X? OpenWRT or DD-WRT or the stock Linksys firmware? Have you tested it before? I got one today to play around!

Sorry I do not have WRT32X, I only have Linksys WRT1900AC and I have only used Linksys Stock FW and OpenWRT.

I will recommend either OpenWRT or DD-WRT as I believe Linksys Stock FW has no more updates, since 2018.
https://www.linksys.com/support-article?articleNum=226203
Ver. 1.0.180404.58
Latest Date: 4/23/2018
Download 10.2 MB

Since I am more familiar with OpenWRT and not DD-WRT (I do not like DD-WRT user interface), I will suggest you give OpenWRT a try first.

But if your interntion is to use this as an AP behind another router, Linksys Stock FW is also an option -- security is less a concern for an AP if your main router is good.

 

[xiaofan]

Mini PC to run OpenWRT/pfSense -- using N100 is a good choice now. Higher end ones can also double as mini Home server.


Some recommendations from the author.

1) Home Network Gateway + low-end min home server
幻网X85SE N4100多网口迷你电脑
康耐信N100标准版4网口迷你电脑
Beelink零刻EQ12 N100双2.5G
699元HEDY七喜S10 N100双2.5G迷你电脑

2) High-end Mini Home Server
Beelink零刻GTR7 7840HS迷你电脑
Minisforum铭凡MS-01 i9 13900H迷你工作站
国伟R86S N系列万兆软路由

 

[acidcrash]

I've been trying to get netflix to run through wan but no go. No problem on prime videos and on all other streaming services.

Been monitoring the interfaces and it does go through the wan but somehow netflix keeps giving me the NW-2-5 error code which is the connectivity issue but internet is fine.

Sat Feb 17 09:17:30 2024 user.notice pbr: Activating traffic killswitch [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:31 2024 user.notice pbr: Setting up routing for 'wan/eth0/100.96.255.1' [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:31 2024 user.notice pbr: Setting up routing for 'wg/10.14.0.2' [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:31 2024 user.notice pbr: Routing 'MITV' via wan [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:32 2024 user.notice pbr: Running /usr/share/pbr/pbr.user.aws [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:32 2024 user.notice pbr: Deactivating traffic killswitch [✓]
Sat Feb 17 09:17:33 2024 user.notice pbr: service monitoring interfaces: wan wg
Sat Feb 17 09:17:33 2024 user.notice pbr: service (nft) started with gateways: wan/eth0/100.96.255.1 wg/10.14.0.2 [✓]

 

[hwzlite]

I've been trying to get netflix to run through wan but no go. No problem on prime videos and on all other streaming services.

Been monitoring the interfaces and it does go through the wan but somehow netflix keeps giving me the NW-2-5 error code which is the connectivity issue but internet is fine.

Check out tips on Policy-Based Routing >> 10.6. A Word About Routing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu Traffic

 

[acidcrash]

Check out tips on Policy-Based Routing >> 10.6. A Word About Routing Netflix/Amazon Prime/Hulu Traffic

Thanks I'll try that. Funny how prime videos able to use but not Netflix.

 

[TanKianW]

I've been trying to get netflix to run through wan but no go. No problem on prime videos and on all other streaming services.

Been monitoring the interfaces and it does go through the wan but somehow netflix keeps giving me the NW-2-5 error code which is the connectivity issue but internet is fine.

You running a VPN? Like Wireguard?

Netflix servers can be fussy when you run a VPN tunnel to them. I think the link provided by @hwzlite also warned against it.​

 

[acidcrash]

You running a VPN? Like Wireguard?

Netflix servers can be fussy when you run a VPN tunnel to them. I think the link provided by @hwzlite also warned against it.​

Even if the tv is directed through wan it still can detect? The only way is not to use VPN at all then. Anyways I'll try again using @hwzlite link and see how it goes.

 

[xiaofan]

Even if the tv is directed through wan it still can detect? The only way is not to use VPN at all then. Anyways I'll try again using @hwzlite link and see how it goes.

It is a cat and mouse game between Netflix and VPN.

I read somewhere that the following is the observation. Netflix is only behind China GFW.
No 1 large network which prevents the operation of typical VPNs -- China GFW
No 2 large network which prevents the operation of typical VPNs -- Netflix

Actually, MediaCorp MeWatch, Singtel Cast and Starhub TV+ also have good measures to counter the operation of typical VPNs if you are out of Singapore.

 

[acidcrash]

ok managed to get it working. I was missing the part where the dns request were routed via the vpn tunnel. So i changed it and go netflix working, Thanks @hwzlite for the link.

 

[hwzlite]

Some interesting disccussion @ How OpenWrt Vanquishes Bufferbloat , especially on the Wireless aspect :

On Wireless Connections
Since Openwrt is an access point, it can manage all the traffic flows to the many devices that it serves. The OpenWrt Wi-Fi driver uses the following mechanisms to reduce latency by using:

Separate transmit queues for each wireless station/client. Each queue enforces fq_codel to control the amount of data queued for that device and provide backpressure to flows using begin to build up a large queue.

Airtime Fairness (ATF) to give each wireless client a fair share of the airtime as opposed to the number of bytes sent/received with ordinary Wi-Fi drivers. This ensures a low-rate (slow) station does not use up all the airtime (the so-called "performance anomaly"). ATF uses (deficit) round-robin scheduling of all active stations to ensure they each use only their fair share of the available airtime.

Airtime Queue Limits (AQL) to prevent the chip hardware from queueing too much data for any one wireless client. Many wireless chipsets have significant (unnecessary) queueing: AQL controls it by analyzing the bit rate for a client and ensuring that no more than ??? HOW MUCH ??? data is queued for that station.

How do you configure this? (I think there's no configuration - true?)

How do I know which wireless chipsets support Airtime FQ? (see discussion below)

 

[xiaofan]

Some interesting disccussion @
How OpenWrt Vanquishes Bufferbloat
, especially on the Wireless aspect :

Haha, your favorite topic.

It does not matter much to me though, as I have given up on using OpenWRT on wireless routers for real usage (I will still playing with OpenWRT on Linksys WRT1900AC and Linksys EA7500v2). Rather I will only use OpenWRT virtual router on Intel mini PC (no wireless). Then I will use wireless routers which do not support OpenWRT as AP (currently Asus RT-AX82 and will change to ZTE BE7000 Pro+).

BTW, majority of Asus WiFi 6/6E/7 routers will not have good support in OpenWRT well due to the use of Broadcomm chipset.

 

[hwzlite]

BTW, majority of Asus WiFi 6/6E/7 routers will not have good support in OpenWRT well due to the use of Broadcomm chipset.

Guess can't go wrong with those based on MediaTek mt76 which is indeed a wonder mac80211 driver available for ax/be too .

I happened to salvage a mint Linksys EA8100 from company's e-recycle bin.
Flashed to latest OpenWRT firmware, configured as Dumb AP and tweaked with "aql_txq_limit = 1500" setting.


Here are the wireless benchmarks (M1 500Mbps, DFS channel 64 @80Mhz, Wall = old HDB type):
Line-Of-Sight, ~6m:
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=ef0c1814-5699-463b-957c-0b057da1e06b (A+)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=9669484d-82ab-4561-acf3-e040a15ea052 (A+)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=9e60560f-cc01-4ede-b17d-63d7b3fc6065 (A+)

Block by 1x Wall , ~8m:
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=653bcd05-58c3-4f4d-9d15-0c97a004f7fd (A)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=9b69cf66-f6d0-4305-9b38-f5fbf7b98dc7 (A)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=336b7e85-4913-4367-b8a3-4c3910fee3d5 (A)

Block by 2x Walls, ~9m:
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=6ea67cfd-1681-4f21-974a-246094a7181a (B)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=54d11a51-bd0c-4a49-9016-2a3341b0f569 (B)
https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat?test-id=5a0d52fb-0192-41cb-8931-fbe87f422938 (C)


Finally can retire my old workhorse D-Link DIR-868L liao

 

[xiaofan]

Guess can't go wrong with those based on MediaTek mt76 which is indeed a wonder mac80211 driver available for ax/be too .

I happened to salvage a mint Linksys EA8100 from company's e-recycle bin.
Flashed to latest OpenWRT firmware, configured as Dumb AP and tweaked with "aql_txq_limit = 1500" setting.

Finally can retire my old workhorse D-Link DIR-868L liao

Haha, I got my Linksys EA7500v2 (without power supply) for free as well since somebody threw it away in the letter box area (HDB block).

Anyway, there are plenty of listings for Linksys EA8100 in Carousell at around S$10.
https://www.carousell.sg/computers-tech/linksys-ea8100/q-213/

But you are cheating here leh by using it as a Dumb AP and test bufferbloat.
You may want to test the bufferbloat score using it as a router.

Nowadays I seldom use my Linksys WRT1900AC and Linksys EA7500v2 already (both installed with OpenWRT) as they are just too slow interms of wireless speed compared to my Asus RT-AX82U. I have also got the ZTE BE7200 Pro+ which can be faster than the RT-AX82U.

Singtel ONT -- OpenWRT Virtual Router ( Intel Celeron J4105 mini PC PVE 7.4 --> to be upgraded to Intel N100 Mini PC with PVE8.0) -- Asus RT-AX82U in AP mode (to be upgraded to ZTE BE7200 Pro+).

 

[hwzlite]

But you are cheating here leh by using it as a Dumb AP and test bufferbloat.
You may want to test the bufferbloat score using it as a router.
....

Can see WLAN make a cpu/usr dent ~30% , prolly can get away together for WAN in
fq_codel+HTB if Cake SQM is too CPU taxing under router mode .

root@OpenWrt_DumbAP:~# top
Mem: 71624K used, 178728K free, 1088K shrd, 0K buff, 15260K cached
CPU:   0% usr  30% sys   0% nic  57% idle   0% io   0% irq  11% sirq
Load average: 0.89 0.66 0.42 3/87 3266
  PID  PPID USER     STAT   VSZ %VSZ %CPU COMMAND
  733     2 root     RW       0   0%  12% [napi/phy1-9]
  738     2 root     RW       0   0%  10% [mt76-tx phy1]
  272     2 root     SW       0   0%   9% [napi/mtk_eth-6]
  734     2 root     SW       0   0%   7% [napi/phy1-10]
  271     2 root     SW       0   0%   3% [napi/mtk_eth-5]
 1198  1179 network  R     4544   2%   0% /usr/sbin/hostapd -s -g /var/run/hostapd/global
 3266  3248 root     R     1396   1%   0% top
  721     2 root     SW       0   0%   0% [napi/phy0-7]
   12     2 root     RW       0   0%   0% [ksoftirqd/0]
   13     2 root     IW       0   0%   0% [rcu_sched]
   28     2 root     SW       0   0%   0% [ksoftirqd/3]
   18     2 root     SW       0   0%   0% [ksoftirqd/1]
   ....

 

[xiaofan]

For those who want to set up OpenWRT virtual router on Proxmox, the following checklist-style guide is not bad.
https://i12bretro.github.io/tutorials/0405.html

After that you may need to use the following guide if you resize the image to a bigger size like 1GB or 4GB.
https://forum.openwrt.org/t/howto-resizing-root-partition-on-x86/140631

 

[xiaofan]

This one is an interesting one -- running OpenWRT as an LxC container under Proxmox PVE.

 

[xiaofan]

Nowadays I seldom use my Linksys WRT1900AC and Linksys EA7500v2 already (both installed with OpenWRT) as they are just too slow interms of wireless speed compared to my Asus RT-AX82U. I have also got the ZTE BE7200 Pro+ which can be faster than the RT-AX82U.

Singtel ONT -- OpenWRT Virtual Router ( Intel Celeron J4105 mini PC PVE 7.4 --> to be upgraded to Intel N100 Mini PC with PVE8.0) -- Asus RT-AX82U in AP mode (to be upgraded to ZTE BE7200 Pro+).

Finally decided to carry out the upgrade yesterday evening.

Singtel ONT -- OpenWRT Virtual Router ( Intel N100 Mini PC with PVE8.0, quad Intel 2.5G NICs) -- ZTE BE7200 Pro+ in AP mode (it has dual 2.5G ports. I will use RT-AX82U as a backup for now)

I have not done much yet -- just set up DDNS, Dns over HTTPs and Adblock Fast.

Singtel IPv6 is not working yet. This may be due to switching of the router -- I will need to check later.

I will set up things like Wireguard Server and Tailscale/Zerotier later.

 

[sglandscape]

Finally decided to carry out the upgrade yesterday evening.

Singtel ONT -- OpenWRT Virtual Router ( Intel N100 Mini PC with PVE8.0, quad Intel 2.5G NICs) -- ZTE BE7200 Pro+ in AP mode (it has dual 2.5G ports. I will use RT-AX82U as a backup for now)

I have not done much yet -- just set up DDNS, Dns over HTTPs and Adblock Fast.

Singtel IPv6 is not working yet. This may be due to switching of the router -- I will need to check later.

I will set up things like Wireguard Server and Tailscale/Zerotier later.

How was your PVE experience? Have always been on esxi but the recent fiasco make me want to gradually switch to PVE with the new nodes

 

[xiaofan]

How was your PVE experience? Have always been on esxi but the recent fiasco make me want to gradually switch to PVE with the new nodes

PVE has always been excellent for me (using it since Jan 2021). But I do not use advance features of PVE, just use it to set up Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD VMs, Linux LxC containers, OpenWRT/pfSense/OpenWRT virtual routers.

No Windows VM.
No passthrough of network card -- using only Linux bridge.
No passthrough of graphics card or things like that.
Simple pass through of USB devices for my open source project testing.

BTW, I have used ESXi and I did not like it myself. PVE is much simpler to me (but I am an experiences Linux users since 2005 with Ubuntu 5.04).

My two Intel N100 mini PCs actually pre-installed ESXi (by the Chinese vendor) but I changed both of them to PVE 8.0.

 

[sglandscape]

PVE has always been excellent for me (using it since Jan 2021). But I do not use advance features of PVE, just use it to set up Linux/FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD VMs, Linux LxC containers, OpenWRT/pfSense/OpenWRT virtual routers.

No Windows VM.
No passthrough of network card -- using only Linux bridge.
No passthrough of graphics card or things like that.
Simple pass through of USB devices for my open source project testing.

BTW, I have used ESXi and I did not like it myself. PVE is much simpler to me (but I am an experiences Linux users since 2005 with Ubuntu 5.04).

My two Intel N100 mini PCs actually pre-installed ESXi (by the Chinese vendor) but I changed both of them to PVE 8.0.

Thanks for the insight, I'll try it hopefully during one of the long weekends. I've always been using esxi and do make use of pcie pass through, and try to take advantage of SR-IOV where I can for the 10Gbps VMs. Run a mix of Linux and Windows VMs though.

No RMDA/RoCE use case yet.