AIMesh and IP address assignments

[Jrainey]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum, and hoping I am posting this in the correct topic.

I have recently (about 3 months ago) acquired a GT-AX11000, and set it up with my old RT-AC68U as a wired AIMesh node.

The installation and setup went quite well, and I have happily been using the system ever since.

I have just completed installing a security camera system based on Zoneminder running on VMware. It is supporting 4 cameras on the 2.4 gHz band, and running well.

The camera IP addresses are cofigured in the cameras, and are set to 10.0.1.181 through 184.

While exploring on the router, I noticed that the 183 and 184 cameras do not appear in the client list in the main router (AX11000). They do, however, appear in the client list for the AC68U, but their IP addresses are 10.0.0.237 and 10.0.2.80. (my network mask is 255.255.252.0)

The 183 and 184 ip address respond to pings. The 68U addresses do not respond to pings.

This got me curious as to the details of how AIMesh operates at the protocol level, but couldn't find much info doing a quick google search. I did happen upon this forum, and hence my post.

So, with all of that preamble, my question is: Can anyone explain what is happening here, and what I am seeing in the router interfaces.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Jack Rainey

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't know anything about AiMesh but in a non-AiMesh setup the client list is derived from the Network Map. The Network map is known to be unreliable and only work with /24 subnets.

 

[Swistheater]

Hi All,

I am new to the forum, and hoping I am posting this in the correct topic.

I have recently (about 3 months ago) acquired a GT-AX11000, and set it up with my old RT-AC68U as a wired AIMesh node.

The installation and setup went quite well, and I have happily been using the system ever since.

I have just completed installing a security camera system based on Zoneminder running on VMware. It is supporting 4 cameras on the 2.4 gHz band, and running well.

The camera IP addresses are cofigured in the cameras, and are set to 10.0.1.181 through 184.

While exploring on the router, I noticed that the 183 and 184 cameras do not appear in the client list in the main router (AX11000). They do, however, appear in the client list for the AC68U, but their IP addresses are 10.0.0.237 and 10.0.2.80. (my network mask is 255.255.252.0)

The 183 and 184 ip address respond to pings. The 68U addresses do not respond to pings.

This got me curious as to the details of how AIMesh operates at the protocol level, but couldn't find much info doing a quick google search. I did happen upon this forum, and hence my post.

So, with all of that preamble, my question is: Can anyone explain what is happening here, and what I am seeing in the router interfaces.

Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Jack Rainey

do you have your DHCP set to manual assignment? or are you out of addressing at all?
it seems like the cameras are connecting to the main and getting pushed off the main before completing the address assignment.
For this issue some devices do not play very well with manual assignment and roaming,

 

[Swistheater]

do you have your DHCP set to manual assignment? or are you out of addressing at all?
it seems like the cameras are connecting to the main and getting pushed off the main before completing the address assignment.
For this issue some devices do not play very well with manual assignment and roaming,
View attachment 18535

This is one of the known problems with AiMesh with some setups, the other option is you could turn on your guest network and allow cameras to run on guest network if you do not want to set up roaming block list.

 

[Jrainey]

I don't know anything about AiMesh but in a non-AiMesh setup the client list is derived from the Network Map. The Network map is known to be unreliable and only work with /24 subnets.

Thanks for the reply ColinTaylor.

I was not aware of the limitations of the network map.

As for the /24 issue, I initially chose to go with a /22 in preparation for a larger requirement for internal IP addresses with the advent of IoT devices. Even now I have 5 light bulbs that connect to my local network. I was thinking that 255 addresses could easily be consumed in the relatively near future, so I set up for over 1000 should I eventually need it. Unfortunately, I was informed by ASUS support (after I had the router up and running under /22) that the AX11000 would only support 253 connections, and that performance fell off if that number was exceeded.

For the IP address confusion, it is not a problem, as the network is running well. I am curious as to what I am seeing. I think Swistheater has hit on the likely cause in his replies below.

Thanks again.

Jack Rainey

 

[Jrainey]

This is one of the known problems with AiMesh with some setups, the other option is you could turn on your guest network and allow cameras to run on guest network if you do not want to set up roaming block list.

This is one of the known problems with AiMesh with some setups, the other option is you could turn on your guest network and allow cameras to run on guest network if you do not want to set up roaming block list.

Thanks for the response Swistheater,

I think that you are correct in your assessment of what may have happened.

Manual assignment and roaming block list are both enabled, although both lists are currently empty.

When I want a device on a particular IP address, (in this case the cameras because I have hard coded the IP addresses in Zoneminder), my preference is to set the IP in the device, rather than the manual assignment table. The reasoning is that if the device needs to be replaced, I don't need to fiddle with the mac address mapping in the router.

With the latest cameras I added, the setup would not allow me to apply my desired address. (probably an issue with the /22 network setup.) To get the result I wanted, I was forced to manually assign the new cameras to the desired address, switch to local assignment in the device, then remove the record from the manual assignment table. All of this was done with the camera sitting within 18 inches of the AX11000. When finally mounted in their final locations, the cameras are within 10 feet of the AC68U. I am guessing that this has created some records somewhere in the system that unfortunately are not getting purged.

Thanks also for the guest network suggestion. I am chagrined to say that I haven't even checked out the concept until now. I actually set up parental controls on the cameras to isolate them from the internet. This is a much more elegant solution.

The device information you have listed is quite interesting. I was not aware of an alternative firmware until happening across this forum yesterday. Is it available yet for the AX11000? What does it offer in improvements over stock ASUS? I am very curious about the ntpMerlin daemon. Would I be able to install the RMerlin firmware on my AC68U as an Aimesh node, and add the ntpMerlin daemon? I am considering setting up a dedicated ntp server VM on my esxi host.

Thanks again,

Jack Rainey

 

[Swistheater]

Thanks for the response Swistheater,

I think that you are correct in your assessment of what may have happened.

Manual assignment and roaming block list are both enabled, although both lists are currently empty.

When I want a device on a particular IP address, (in this case the cameras because I have hard coded the IP addresses in Zoneminder), my preference is to set the IP in the device, rather than the manual assignment table. The reasoning is that if the device needs to be replaced, I don't need to fiddle with the mac address mapping in the router.

With the latest cameras I added, the setup would not allow me to apply my desired address. (probably an issue with the /22 network setup.) To get the result I wanted, I was forced to manually assign the new cameras to the desired address, switch to local assignment in the device, then remove the record from the manual assignment table. All of this was done with the camera sitting within 18 inches of the AX11000. When finally mounted in their final locations, the cameras are within 10 feet of the AC68U. I am guessing that this has created some records somewhere in the system that unfortunately are not getting purged.

Thanks also for the guest network suggestion. I am chagrined to say that I haven't even checked out the concept until now. I actually set up parental controls on the cameras to isolate them from the internet. This is a much more elegant solution.

The device information you have listed is quite interesting. I was not aware of an alternative firmware until happening across this forum yesterday. Is it available yet for the AX11000? What does it offer in improvements over stock ASUS? I am very curious about the ntpMerlin daemon. Would I be able to install the RMerlin firmware on my AC68U as an Aimesh node, and add the ntpMerlin daemon? I am considering setting up a dedicated ntp server VM on my esxi host.

Thanks again,

Jack Rainey

Okay first you can use Rmerlin firmware on the RT-AC68U but it would have to be your primary node(router) and the GT-AX11000 would have to be your secondary, because Rmerlins firmware does not support GT series platform due to a couple of differences in the firmware designs, and the lack of firmware updates provided to the GT series to properly maintain the firmware on Rmerlins setup. Aimesh is also not supported by Rmerlin and is disabled, but can be turned on by accessing NVram Variables, though that doesn't guarantee it will properly perform because Merlin does not have access to the firmware code within Aimesh, which makes him unable to tailor his code to work with any issues that it may bring. (there are people that report successfully using Aimesh though, there are alot of precautions you have to follow implementing it, if you decide to cross that bridge you will want to research more within the forum for conversations linked to these people who have successfully set it up).
Rmerlin requires atleast a minimum of GPL releases each firmware release along with relevant frequent updates. The GT-AX11000 is your more powerful router, which you would want to keep as your main, You can easily switch your RT-AC68U to an AP mode and you can run a ethernet cable to the wan port of it. This will allow you to run Rmerlin firmware on it, but it will require you to configure it in such away the wireless works to how you want it to, if you have no problems doing this I do not see any issues for you to run merlin style firmware. Aimesh allows you to skip all of those steps, but removes you from being able to customize and tailor the node to run extra features. Note if you try to implement Aimesh on Rmerlin style firmware branch you will not be able to do it if your 68U as the node, it would have to become your primary router at that point and the GT-AX11000 would have to be a node.

 

[Swistheater]

Thanks for the response Swistheater,

I think that you are correct in your assessment of what may have happened.

Manual assignment and roaming block list are both enabled, although both lists are currently empty.

When I want a device on a particular IP address, (in this case the cameras because I have hard coded the IP addresses in Zoneminder), my preference is to set the IP in the device, rather than the manual assignment table. The reasoning is that if the device needs to be replaced, I don't need to fiddle with the mac address mapping in the router.

With the latest cameras I added, the setup would not allow me to apply my desired address. (probably an issue with the /22 network setup.) To get the result I wanted, I was forced to manually assign the new cameras to the desired address, switch to local assignment in the device, then remove the record from the manual assignment table. All of this was done with the camera sitting within 18 inches of the AX11000. When finally mounted in their final locations, the cameras are within 10 feet of the AC68U. I am guessing that this has created some records somewhere in the system that unfortunately are not getting purged.

Thanks also for the guest network suggestion. I am chagrined to say that I haven't even checked out the concept until now. I actually set up parental controls on the cameras to isolate them from the internet. This is a much more elegant solution.

The device information you have listed is quite interesting. I was not aware of an alternative firmware until happening across this forum yesterday. Is it available yet for the AX11000? What does it offer in improvements over stock ASUS? I am very curious about the ntpMerlin daemon. Would I be able to install the RMerlin firmware on my AC68U as an Aimesh node, and add the ntpMerlin daemon? I am considering setting up a dedicated ntp server VM on my esxi host.

Thanks again,

Jack Rainey

The Roaming blocklist is made so you could tell your wireless devices, not to roam off of the main GT-AX11000, this would allow you to ensure that those specific devices ,that require special handling ,can properly receive addressing from your DHCP if it is being manually assigned (not all devices have this issue), and also allows them to play nicely with your wireless platform, some devices may require this "sensitive" handling when dealing with AiMESH. You use it by specifying that specific device to be listed inside the roaming block list.

The Guest network option can also be used instead of the roaming block list, because the guest network will only function off of the main GT-AX11000 and will not work on the RT-AC68U as a node. The Guest network in some cases maybe a little more user friendly in this aspect because it doesn't require you to list mac address, it only requires you to connect that individual device to it.

 

[Jrainey]

Thanks for the information and advice. Given what you have provided, I will keep my setup as is for now, with the AC11000 as the main router, and the 68U as an Aimesh node. I will also investigate setting up guest networks for groups of devices that I wish to keep local, like the camera system. It would be nice if ASUS would add an ntp server function to their top end routers, but while I am waiting I will set up my own internal ntp server.

Again, thanks for the help, and I look forward to browsing this forum for insights into the world of small scale networking.

Jack

 

[Swistheater]

Thanks for the information and advice. Given what you have provided, I will keep my setup as is for now, with the AC11000 as the main router, and the 68U as an Aimesh node. I will also investigate setting up guest networks for groups of devices that I wish to keep local, like the camera system. It would be nice if ASUS would add an ntp server function to their top end routers, but while I am waiting I will set up my own internal ntp server.

Again, thanks for the help, and I look forward to browsing this forum for insights into the world of small scale networking.

Jack

it is possible to setup a small entware install for the GT-AX11000 on a usb flash drive but it requires you to link mounting and unmounting to nvram variable.. I have done it once with my GT-AX11000 the only down side is the fact everything has to be customized strictly through entware, and it requires alot of knowlegde of that aspect. I would just keep things simple and manage your network from user end standpoint as it was intended unless you feel adventurous in those aspects. Best of luck to you, if you need any advice on setup or anything, just stay in touch with these forums. there are alot of good heads that hang around here.

 

[jach0o]

Hi there ! I want a bit to hijack this thread because of similar issue
. Correctly I bought third rt-ac68u (to be honest one is DSL-ac68u, rest at RTS). At the beginning I thought of ai mesh where DSL model was my aimesh router and rest where nodes. But In my netoe I have few IP cameras which are connected to local NVR thru theirs IP addresses. When I do so mesh instead of awkward media connector/reapeatr setup, everything goes wrong. Cameras gets IP addresses assigned to closest nodes (witch is proper - I bought additional rt-ac68u because of poor signal from main router.
) But IP address are not from main router IP reservation lists but appears vto be assigned to wrong IP address by their nodes. NVR (cable connected to node) doesn't see properly camera . How to set up the network properly and get one main pool of IPs while having farest camera still connected to farest node?