Beta Asuswrt-Merlin 386.4 beta is now available

[Elmer]

AX88/Beta3: So everything (except ipv6) was working great so I thought I'd give the DDNS service a spin using asus (which appeared to be working okay), and I immediately started getting internet disconnects. True disconnects. Turned off DDNS and withdrew from the privacy agreement and things are fine again. Here's a log snippet.

Dec 29 09:31:28 rc_service: httpd 5237:notify_rc restart_time;restart_leds;restart_usb_idle;restart_firewall;
Dec 29 09:31:28 ntpd: Stopped ntpd
Dec 29 09:31:29 dropbear[2222]: Early exit: Terminated by signal
Dec 29 09:31:29 syslogd exiting
Dec 29 09:31:29 syslogd started: BusyBox v1.25.1
Dec 29 09:31:29 kernel: klogd started: BusyBox v1.25.1 (2021-12-28 16:10:32 EST)
Dec 29 09:31:29 dropbear[7625]: Running in background
Dec 29 09:31:29 hour_monitor: daemon is starting
Dec 29 09:31:29 hour_monitor: daemon terminates

 

[GHammer]

For those of us in North America, dual-stack IPv6 on a home network is yet another "solution looking for a problem" (lol, stole my own phrase from another thread).

I do understand that some parts of the world, mostly in Asia and Europe, may actually need IPv6 and/or dual-stack.

But, what benefit do you get by disabling IPv6?

Final thread pollution post, sorry.

 

[netware5]

But, what benefit do you get by disabling IPv6?

Final thread pollution post, sorry.

Dear colleagues,

Seems to be that 384.4 Beta unleashed a major discussion regarding IPv6. In order to keep the thread clean I would propose to create a separate thread to discuss all IPv6 issues. I thing a special attention should be paid to the conceptual issues, pros and cons, interaction with VPN and DDNS, DNS related add-ons like Unbound, etc. Many members of this forum are still wondering shall they migrate to IPv6 or not. Personally I am also wondering about migration. Recently my ISP offered to me to migrate, but I still have no idea what to do. Currently for me the IPv6 is a "Terra Incognita". So such dedicated IPv6 thread will be of great benefit for our community.

 

[CriticJay]

But, what benefit do you get by disabling IPv6?

Final thread pollution post, sorry.

Please continue in this thread:

Dual Stack home network pros and cons

Here, let's discuss the pros and cons of dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 home network. I personally have IPv6 disabled on my firewall for easier control and security reasons. My ISP provides 2x external IPv4 addresses as well as 4x IPv6 addresses. I would like to hear the benefits of running dual...

www.snbforums.com

 

[RMerlin]

Is there any explanation what new rules looking for ?

Basically they look for specific DNS queries that are related to known malicious C&C servers, and drop these DNS queries to prevent those malwares from calling home to their control server.

With 386.4 (and possibly earlier versions), I have lost the ability to apply updates remotely.

Nearly all of my development is done "remotely", i.e. I upload test images to my various routers over their WAN interface, as they sit within my LAN. No issue whatsoever flashing any of these.

What does "end-user or third party usage" mean?

It means script developers (like @Martineau), or end-users who are familiar enough with wireguard to manually configure everything themselves over SSH.

Or does 386.4 just lay the groundwork for future Wireguard server and client for regular users such as me?

It will happen eventually. Asus began implementing Wireguard in these recent GPL merges, but they only finalized in their current beta development branch. I'm waiting for that branch to come out of beta and become available as GPL archives to merge it in, and adapt their webui to fit within my firmware.

So, for 386.4, I just kept the module + userspace tool that they already added in this early development, but disabled their unfinished backend and webui implementation.

 

[AntonK]

Dear colleagues,

Seems to be that 384.4 Beta unleashed a major discussion regarding IPv6. In order to keep the thread clean I would propose to create a separate thread to discuss all IPv6 issues. I thing a special attention should be paid to the conceptual issues, pros and cons, interaction with VPN and DDNS, DNS related add-ons like Unbound, etc. Many members of this forum are still wondering shall they migrate to IPv6 or not. Personally I am also wondering about migration. Recently my ISP offered to me to migrate, but I still have no idea what to do. Currently for me the IPv6 is a "Terra Incognita". So such dedicated IPv6 thread will be of great benefit for our community.

Looks like we've got our IPV6 landing pad here: Dual Stack home network pros and cons!

 

[porfavorhelp]

Not a bug. The files are missing on Asus's server due to an incomplete update that they published, it will resolve itself once they add the missing files.


I haven't looked at AiCloud in over 5 years, since it's a) not really secure, b) closed source and out of my control. I'm simply merging the Asus components as they are.

Thank for your response!

 

[octopus]

Basically they look for specific DNS queries that are related to known malicious C&C servers, and drop these DNS queries to prevent those malwares from calling home to their control server.

Does that list of DNS get updated or it's fixed with firmware upgrade.
Where can i find that code in github?
Thank you!

 

[Harvester57]

More or less as expected - switching to stateful mode means the IPv6 address has been retained over 10 mins, since expiry is now 86400 seconds. Not sure exactly why, but the Samsung S21 Ultra doesn't appear to like stateful mode and isn't receiving an IPv6 address.

PC and laptop appear to be good. On reflection, I'm not sure guest networks offer IPv6, so no point testing with Xbox.

Good enough for now at least. Hopefully the info I've been able to gather helps ..

Android OS doesn't have a DHCPv6 client built-in, so it will never work with a stateful IPv6 attribution.

 

[RMerlin]

Does that list of DNS get updated or it's fixed with firmware upgrade.

It's static within the firmware AFAIK. No idea if their security daemon signatures can also add to it.

Where can i find that code in github?

Closed source.

asuswrt-merlin.ng/release/src/router/rc/prebuild/RT-AX88U/private.o at master · RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

 

[gerardr]

Dirty upgrade from 386_4.beta2->386_4.beta3 on an RT-AX3000 (RT-AX58U firmware) has been up and running for 24 hrs on my relatively simple setup (home-built OpenSSH_8.8p1 and OpenSSL 3.0.1 creating a SOCKS5 proxy plus the firmware's lighttpd using my custom config, all running off a USB drive).

 

[MattMofDoom]

Android OS doesn't have a DHCPv6 client built-in, so it will never work with a stateful IPv6 attribution.

Ta. I've been so used to IPv6 "just working" that I never switched it from stateless previously.

I'm not familiar enough with the mechanisms of IPv6 to figure out much more than the log entries I dragged up, but certainly seems like it drops off after the 10 min refresh.

Stateful is stable enough, and working with Windows devices and an iPhone, so that's good enough for me at the moment. It's not crucial that anything has IPv6 generally.

One day I'll circle back and figure out why a guest network allows the Xboxes in the house to reliably connect, but the main network doesn't. As far as I can see guest network doesn't allow IPv6, and the Xboxes are the only devices I have which really make any attempt to encourage using IPv6. The Xbox issue isn't a beta issue though ... it's been happening for a while with my Asus routers, until I finally got fed up and created the guest network.

E: Ah, I just turned on Access Intranet for the guest network and see IPv6 being allocated to the Xboxes now.

 

[ugandy]

upgraded from 386.2 to 386.4b3
did factory reset/usb format.
amtm/entware/scripts re install
no issues to report

 

[learning_curve]

Asus only recently switched to inadyn, by integrating my code - and I didn't implement any IPv6 support. They only started implementing it for their own service a few months ago. It's not just a matter of flipping on a switch, it requires dedicated development.

Inadyn itself would also need to implement support for other providers, that's not Asus' responsability.

Thanks @RMerlin for those further details.

Ironically, they now provide me with more questions but seeing as there's a move to discuss IPv6 / IPv6 DDNS elsewhere i.e. not in this thread, I'll do just that shortly. I've successfully flashed from Beta2 to Beta3 and everything works perfectly again, apart from DDNS updates from the router to No-IP.

The regular valuation process appears in the router's log, just as it did previously, but that process no longer reaches No-IP. This did work perfectly in both 384.3_2 and in Beta2 but, my No-IP DDNS has both an IPv4 address and an IPv6 address... so the posted removal of IPv6 DDNS support in Beta3:

8c0194de99 inadyn: rc: disable IPv6 support

might be the cause of this (in my case). I'll make changes / try different options and test further, but I'll deal with all of this and the new questions raised by those further details above outside of this thread.

 

[maxbraketorque]

...

Nearly all of my development is done "remotely", i.e. I upload test images to my various routers over their WAN interface, as they sit within my LAN. No issue whatsoever flashing any of these.

...

I'm on the road, and I tried from a new location just now, and this time it worked over OVPN. My current location has a very solid connection to the internet, so perhaps there was some issue with data transmission errors with my attempts at previous locations. Anyhow, good to know that remote update does indeed still work.

 

[MattMofDoom]

I have rebooted the GT-AX110000 and then switched back to stateless ... and so far the IPv6 addresses are sticking around.

Interestingly it looks like both Managed and Other address config flags are true on the Win11 PC.

All of the devices that don't support DHCPv6 are now happily getting and keeping IPv6 addresses. So I'm now thinking this is a non-issue.

E: Reconfirming that no issues since reboot and switch back to stateless. Rock solid.

 

[Gar]

B3 working great on my 2900 with basic setup and unbound, thanks again!

 

[RDaneel]

Well, I suppose I should chime in - as one of the complainers - that yes, BETA3 has resolved my IPv6 issues (as in, I have addresses assigned and Windows 11 notices them and uses them)... thanks!

However, it isn't clear if this is related to this BETA series or not, but I am getting about one a day instances of my WiFi-controlled light bulbs appearing to drop off of the network - and in fact, Alexa herself lets me know occasionally that "one or more of my devices lost connectivity today". I am not talking about always the same device, either - but I don't recall this being an issue prior to the 386.4 firmware.

 

[kernol]

Do you know the full level of troubleshooting conducted while trying to readd nodes after factory reset? I am assuming the users factory resetted the nodes as well before attempting to repair them?

Confirmed - vitally important to fully and correctly reset routers involved in the AiMesh - and I'm also painfully aware that the RT-AX86U can be uncooperative in factory resetting [see other threads on point with this particular router].

For your ease of reference I have listed below links to my posts dealing with the AiMesh node difficulties after factory reset under beta2. I have not tried to repeat the exercise after loading beta3 - but you are most welcome to do so if you have the time and inclination and have an RT-AX86U [it seems other routers may not have experienced the problem].

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-386-4-beta-is-now-available.76258/post-731036
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...ta-is-now-available.76258/page-15#post-731117
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...ta-is-now-available.76258/page-15#post-731118
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...ta-is-now-available.76258/page-15#post-731128
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...ta-is-now-available.76258/page-15#post-731130
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-386-4-beta-is-now-available.76258/post-731232

Thanks

 

[isira]

How are you adding the node? I noticed the initial setup wizard does not work at all. However, if I reset the router I want to add, then click "Add AiMesh Node" under AiMesh from the main router, it works.

I was attempting to adding the node wirelessly. Followed the same steps as you, but would fail if the AiMesh node was running merlin, but would succeed if AiMesh node was running official.