Voxel Custom firmware build for Orbi RBK50/RBK53 (RBR50, RBS50) v. 9.2.5.1.13.1SF-HW

[bearhntr]

Thanks for the access/registration. I was scouring the Internet looking for an ORBI update. You call NETGEAR they want you to spend another $600+ to upgrade - they offer no trade-in option. :-(

I have been reading your QUICKSSTART file. And some questions came up.

1) What specifically is the USB drive for? I have a UBUNTU box, where I can format as EXT 4, but not sure what it is for - I am assuming I plug into the ROUTER.

2) My ROUTER is currently at -- V2.7.2.104, is this going to be a problem? (RBS is the same). I take it I can download that version for safe keeping from NETGEAR -as the APP on my phone notified me of the update and I told it to apply.

3) From what I can gather - this is going to allow me to have a single point VPN (at the ROUTER) so everything will use that?

4) Any gotchas I need to know about?

Many Thanks in advance.
Curtis

 

[CrimpOn]

2) My ROUTER is currently at -- V2.7.2.104, is this going to be a problem? (RBS is the same). I take it I can download that version for safe keeping from NETGEAR -as the APP on my phone notified me of the update and I told it to apply.

Yes, this is definitely a problem. The instructions are very clear (In README1st): Manually download firmware v2.5.2.4 from Netgear, unzip, and Manually load the img file on router and satellites. Orbi will complain, "this is older". Just ignore it. Not loading v2.5.2.4 will doom the Voxel installation. I have copies of almost every firmware release saved on my hard drive, although it is simple to download them again if I need to.

 

[CrimpOn]

1) What specifically is the USB drive for? I have a UBUNTU box, where I can format as EXT 4, but not sure what it is for - I am assuming I plug into the ROUTER.

There are several uses for the USB drive. The main one is to preserve changes users have made to the Orbi over reboots. When the Orbi reboots, EVERYTHING in memory gets wiped out. Voxel's firmware reloads things from the USB stick after bootup. There are users who want to define custom iptables rules, for example. GONE. Yes, version 1 of the RBR50 has a USB port on the back. Version 2 does not have a USB port, so Voxel developed a workaround for the v2 model.

 

[CrimpOn]

3) From what I can gather - this is going to allow me to have a single point VPN (at the ROUTER) so everything will use that?

4) Any gotchas I need to know about?

Orbi's hardware is not powerful enough to support VPN Client mode with the compiler options that Netgear used. With Voxel's version, it is capable of aggregating all devices into a single VPN tunnel (Client mode) provided that the load is not too great. Wireguard is less resource intensive and can handle a greater load, but the number of Wireguard VPN hosts is much smaller worldwide. I have not personally deployed either VPN host (a) because my network use is too 'ordinary' to care about someone snooping on me, (b) because I don't see the point in my smart plugs and TV using VPN, and (c) because I'm too cheap to pay a monthly fee to hide myself. I'm sure someone who has activated these features will have experience to report on.

 

[CrimpOn]

One of the functions not provided with Netgear's orbi firmware is any kind of usage reporting by device. OpenWRT itself appears to have several tools that can be used:
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/services/network_monitoring/bwmon

There have been numerous posts on the Netgear Orbi forums by people who (a) are going over their monthly allocation and being hit with overage fees, or (b) are finding their bandwidth suffering and have no idea which device might be doing it. Netgear's "Traffic Meter" is a pathetic and useless substitute. Is anyone aware of a way to implement a usage reporting tool on Voxel firmware and have it survive reboots? Thanks.

 

[mith_y2k]

I have been waiting for usage reporting for a while. I tried a couple of tools from Entware, but didn’t provide what I was looking for. See http://www.snbforums.com/threads/bandwidth-monitoring-on-orbi.63561/page-2

Some suggested Kamoj, but it’s not easily portable to Orbi.

 

[Lynxb]

@Voxel I am looking to modify the firmware for the RBR40. I have used binwalk and I can find the squashfs filesystem that is in the image. Can I ask you some questions either directly or via PM about how you are modifying the image and repackaging, and is the orbi accepting an image without it being signed?

Thanks