Guest Network Limitation 3006.102.4?

[Jetblue]

I just upgraded my RT-AX88U Pro to 3006.102.4 and ran into something odd. I did not lose any settings. The word-salad in the release notes regarding the VPN DNS configuration made no sense but my VPN continued to work fine. 1 out of 3 guest networks (VLAN) also persisted, explained in the documentation. However, the moment I setup the next VLAN (next set of 2.4/5), the router immediately locked me out of my parent wifi network and my LAN network directly to the router. I tried several things and it was apparent: Don't setup more than the first VLAN or there will be huge trouble. I ended up having to flash the router and rebuild. Once I was back where I started, I did not add any more than 1 VLAN and everything was fine. Is there a huge bug that I am unaware of?

 

[bennor]

What firmware were you upgrading from on the router?
Are you using AiMesh?
You may need to perform a hard factory reset and manual configuration if you are having strange issues with the router after firmware upgrade.

Currently running two Guest Network Pro IoT Profile VLAN's on a RT-AX86U Pro (3006.102.4) right now. One for 2.4Ghz and the second for 5Ghz. Have experimented with running a third VLAN for testing purposes and it worked. Currently running two main LAN WiFi networks and two Guest Network Pro WIFI networks. I do not have Smart Connect enabled on the main LAN WiFi.

 

[Jetblue]

Thanks for the response bennor. I was using 3004.388.8.4. I did perform a hard reset, and that helped me to at least access the system. My guest network is almost exactly like yours. What I discovered was that after getting it up and running, it was very unstable. I believe that it has something to do with the VPN and/or the VPN Director clashing with it... there is overlapping functionality... and a lot of disconnecting and reconnecting happening. A key point here, I am using the RT-AX88U Pro router. I used to have your exact same router, a good one. It's very possible that the new driver release is just too buggy for my router.

After thorough reconsideration, I reverted back to 3004.388.8.4, everything works great (even the guest network). I am now very apprehensive to go to the new release, and especially the guest network PRO. It's obvious to me, that while ASUS has now come out and supports VLAN's etc., that Asuswrt-Merlin should create it's own guest network feature... that implements well across. It will be a huge job, but I think this is the future of it. If not, I may eventually have to leave it and go to a more capable router.

 

[bennor]

@Jetblue, next time you jump up to 3006 and have issues with Guest Network Pro and VPN, post your Guest Network Pro profile settings (including the advanced settings) and post the VPN Director settings. That may help with others diagnosing your issue or problem.

Guest Network Pro is what is it, more than a few are having issues properly configuring it because several of the options don't appear to work as expected or at all. Biggest confusion seems to be over the use of the "Use same subnet as main network" option when initially configuring the Guest Network Pro Profile.

PS: In my very limited testing of VPN with Guest Network Pro I didn't seem to have any major issues and Guest Network Pro clients appeared to be properly routed to the VPN using VPN director. Did not loose access to main LAN. Generally when one has issues with VPN its because they have not configured VPN Director rules correctly.

 

[Jetblue]

Will do. And I agree with your comment about the subnet/main network relationship.
The fact is... the "pro" version is a little too much GUI... less configuration flexibility.
I'm sticking with the non-pro firmware (which works all around) until Asuswrt-Merlin creates a new one.

Thx

 

[bennor]

The fact is... the "pro" version is a little too much GUI... less configuration flexibility.

All depends on your use case. For my use case I currently have 3006.102.4 operating exactly the same as I did on 3004.388.8_4. Took a bit of time, and experimenting, with Guest Network Pro, the use of dnsmasq-x.conf.add file(s), and DNS Director, to replicate what I had on 388.8_4 with respect to Guest Network's and YazFi. So far everything's been working fine for my use case. YMMV

 

[CaptainSTX]

What firmware were you upgrading from on the router?
Are you using AiMesh?
You may need to perform a hard factory reset and manual configuration if you are having strange issues with the router after firmware upgrade.

Currently running two Guest Network Pro IoT Profile VLAN's on a RT-AX86U Pro (3006.102.4) right now. One for 2.4Ghz and the second for 5Ghz. Have experimented with running a third VLAN for testing purposes and it worked. Currently running two main LAN WiFi networks and two Guest Network Pro WIFI networks. I do not have Smart Connect enabled on the main LAN WiFi.

I am also running two guest networks with both Wi-Fi and Ethernet clients. Each guest network on its own subnet. Clients on main network as well as guest networks assigned to either WAN, OPENVPN1, WG1 or WG2 no issues. I have also setup and tested running a third guest network. While there still maybe some firmware issues to resolve I am not having any issues.