MerVLAN v0.46 Simple and Powerful VLAN Management **BETA**

[visortgw]

Hmm.. Interesting. Well maybe it can work then. I'll make the script tomorrow and we'll see were it heads!

But I am starting to see the same issues as @Seth Harman. There is no Merlin firmware for my ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro.

 

[Seth Harman]

The requirement to run Merlin on nodes is a rather important detail As well, please note this question has come up many times on the forum and I believe RMerlin himself has stated there's no point/advantage in running his firmware on AiMesh nodes so there are going to be a lot of people in this boat.

Edit: From RMerlin himself: "While Merlin-based nodes seem to work fine so far (aside from the above limitation), there is generally little benefit in running it on a node, so it's generally recommended to leave your nodes on the stock Asus firmware."

AiMesh

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

github.com

 

[visortgw]

The requirement to run Merlin on nodes is a rather important detail As well, please note this question has come up many times on the forum and I believe RMerlin himself has stated there's no point/advantage in running his firmware on AiMesh nodes.

There is no advantage when using the AiMesh node as Asus intended it — RMerlin most likely never envisioned users running scripts on their AiMesh nodes.

EDIT: For AiMesh nodes that Merlin firmware is available, it is a simple task to flash Merlin firmware to that node.

 

[jksmurf]

Well the difference it that real VLAN is 802.1Q compliant.

A real VLAN keeps its tag all the way through the network, even across switches and routers, so it works end-to-end and supports true network separation.

OK

The Asus VLAN over WiFi backhaul strips or ignores those tags — it only simulates VLAN behavior at the SSID level.

I'm sorry to come across as a bit dim on this point but if I understand @visortgw's setup correctly, with Asus VLAN HW a device attached to an ethernet port on the node that has an access or trunk Mode SDN assigned to that port, will get assigned the subnet of that SDN.

I must admit I did not ask if the device he has on that port has a static IP, i.e. starts with a defined subnet, which could then be stripped, but either way, surely there is no SSID involved here as the device is not attaching itself via Wifi, but directly via the Ethernet port? So if Wifi backhaul strips those tags, how does the main router still know (if static) or still assign the device as being on the subnet defined by the Mode/Port/SDN setting in the main Router's VLAN tab?

I don't know yet how everything will work out but hopefully you will be able to achieve what you want - on ethernet backhaul

Thank you .

 

[Seth Harman]

There is no advantage when using the AiMesh node as Asus intended it — RMerlin most likely never envisioned users running scripts on their AiMesh nodes.

Tue. But if my memory is correct I believe I've seen him previously say that since AiMesh is closed source he recommends not running his firmware on the nodes just as a nod to potential stability issues or incompatibility. I know plenty of people run asuswrt-merlin on nodes so I doubt it's much of an issue. But "Nodes need to be running asuswrt-merlin" should obviously be in big, neon letters right above the installation instructions for anyone interested in getting involved in testing the beta.

 

[jksmurf]

Tue. But if my memory is correct I believe I've seen him previously say that since AiMesh is closed source he recommends not running his firmware on the nodes just as a nod to potential stability issues or incompatibility. I know plenty of people run asuswrt-merlin on nodes so I doubt it's much of an issue. But "Nodes need to be running asuswrt-merlin" should obviously be in big, neon letters right above the installation instructions for anyone interested in getting involved in testing the beta.

I saw this recently and thought it was interesting:

Regarding all recommendations to run stock fw on AImesh.
I have never used stock fw on my nodes and it working very fine for many years.

RMerlin:

"A lot of that is based on outdated information. Years ago, there was an issue that prevented Asuswrt-Merlin nodes from succesfully onboarding nodes over wifi on multiple models (but not all of them), it only worked over Ethernet. The issue was caused by Asuswrt-Merlin not properly updating the wlceventd daemon during GPL merges. The issue was fixed in early 2023."

Suggesting, the way I read it, that the (previous) recommendation to run stock is now based on outdated information.

Ref:

RT-AX68U_3004_388.10_0 has put router repeater mode.

Hello, as the title says after upgrading my router to RT-AX68U_3004_388.10_0 it appears as a repeater. The router was part of an Ai Mesh and the other two routers in that setup are working correctly. Resetting AX68U and trying to readd to Ai Mesh has not worked. Any help is much appreciated.

www.snbforums.com

[EDIT] A pertinent post/thread on SSH Keys Main/Node?

Problem with multiple SSH keys

Hello, I am having problems accessing SSH to an AiMesh node when I have multiple SSH Authorized Keys configured. I have configured the keys using Administration > System > Authorized Keys, one key per line. I found that the main node (GT-AX6000 running Merlin 3004.388.7) and AiMesh node...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Seth Harman]

I saw this recently and thought it was interesting:


RMerlin:


Ref:

RT-AX68U_3004_388.10_0 has put router repeater mode.

Hello, as the title says after upgrading my router to RT-AX68U_3004_388.10_0 it appears as a repeater. The router was part of an Ai Mesh and the other two routers in that setup are working correctly. Resetting AX68U and trying to readd to Ai Mesh has not worked. Any help is much appreciated.

www.snbforums.com

Again, I don't think it's an issue as I know many people are running merlin on AiMesh nodes without issue. And since this is a script that's going to have a very specific audience (generally more advanced) I'm imagining any requirements like doing various minor things manually over ssh to the nodes isn't going to be much of an issue for them. And who knows? Maybe there's a way to get the required elements onto the nodes for everything to work without having to install merlin on them. But as we're discovering, there's issues surfacing because a lot of assumptions were made about the hardware/firmware environment this would operate in. Luckily, I think we've got a pretty decent initial spread of hardware/firmware to catch this stuff in testing so it can be addressed and then documented to make it clear to any new testers what the requirements are.

 

[r80xcore]

@jksmurf @Seth Harman @visortgw

Sorey if this wasn't clear. I will add this to the top in requirements of the project so it's stated clearly for the future.

And as was said, running Merlin on a node for it to function on a standard setup is not needed. Using mixed merlin with Asus is not a problem for vanilla setups. But here we setup VLANs and do quite heavy scripting on the nodes so Merlin will have to be installed for that to be done on the node.

Sorry!

Either way you've all help tremendously with everything up until the actual node so I'm really thankful!