RT-AC56U in router mode (acting as AP) with YazFi

[Corvin]

I am trying to leverage YazFi so I can isolate the guest network I need to provide. My net is pretty simple, I have a router RT-AC65P (running OpenWRT) and a few other devices connected to it. I had an old RT-AC56U so I installed the latest available Merlin FW with the aim of enabling YazFi. I will connect to ac56 via wire, want to keep it in router mode, and I want to use to to extend my wireless network, also provide network via wired connection and it should also provide the isolated guest network. I tried to disable WAN, NAT, DHCP but I either had issues installing Yazfi or had issues accessing the internet from the guest network. The other issue is in that mode /etc/resolv.conf contains the loopback address so DNS resolution does not work locally on the router. I really hope that somebody can help me what to change/set to make it work. Thanks. Oh rc65p is connected to the LAN port of ac56u.

 

[Corvin]

I made some progress. YasFi works now, at least it gives IP to the guests, however there is no internet. Probably because the wan link is connected to the lan port and i guess i need to create some sort of bridge. If so, how can i do that? On top of that, due to my setup /rom/etc/resolv.conf has the loopback devjce set so i have no dns resolution on the router. If i delete and recreate /etc/resolv.conf and set nameserver to point to the ip of the router then it works but it gets overwritten.

 

[Tech9]

YazFi won't work in AP mode. In Router mode you have no traffic separation on the WAN port. You have to teach AC56U VLAN to do that.

 

[Corvin]

YazFi won't work in AP mode. In Router mode you have no traffic separation on the WAN port. You have to teach AC56U VLAN to do that.

I am in router mode, yazfi offers ip from different subnet to the guest wifi clients, however i have no internet. Thats what i want to solve

 

[Tech9]

No Internet is a different issue (check your configuration, remove and re-install if needed), but again - YazFi or Guest Network will only provide separation to WLAN connected devices to this AC56U. Once the traffic is out from WAN whatever you have connected to this router LAN/WLAN has access to your upstream OpenWRT router clients, unless you restrict it with firewall rules. Search around for VLAN configuration on AC56U (or run FreshTomato on it) and run it in AP mode to your VLAN (eventually) capable OpenWRT router. I know nothing about OpenWRT on MediaTek though and I don't know if VLANs work on this hardware. You have wrong hardware for what you need to do to begin with. All you need is VLAN capable router and VLAN capable AP.

 

[bennor]

I am in router mode, yazfi offers ip from different subnet to the guest wifi clients, however i have no internet. Thats what i want to solve

To confirm you have the YazFi option Allow Internet access set to Yes?

If you don't have the upstream wired network connection connected to the WAN port of the RT-AC56U router that is likely to be a big problem. YazFi (and Guest WiFi in general) block access to the LAN. One may have to use custom scripting to route, or allow, YazFi clients access the LAN clients: https://github.com/jackyaz/YazFi#custom-firewall-rules
Edit to add: At that point if you are opening up YazFi to LAN clients why bother with YazFi? Why not just use the main LAN WiFi? The whole point of Guest Networks are to isolate them from the main LAN.

 

[Corvin]

To confirm you have the YazFi option Allow Internet access set to Yes?

If you don't have the upstream wired network connection connected to the WAN port of the RT-AC56U router that is likely to be a big problem. YazFi (and Guest WiFi in general) block access to the LAN. One may have to use custom scripting to route, or allow, YazFi clients access the LAN clients: https://github.com/jackyaz/YazFi#custom-firewall-rules
Edit to add: At that point if you are opening up YazFi to LAN clients why bother with YazFi? Why not just use the main LAN WiFi? The whole point of Guest Networks are to isolate them from the main LAN.

Yes, internet is allowed. I checked a few threads and some managed to use Yasfi in a similar setup. I got to the point where clearly not having anything connected to the wan port brakes internet access as the rules forward the packets to the wan interface. I will try to plug the cable to see if it works for an interim basis but the end goal will be Tomato...