Troubleshooting/Development on VM systems

[astroashton]

Hey everyone,

I've been scouring Google and forums, but can't seem to get a decent (or at least a comfortable) answer to this question. Maybe I wasn't using the right keywords, etc, but please lend me your knowledge. The main unit I use is an Asus with Merlin If I want to create a virtual machine in a program such as VMware, is it possible to create one using exact specifications of certain routers I'd like to tweak or develop for? The reasoning is I would like to be able to experiment with the scripts and codes to see their effects without doing any damage to an actual hardware unit. Once I can determine their safety inside the VM, then I could deploy it to the actual unit. Is this possible? If so, what software do you guys use and what do you suggest? Thank you very much!

(Please don't mind, but I've cross-posted this is applicable forums)

ash

 

[L&LD]

Doesn't seem possible to me.

Asus, NG, etc. would all be doing it and giving us error-free firmware already.

 

[astroashton]

Doesn't seem possible to me.

Asus, NG, etc. would all be doing it and giving us error-free firmware already.

I kind of felt this way, too. But then I started noticing in VMSphere how INCREDIBLY specific you could make the machines. I'm not sure if those specifics would come down to proprietary hardware or software, but in all the routers I've dealt with, it seems the hardware is basically the same except how it conforms to the details of processors and memory, which aren't netgear/asus/cisco/etc. So I was hoping maybe someone knew either how, how to go around it, or exactly why not.

 

[L&LD]

The hardware may be even 'identical', but the closed source blobs are not generally available and are not for a self-compiled firmware.

amcfwm - AsusWRT-Merlin Custom Firmware Manager | SmallNetBuilder Forums (snbforums.com)

See the thread above for much more information.

 

[ColinTaylor]

(Please don't mind, but I've cross-posted this is applicable forums)

Cross posting is against forum rules.