Using WLAN port as LAN port

[PumpkinEater]

I would like to use the WAN port as normal LAN port on my RT-N86U (stock firmware v 3.0.0.4.246).

In the telnet session I entered the following commands:
nvram set vlan2ports="8u"
nvram set vlan1ports="0 1 2 3 4 8*"
nvram set lanports="0 1 2 3 4"
nvram commit

Then "nvram show | grep vlan.*ports" shows me:
vlan2ports=0 8u
vlan1ports=1 2 3 4 8*
which is what I wanted.

But after reboot my changes were gone and I got the default setiings back.
I assume that my changes either didn't survive the reboot or some startup script have set the defaults again after the reboot.

Any idea, what is going wrong?

Thanks
Peter

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Then "nvram show | grep vlan.*ports" shows me:
vlan2ports=0 8u
vlan1ports=1 2 3 4 8*
which is what I wanted.

This is exactly what I see output from the same command without having tweaked the settings of any of the ports.

 

[PumpkinEater]

oops, my mistake when copying the console output. So, after making the changes and before booting, I got:

vlan2ports=8u
vlan1ports=0 1 2 3 4 8*

but the reboot changed back to:
vlan2ports=0 8u
vlan1ports=1 2 3 4 8*

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

I notice you set lanports but not wanports. Did you try adding

nvram set wanports=""

to your list of commands? Just guessing. Sorry, but I don't want to experiment on my own router in this way.

Curious why you're doing this. Wouldn't it reduce the functionality of the router to that of a switch?

 

[PumpkinEater]

Thanks.

nvram set wanports=""

I just tried that that in addition to my settings - but no success. All settings are back to default after reboot.

The reason for the intended change is, that the RT-N66U is connected behind another router (AVM Fritzbox), which is connected to the ISP and also supports my telephone services. So, because I don't need the WAN connection on the RT-N66U, I would like to add the WAN port to the LAN side for client connections.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Sell the router, buy a 5 (or more) port switch, and come out ahead?

 

[PumpkinEater]

Sell the router, buy a 5 (or more) port switch, and come out ahead?

Thanks. Any recommendation for a 5-port switch including wireless access? And supporting VPN?

 

[Nerre]

If you are not using the WAN port, how are you using the VPN??

It doesn't make sense with VPN on an access point, VPN would only be useful on a router. But a router needs at least two network interfaces (to be able to have two networks). Are you routing between WiFi and LAN?

 

[PumpkinEater]

If you are not using the WAN port, how are you using the VPN??

The network looks like this:

VPN client - Internet - Fritzbox - RT-N66U

The RT-N66U ist connected across one of its LAN ports to the Fritzbox. The VPN is setup between VPN client and RT-NN66U. You don't need any routing between. The VPN is working, the client gets a private IP address out of the internal adress pool (LAN side). The WAN port at the moment is not connected.

So back to my question, it should be possible to use the physical WAN interface as additional LAN port connected to VLAN1 by means of some "nvram set" commands.

 

[Nerre]

So you have port forwarding set up on the Fritzbox to be able to run the VPN server on the RT-N66U? Then I understand.

The "normal" solution would of course be to let the VPN client connect to a VPN server running on the Fritzbox.

Not sure how you would solve it on the RT-N66U, I haven't looked at bridging the interfaces with Asuswrt. On my WNR3500Lv2 running TomatoUSB I have successfully bridged the WAN port and the LAN ports and effectively disabled the WAN conenction (it's running as a NAS and webserver, not as a router). It was just a checkbox in the webUI...