OpenWrt

Pictured is my most recent victim, some free e-waste from work. It is now a mesh extension for my garage.

My main router is an old Google WiFi:

I'll upgrade eventually, but I'm not being restricted in any way at the moment so I'll save the money 🤷‍♂️

Go with me here. Routers are routers, and servers are servers. Some people mix and match things, but generally, ideally, this is how it goes. And I agree.

But the router I just set up, the Google WiFi, has 4gb storage, 512mb of ram, a quad core CPU at 800mhz, is easy to flash, and only costs $10-15 on eBay all day long.

If you used it as only a little computer, no routing.. Then..

If I wanted to say... Set up a tailscale node at my family's house. Why spend $45-80, or even $130(!) on a raspberry pi with an Ethernet port, when the Google WiFi works just as well if not better for that job?

Maybe a tiny matrix server? Tiny web hosting?

Or, for a less ideal solution, but still reasonable. What if I wanted to set up a remote backup node for my main server? If my needs were small enough, the Google WiFi would be much more economical, although you'd need to add a USB hub to break out the USB ports. And there would be limitations obviously.

Or getting really crazy, you could potentially squeeze one or two bigger services onto a router, just to see if it's possible.. Minecraft server?

My question is. What is the best device for this? The Google WiFi is dirt cheap at $10-15, I'm about to pull the trigger on a second one just to play with. But I wanted to see if you guys had any other suggestions?

I tried searching the toh for similar devices, but even restricting it down every way I can think of, I've still got over a hundred devices to look at.

Basically, I think older router hardware is an overlooked, cheaper alternative, to raspberry pis, for some scenarios.

I'm old school, the last router firmware I touched was ddwrt on a 54g. These days it seems openwrt is the way to go.

I've got an old Google WiFi that I just flashed over. I have a small managed switch in the mail. I want to play with VLANs. With only one lan port I'll need to do trunking.

I've watched the videos, read some docs, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

Right now I'm stuck on the idea that my router model might not even support it? I can't find where I read that, but now I'm all turned around.

I'll play with it when the switch arrives, surely I'll figure it out eventually. but in the meantime, does anyone know if the Google WiFi router supports VLANs when flashed? Or is that a problem I made up?

Thanks!

Edit: update, VLANs up and running! Still need to tweak the isolation, but this is very cool tech.

@openwrt routers often run on tiny hardware with limited storage, which makes adding intrusion prevention such as @CrowdSec tricky.

I managed to set up only the lightweight firewall bouncer on #OpenWrt, and forward its logs via Syslog to the Security Engine in #Docker (server).

Result: community-powered IPS on tiny hardware. 🚀

Here's how to set this up yourself: https://kroon.email/site/en/posts/openwrt-crowdsec/

#OpenWrt #CrowdSec #SelfHosting #Security

Here's how to set up CrowdSec to protect your OpenWrt router.

Running the Security Engine in Docker (server), forwarding logs via Syslog, and using the lightweight firewall bouncer on the router.

Result: community-powered IPS on tiny hardware 🚀

The Asus one I've got seems to be dying so I thought this might be a good time to give OpenWRT a shot now

I currently have a Phyhome P20 ONT setup. When I checked the list of supported devices for OpenWRT, I couldn't find it there.

Are there ONT style devices that are OpenWRT compatible?

- I am looking for anyone who is using OpenWrt with Orange or Jazztel Spain who might be able to help me figure out why after changing my router I can't get an Ipv6 allocated to my connection. #openwrt #Jazztel #orange #ipv6 #spain - I'd really appreciate any boosts to followers in spain who might be able to help - Its driving me nuts!

Estoy buscando por alguien que usa Openwrt con Jaztell o Orange España que peude ayudarme porque despues del le cambio el router no le puede obtiner un numero IPv6. Estoy loco porque no pude entiender por que no se funciona. Me gustaria mucho si puede me recomiendes alguien con que hablar y hacer boosts para compatir con otra gente de españa.

Hi all. Thanks for checking in. I've been looking at Routing Rules and Routes to try and solve a couple of problems but I keep screwing up and taking down my whole network (and I've never been more grateful for serial ports).

What I'm trying to do is use different WAN connections for different VLANs/subnets. To begin with, I would like to route my general-purpose subnet (VLAN104) WAN traffic over a Proton Wireguard VPN while leaving all my other subnets using my standard ISP connection. Afterwards, I'd like to additionally route a subnet I use to give my neighbour Internet access (VLAN102) over a different Proton Wireguard VPN. Annoyingly, both the Wireguard VPN connections use the same private IP addresses though I suspect that won't actually matter that much in practise.

I starting to suspect I'm barking up the wrong tree trying to use Routing Rules but I'd appreciate any advice.

- I think it was when I replaced my router with a new #BananapiR3 but my #openwrt v24 router has lost its #ipv6 connectivity from #Jazztel #fibre and I can't figure out why. - I have vague memories of something blocking it in the past (or did it just work when I connected it - I can't remember) but its annoying me now I have #hetzner #ddns running.

Best Router device for openwrt 2025

I am completely new to OpenWRT/Pi-hole and need a recommendation for a device that could run OpenWRT/Pi-hole on it to replace my current router. I'm not even sure if I used the correct wording in this sentence, lol.

I have checked:

• https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/9xkk75w3
• https://openwrt.org/supported_devices
• https://reddit.com/r/openwrt/comments/1e3t29i/whats_your_favourite_openwrt_router_which_would/
• https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/list
• https://openwrt.org/toh/recommended_routers

I need recommendations for devices to get some hands-on experience. And please explain the advantages of the devices you recommend a bit. There are indeed a lot of options listed on the internet, but not enough reasons are provided.

• I need Pi-hole because I want local DNS, but I guess OpenWRT could do the job as well.
• My current router does not support changing the DNS server.
• I need a simple substitute.
• I need good performance because it might need to connect to about 15 devices (though I have no idea what good performance means in terms of a router).
• So I guess a device with at least 256MB of RAM is needed.
• No limitation on price as long as it is not excessively expensive.

• Users should consider multi-core, ARM-based (or x86_64/AMD64) devices for mid-range and higher applications. (From https://openwrt.org/toh/recommended/_routers)

Thanks for your help in advance!

- I really appreciate the OpenWrt forum but also like using an ActivityPub based account to browse posts on topics I am interested in.

I understand that forum OpenWrt uses Discourse which has some capabilities to integrate with activityPub services and have suggested in the forum that they are used but there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm to do so.

Im probably not good at promoting the benefits or addressing points of concern.

What are people's thoughts?

Oh, @mikrotik RB5009/L009 will get some nice competition

@openwrt plans to introduce "OpenWRT Two" (by GL.iNet) for a targeted price of 250$ in late '25

- MT7988 cpu
- 1x 10G SFP
- 1x 5G copper
- 4x 2.5G copper
- 1-2x port 1G copper
- Tri-band Wi-Fi 7

https://openwrt.org/voting/2025-02-12-openwrt-two

Im considering purchasing a Banana Pi OpenWRT router.

My previous devices have all had internal aerials but this device has four connectors.

Knowing almost nothing about Wifi 6 and aerials How feasible is it to run extensions from one or more of those aerials out the wall of our house and use a larger uni or directional aerial to extend coverage in a particular direction from a high point or should you always have the same short aerials that come with the router?

Hello! I have a repeater setup that has been doing this for a long time, across different builds. I'm pretty confused as to why. is this due to a DHCP drop, or a radio problem? the system log doesn't give me much info besides just saying "link has connectivity loss" before dropping. if anyone might know what's going on, I'll post my system logs and any other info needed, as requested.

Thanks!

Asking for a friend - Because I have similar ideas - AP/router hardware recommendations for RV

I'm looking for hardware recommendations for the depicted setup, with an AP/router running OpenWRT in an RV. Requirements:

• Compact footprint: Very small equipment cabinet in RV.
• Stable (unattended connectivity with light traffic for months).
• Dual radios to support simultaneous WIFI uplink to Internet gw, as well as acting as a WIFI AP to clients.
• 802.11ac or better WIFI speeds.
• 1 Gbps or better Ethernet ports (at least two).
• Light traffic over Wireguard link to home base (telemetry).
• Low power usage preferred, 5V or 12V power supply preferred (available without shore power).

Any ideas? Thanks!

My thought was to also add a Starlink Connection using ethernet adapter for when no wifi or Mobile signal is a available and montior the bus with HomeAssistant for security and power management.

With so many devices implementing there own proprietary standards it is nice to have a way to have something open and standard

Unfortunately, a Linksys E8450 of mine has succumbed to the OKOD (OpenWRT Kiss of Death) (in case you are unfamiliar). From what I understand, it should be recoverable from it's current effectively bricked state. I've tried going through the process, but I haven't had too much luck, and I'm somewhat stuck at the moment, so I would appreciate some guidance. There's two potential objectives that I am hoping to acheive: the first, and primary, objective is to simply recover the router from its currently bricked state so that it can be used like normal, and secondly, if possible, recover the data, and configuration that was on it.

I have tried following this guide, but I'm not sure what I am supposed to do at the end. I completed the last step, but the router still isn't able to boot on its own. If I run boot from the U-Boot console, it appears to be able to boot into the OpenWRT CLI, but if I then reboot from that CLI, it shows the following error:

F0: 102B 0000
F6: 0000 0000
V0: 0000 0000 [0001]
00: 0000 0000
BP: 0400 0041 [0000]
G0: 1190 0000
T0: 0000 02D7 [000F]
Jump to BL

NOTICE:  BL2: v2.9(release):OpenWrt v2023-07-24-00ac6db3-2 (mt7622-snand-1ddr)
NOTICE:  BL2: Built : 21:45:35, Oct  9 2023
NOTICE:  CPU: MT7622
NOTICE:  WDT: [40000000] Software reset (reboot)
NOTICE:  SPI-NAND: FM35Q1GA (128MB)
ERROR:   BL2: Failed to load image id 3 (-2)

That same error is what shows when I watch the serial output of the router while it boots from the power switch.

My Linksys E8450 has succumbed to the OKOD (OpenWRT Kiss of Death). In case you are unaware, the OKOD essentially is the E8450 spontaneously dying. loss of power, or a reboot can lead to it completely dying — the lights don't come on, and it is essentially bricked. Afaik, it is currently unknown exactly what causes it.

Anyways, it may be possible to recover, and I am currently working on that, but should I not be able to recover it, I will need to purchase a new router. To that end, I am looking for recommendations for a new router that is equal to, or better than the Linksys E8450 (it must be well supported by OpenWRT).

I may just buy another E8450, but I am curious if there is a better alternative.