Adjusting an OpenWrt based firmware to suit my needs

Hi
I have a Linksys WRT 1900ACS router that I flashed with a new firmware
The EXPRESS_VPN router
For those of you who don't know the the ExpressVPN service
ExpressVPN is a paid VPN service that I use to acess US Netflix ...

Anyways they offer a custom fimware that is based on OpenWRT -- but I want some features that they don't offer

1 - enabling reserved IPs
2 - enabling Port-Forwarding -- remote acess outside the LAN
3 enabling the WPS Button (I have a camera that connects only via WPS) ...

so ... is there a way to adujst the firmware to suit my need
and also I always adjust the firmware to allow the WPA entroprise PSK --
But every time I install a new update is there a way to prevent new firmwares to delete my new adjstments -__- ??!

Not sure I totally understood the questions. If you want to know how to adjust a particular custom firmware, you probably have to ask its supplier, or on some channel particular to that firmware. If you want to know how to adjust OpenWrt defaults, we can help you here.

Regarding preserving your customizations between upgrades, using OpenWrt one does this via the sysupgrade system (and its /etc/sysupgrade file). I have no idea how one would do this using some custom firmware.

Extract VPN configuration, if it uses some standard protocol, you can just copy it to OpenWrt.

Seems openVPN is compatible and they have support

1 Like

LuCI > Network > DHCP and DNS > Static Leases

LuCI > Network > Firewall > Port Forwards

You mean that I should just use the original OPENWERT firmware and import any features that I want into the original

OK that good could work but ...

I'll list my setup here and I'd appreciate it if you would provide me with a link to some guide that I can read....

My setup:

I have 2 routers
one fiber router that is provided by my ISP
which is in the living room down stairs

two : I have the linksys wrt 1900acs router

that LINKSYS router is flashed with the ExpressVPN firmware

how the linsys is setup:

my parents don't like the idea of wires going all around the house
and since I wanted fast and reliable internet connection I wanted to be a LAN to LAN setup

but instead I used one of the features in the ExpressVPN firmware ...
which is connecting the routeer to act as a client to the main router (default ISP router)
meaning the linksys router draws internet from the main router and then distribut it back as an acess point

suprisingly it's been doing greate with that setup

so going on to the most useful features that the ExpressVPN router has

1 - Split VPN tunelling,
the ExpressVPN firmware has the ability to make the router connected to a VPN
While allowing only spesfied devices to use the VPN and other devices to not use a VPN coneection

2 - virtual interfaces
I have 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band on my WiFi

I just use the 5Ghz as a client (wirless Bridge) between the main and linksys routers

with no acess points actually acess the 5Ghz band

which gives my router more power to draw more internet speeds

and I also connect my 2.4Ghz as a client to the main router ...

While also having not just a client

but also two acess points (APs) with the same 2.4Ghz interface

my 2.4Ghz interfaces are

Client
AP
Hidden AP (For samrt home devices)

if anybody knows how to set those features up just let me know

It looks like VPN Policy-Based Routing:
https://github.com/stangri/openwrt_packages/blob/master/vpn-policy-routing/files/README.md

If OpenWrt-based firmware support those features, then it should also be possible for OpenWrt which has quite flexible wireless configuration.