Any OpenWrt User Guide for Linksys RE6500?

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

Hello fellow OpenWrt'ers... I have dabbled in the software a few times in the past and eventually give up and go back to stock firmware. I am really hoping someone can assist me in changing that because I love the ability to control my devices and software, the way they SHOULD run, and not the way the ISPs want them to run.

That being said, I have a couple Linksys RE6500's around the place and saw that I could install OpenWrt on it, and then be able to install OpenVPN on it afterwards. That is the goal at least. I actually use TorGuard VPN but I believe they have a config file created for OpenVPN or equivalent. That's a bridge I will cross, as soon as I can get my connectivity working however.

Would someone be so kind as to provide instructions on how to configure my RE6500 now that I have OpenWrt installed? I can't seem to figure it out and every where I look, it talks about OpenWrt configurations that are on routers. This unit is an extender/switch. The ethernet ports are all LANs. There is no WAN port.

I would assume (and I tried for 3 hours now) that I need to create a VLAN connection some way so that one LAN port (let's say port 1) would act as a WAN which I would connect to my main router, and then the remaining 3 LANs could be used as designed, in addition to the WLANs 2.4 and 5GHz being able to route through the VPN.

Sorry for such a long winded explanation but I only have a little bit of hair left that I haven't yet pulled out and would like to keep it if I can. So please, I am begging for someone to show mercy and help me with the basic instructions to get my internet connectivity working. Then I can figure out how to install and configure my VPN.

Thank you in advance for the consideration!

2

Hi! I was able to figure out the configuration, as well as install OpenVPN and configure TorGuard VPN with it using a tutorial posted on TorGuard's forum titled: LEDE - OPENWRT TORGUARD VPN SETUP

Just in case someone else wanted to know how to do it. If I'm not allowed to refer to that guide, my apologizes, and I will edit if told to do so. I just found it super helpful - that's all. :slight_smile:

Cheers!

3

Hi @ColtonYYZ,

I want to do the same exact thing with an RE6500 but using PIA VPN. Did you have to create a VLAN or not? Do you have any instructions you could share with me?

Thanks.

4

Yes, because the RE6500 is an unmanaged switch, once you install OpenWRT, you need to create a VLAN so that you can designate one ethernet port as your WAN and the rest as LAN.

5

Care to share info about setting up the VLAN? Those things make my brain hurt. I assume you have to change settings on the router and the RE6500. After that I think I could figure out the settings for OpenVPN since PIA has a tutorial that I've downloaded.

Thanks.