Can a mesh11sd node function directly as its own outbound gateway

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Sorry, I know I'm not using the right words do describe what I mean.

I've set up and tested a little mesh11sd mesh: I've got two GL-MT300N-V2s in a mesh, with one of them portalling out to the internet via a cable into my ISP's router, and it seems to be working pretty well, and meets most of my needs with minimal tweaking beyond the documented quick start.

However, I don't particularly want to keep the router in my final design - is it possible to set the portal node to do the job of handling the outbound traffic directly (which is PPPoE, I think?).

On the one hand, it feels logically reasonable for this to be possible, but from reading the docs I can't link the concept I have in my head with the words on the page (I would say I'm reasonably tech-savvy, but networking is not my area of expertise).

TIA!

2

By this do you mean replace the isp router? - I guess so!
So does your isp provide an incoming ethernet feed?
Or is it using an old fashioned phone line?
Alternatively, can your isp router be configured in a modem-only bridge mode?

The short answer:
Yes, but it depends on what the isp provides.
It might be very simple.
Do you know how you would configure a single mt300n-v2 to work with PPPoE?

We can talk about the long answer, but note that although the mt300n-v2 is very capable, to be honest, it is getting pretty old and outdated, cpu-power wise amongst many other things. Can it cope with mesh and PPPoE at the same time? Probably. Only one way to find out.
Currently, you will probably achieve sustained bitrates over the mesh backhaul in excess of 100Mb/s, but probably in the region of 50-60Mb/s to a client connecting to its SSID, so not at all bad, all things considered.

An alternate solution is to configure your portal in MBP mode (Mesh Bridge Portal), but lets look at the details of what your isp provides first.

3

Thank you for taking the time to answer!

By this do you mean replace the isp router?

Exactly this.

So does your isp provide an incoming ethernet feed?

They do (or I have BADLY misunderstood what I'm recieving)

Alternatively, can your isp router be configured in a modem-only bridge mode?

It can be, but my desire is to eliminate a piece of hardware taking up space, so doing so would fail to provide the benefit I'm looking for.

Do you know how you would configure a single mt300n-v2 to work with PPPoE?

In theory yes, in practice no. My ISP provides OpenWRT-specific instructions, which I can follow, but at this point in time I have not tried to do so.

mt300n-v2 is very capable, to be honest, it is getting pretty old and outdated

I bought the mt300n-v2 to provide me with cheap hardware to test a proof of concept while still being able to easily go back to my existing set-up in the case of issues - if I can assure myself I can get everything I want working under OpenWRT, I will commit to buying hardware more suitable to my needs.

With the mt300n-v2 I have already observed that I can't have clients connect to both of the SSIDs I'm advertising without crashing out the connections - from searching online, this appears to be a limitation of the wireless chip in the device (although I would welcome being told it is something I can overcome in software).

Even with the comparatively 'small' mt300n-v2s, my testing of the two-node mesh plugged into the ISP's router has been entirely satisfactory, supplying bitrates that meet my needs - although my final set-up will probably be less performant as I'll need to put a wireless backhaul link into the topology (currently, the two mt300n-v2s have access to a wired interconnect). The only unsatisfactory thing is, as mentioned above, is being unable to connect to both SSIDs at once (well, and not knowing how to remove my ISP's router from the set up ... but it looks like I'm in the right place for the help I need with that!).

4

This is entirely incorrect.
For example, the mesh11sd defaults create three virtual wireless interfaces (VIFs) on the mt300n-v2, the mesh interface, the MeshGate interface and the VTunnel interface. The MeshGate and VTunnel have ssids that both support many client connections simultaneously, no crashing out of connections.
It does not come with a usb power supply as is originally intended as a travel router powered from eg a laptop.
If you use an old ~1 amp phone charger or similar, the wireless chip can try to take more current than the old supply can provide, albeit for just a few milliseconds, causing in the worst case, the chip to reinitialise thus dropping all connections. This may be what you are seeing.
A good quality 2 amp (minimum) usb supply will be more than enough to fix the problem.

5

Good to know!

I have swapped to powering the mt300n-v2 off a 2-amp rated charger (rather than daisy-chaining off the USB port of a random device I had sitting around), and I still see the behaviour I referenced - however, now I know I should be able to get it to work, I'll investigate it in greater depth to see what shows up in the logs and so on - It could be I've set my config for the vtun incorrectly, for example. (I guess I should open up a new topic if I can't work it out)

On the subject of making one of these devices also act as the PPPoE router, what do you recommend for my next steps?

6

Personally it is many years since I set up PPPoE on anything. I'm sure I would figure it out but it will be more efficient time wise, at least for me, if you started a new thread on this forum entitled something like "Setting up PPPoE on my Gl-MT300N-V2".

Don't confuse the issue with Mesh11sd so disable it on the portal until you have PPPoE working.

Start your new thread, there are lots of people with experience with PPPoE that can help, I am sure!

While waiting for a response, run the command:

service mesh11sd disable

Then power cycle it.

Its ipv4 address should revert to 192.168.1.1, so try it to make sure.

7

Oh, as simple as that ... amazing!

My concern was that such config would clash with whatever mesh11sd wants to do in daemon mode. I'll get it working as my primary router, and then bring it back up as a node in the manner you suggest, and come back here if I have post-PPPoE issues.

Thanks.

8

I did say I had not worked with PPPoE for years, so I think it will just work.... unless there is some gotcha-gremlin hiding in the shadows :scream: :rofl: