Hello, I am new to Openwrt and not at all familiar with the command line interface. I have installed OpenWrt version 21.02 on my TP-Link router. I am trying to configure the router as a DHCP forwarder as I have another device on my network as a DHCP server. I would like to do this through the Luci interface as I am not familiar with the command line.
I have spent several days going through forums to try and find info on how I would accomplice this task via the gui without success. I would appreciate any help that you can provide to guide me on how to configure my device so that DHCP addresses requests are forwarded to my DHCP server.
I ahve experimented with server DHCP options without success.
Is the DHCP server on the same subnet as the TP-Link router's LAN? Do you have just a single subnet, or are you using VLANs?
If you have a flat (single) network, all you need to do is disable the DHCP server on your OpenWrt LAN interface, and then let the alternate DHCP server do its thing.
LuCI > Network> Interfaces > LAN [edit] > DHCP Server > Ignore Interface
For testing purposes, I have it all on a single subnet and eventually when i get things working, I intend to use a VLAN. I did already try LuCI > Network> Interfaces > LAN [edit] > DHCP Server > Ignore Interface prior to posting on this forum but I could't get DHCP forwarding to work. None of the devices attached to the LAN would receive an address from the DHCP server.
Any other suggestions that I might be able try. Thanks again!
If the DHCP server is on the same subnet, there is no need to do any "forwarding" at all -- it just needs to be online and enabled, and it should just work. I mentioned that you need to disable the OpenWrt DHCP server because you can only have a single DHCP server on a network.
If you are using a DHCP server that will provide service to multiple VLANs, you will want to search for "DHCP Relay" and you'll find other threads and packages that will help you through the process.
Before upgrading to 21.02 I had the system working and everything worked including vlans but since the upgrade to 21.02, I can't seem to be able to get the device to act an access point with multiple VLAN SSIDs. That is my eventual goal. I had it working without delving into command line.
Since upgrading, I thought I would go back to base 0 and start from fresh. I reset everything back and I am trying to take baby steps in getting the system working again.
Could you please point me to some links that might be able to guide me.
Thanks again for your interest and help.
I just literally googled "OpenWrt dhcp relay" and that turned up a bunch of results. Or use the in-forum search at the top of your screen, or use the main openwrt.org page search feature.
I don't personally use DHCP relay, so I only have basic understanding and cannot point to specific threads or articles that are "best", but anything you find on the topic should get you going and you can always ask specific questions where you get stuck.
Thanks for your help. I have everything working again with multiple SSIDs tied to separate VLANs. The new interface confused my as I was so used to 19.07.