Fail over to a new router

Hi, I bought 2 identical Netgear R6260s for the purpose of OpenWrt. One of them is configured and in use, while the other being the backup device just in case the first one fails. What's the best way to clone/migrate the configuration to the backup device so it's plug and go?

My first inclination is just to back up the tar files and restore to the 2nd device, but seems like I might run into MAC and other issues? My setup is mainly Wireguard, pbr, and static DHCP leases.

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Maybe you can try to backup/restore all Firmware included bootloader in flash ROM chip level.

I suppose you don't want two main routers in the same network, unless you are not configuring two dumb AP's with assigned static address. In any case you can manually modify the device MAC address of the 2nd device from LUCI > Interfaces/Devices/Configure and avoid MAC address mismatch.

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wow! that's too bad about tarballs not compatible between devices of same model.

Correct, I won't have 2 same devices on the same network at the same time. The second device would only be used if the first one fails.

If I have to set up the 2nd device ahead of time, I would directly connect to it to avoid the collision situation.

Thanks for the suggestion. I presume it involves the mtdblock contents? I'll have a look at it.

Some models will read the factory MAC address from flash only once during the first boot, and copy it into device sections in /etc/config/network. If it is that kind, in order to ensure the MAC stays unique you'd need to modify the file when moving it around.

Other models directly read the factory MAC from a separate flash partition on every boot, and factory MACs are not included in the config files.

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That is a sure way to permanently damage your device for good.

On the one hand it's very risky business, a tiny typo here or there will hard-brick the device, on the other hand you run into jeopardy overwriting MAC addresses and wireless calibration data, which is just as fatal. Furthermore on NAND devices, such as these in question, you would also damage the ECC data for your NAND (unless you really know how to use your tools - and which ones), which would also be a fatal damage to your device.

Never, ever, do anything like this - unless you really, really, really know what you're doing - in which case you wouldn't have asked in the first place.

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