It is possible to connect to the device "repeater 300E" and login into LuCi via static IP configured ethernet cable.
It is possible to connect to wlan with SSID Repeater300E (configured as AP), but by doing so, login into LuCI is not possible via this method.
Repeater 300E can connect as client to wireless network GangRepeater2.4G (see screenshot of LuCI wireless settings).
The device Gangrepeater2.4G lists Repeater 300E as connected device and automatically assigns an IP within the range of 192.168.11.100 - 192.168.11.200
All these access methods and connections fail to provide any internet connectivity, though.
i suspect it has something to do with the bridge (relayd) configuration, but honestly, i have no idea. I read so much and have tested multiple and many configurations and it all fails.
I am pretty sure. To make sure, I checked again: Even if i disable the AP Repeater300E (and still let the client connect to Gangrepeater2.4G), there is no internet connectivity on the ethernet and i don't have accurate measurements, but it does not really seem as if it would extend the wifi either...
well, it was a dumb question, since it's a repeater
disable WPA on the Repeater300E, and use WPA2-PSK.
The relayd configuration works, if you follow the wiki, I did the same kind
of config around x-mas, but the client device/relayd host I used, had three
radios.
Installed 19.08 instead of 21.02.
What IPs does the clients connected to the Repeater300E get ?
I followed this trouble shoot guide and did a ping (result was 0% package loss) and also a traceroute, while only being connected to Repeater300E via ethernet cable (from within LuCI network>diagnostics>
traceroute to openwrt.org (139.59.209.225), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 192.168.11.1 0.985 ms
2 192.168.178.1 3.571 ms
3 62.155.243.168 8.393 ms
4 217.0.194.162 14.741 ms
5 217.0.194.162 11.146 ms
6 80.156.162.178 15.020 ms
7 80.231.65.21 11.331 ms
8 195.219.50.42 10.752 ms
9 *
10 *
11 *
12 139.59.209.225 22.676 ms
so, the repeater300E definitely has a connection to the internet, but at the same time it does not relay this connection to clients.
Here i found this line in reference to setting up the LAN interface for a repeater, but i don't understand it. :
Set your PC's ethernet or Wi-Fi settings at static IP 192.168.2.10 and default gateway 192.168.2.1, then connect again to the wifi repeater (through ethernet or wifi). When you finish all of the following steps, remember to reset your PC's IP address back to the original address (or DHCP), otherwise you won't have Internet access. The repeater won't route traffic from the 192.168.2.0/24 subnet.
"Reset my PC's IP adress back" - to what? - If i set the to DHCP, i will not have wired access to LuCI ... so, i kinda don't wanna do that, unless it is absolutely necessary. What other option is here referred to?
This “Local IPv4 address” (empty in above screen shot, sorry, I don't have enough rights to upload a new screen shot) needs to match the IP address assigned by the Wifi-network (eg. from 192.168.1.0/24 range, but do not enter the netmask here!) otherwise this bridge will not be accessible from the clients connected directly to the primary router and the relayd-daemon will not start. It makes sense to either fix the IP in the DHCP servers MAC-IP mapping table or configure then WWAN interface of OpenWRT to a fix IP which is not being used in Wifi-networks DHCP-range (I used 192.168.1.2, as my DHCP server only serves IP addresses higher than 192.168.1.100).
and i am confused as to which wifi network is refered to. The client stationary one (Repeater300E), or the wifi network provided by the remote access point (Gangrepeater2.4G)?
I reset my configuration to default. From there i started anew, and was able to make the LAN connection work. I was able to browse the internet from my computer while being plugged into the repeater via cable and all wifi was off.
Doubling down on that i was able to add an accesspoint AP (all interfaces were running on pure DHCP) and browse the internet with wifi.
BUT, when i removed the cable and restarted the repeater, the wifi stopped working.
Currently in the process of flashing again, because i fiddled around with IPv6 and it made me fail to have access to LuCI
For this reason i was not able to test, if the main condition for the wifi to work, is to have a client-repeater LAN connection via rj45 cable.
(On a side note, I found out that the repeater does not support having more than one Access Points s to downstream and more than one STA (DHCP clients) to upstream at the same time. In other words having separate APs for 2.4G and 5G networks will not work, so i refrained from doing that, but that alone does not solve the other issue).
Turns out i had to bridge not how it was described in the documentation between LAN and wlan0 (client mode, capturing upstream wifi), but rather between wlan0-1 (downstream AP) and wlan0 (client mode, capturing upstream wifi). I suspect, the first time i tried doing that, i had too many interfaces, APs and clients configured.
I should have started from the easiest configuration first and then tried to make it more complex. OpenWRT is so "easy" . Just took me 4 days to figure that out.
in short:
I have static ip and can access the repeater (300E) via lan cable. This connection does not have internet access, it is purely there to configure the repeater.
Downstream clients to Repeater300E can access the internet by using the AP with SSID Repeater300E_24G.
Edit: .... it was working. I did not change anything, except restarting Repeater300E (!) by plugging it out of the electricity socket and back in.
Apparently after restarting the router, it stops working. Even after restarting again, it refrains from working again. By "working" i mean, my computer (which is connected per wifi as client to the repeater) fails to get an internet connection.
Here the config after having restarted the router:
config dnsmasq
option domainneeded '1'
option boguspriv '1'
option filterwin2k '0'
option localise_queries '1'
option rebind_protection '1'
option rebind_localhost '1'
option local '/lan/'
option domain 'lan'
option expandhosts '1'
option nonegcache '0'
option authoritative '1'
option readethers '1'
option leasefile '/tmp/dhcp.leases'
option resolvfile '/tmp/resolv.conf.d/resolv.conf.auto'
option nonwildcard '1'
option localservice '1'
option ednspacket_max '1232'
config dhcp 'lan'
option interface 'lan'
option start '100'
option limit '150'
option leasetime '12h'
option dhcpv4 'server'
list ra_flags 'managed-config'
list ra_flags 'other-config'
option ignore '1'
option ra 'hybrid'
option dhcpv6 'hybrid'
config dhcp 'wan'
option interface 'wan'
option ignore '1'
config odhcpd 'odhcpd'
option maindhcp '0'
option leasefile '/tmp/hosts/odhcpd'
option leasetrigger '/usr/sbin/odhcpd-update'
option loglevel '4'
config dhcp 'Repeater_Bridge'
option interface 'Repeater_Bridge'
option ignore '1'
option ra 'hybrid'
option dhcpv6 'hybrid'
config dhcp 'Downstream_24G'
option interface 'Downstream_24G'
option ignore '1'
list ra_flags 'none'
config domain
option name 'Repeater300E'
option ip '192.168.2.1'
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
config defaults
option syn_flood '1'
option input 'ACCEPT'
option output 'ACCEPT'
option forward 'REJECT'
config zone
option name 'lan'
option input 'ACCEPT'
option output 'ACCEPT'
option forward 'ACCEPT'
list network 'lan'
list network 'Upstream_24G'
list network 'Repeater_Bridge'
list network 'Downstream_24G'
config zone
option name 'wan'
list network 'wan'
list network 'wan6'
option input 'REJECT'
option output 'ACCEPT'
option forward 'REJECT'
option masq '1'
option mtu_fix '1'
config forwarding
option src 'lan'
option dest 'wan'
config rule
option name 'Allow-DHCP-Renew'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'udp'
option dest_port '68'
option target 'ACCEPT'
option family 'ipv4'
config rule
option name 'Allow-Ping'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'icmp'
option icmp_type 'echo-request'
option family 'ipv4'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-IGMP'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'igmp'
option family 'ipv4'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-DHCPv6'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'udp'
option src_ip 'fc00::/6'
option dest_ip 'fc00::/6'
option dest_port '546'
option family 'ipv6'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-MLD'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'icmp'
option src_ip 'fe80::/10'
list icmp_type '130/0'
list icmp_type '131/0'
list icmp_type '132/0'
list icmp_type '143/0'
option family 'ipv6'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-ICMPv6-Input'
option src 'wan'
option proto 'icmp'
list icmp_type 'echo-request'
list icmp_type 'echo-reply'
list icmp_type 'destination-unreachable'
list icmp_type 'packet-too-big'
list icmp_type 'time-exceeded'
list icmp_type 'bad-header'
list icmp_type 'unknown-header-type'
list icmp_type 'router-solicitation'
list icmp_type 'neighbour-solicitation'
list icmp_type 'router-advertisement'
list icmp_type 'neighbour-advertisement'
option limit '1000/sec'
option family 'ipv6'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-ICMPv6-Forward'
option src 'wan'
option dest '*'
option proto 'icmp'
list icmp_type 'echo-request'
list icmp_type 'echo-reply'
list icmp_type 'destination-unreachable'
list icmp_type 'packet-too-big'
list icmp_type 'time-exceeded'
list icmp_type 'bad-header'
list icmp_type 'unknown-header-type'
option limit '1000/sec'
option family 'ipv6'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-IPSec-ESP'
option src 'wan'
option dest 'lan'
option proto 'esp'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Allow-ISAKMP'
option src 'wan'
option dest 'lan'
option dest_port '500'
option proto 'udp'
option target 'ACCEPT'
config rule
option name 'Support-UDP-Traceroute'
option src 'wan'
option dest_port '33434:33689'
option proto 'udp'
option family 'ipv4'
option target 'REJECT'
option enabled 'false'
config include
option path '/etc/firewall.user'
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
config interface 'loopback'
option device 'lo'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
option netmask '255.0.0.0'
config globals 'globals'
option ula_prefix 'fdf4:b0b2:d58b::/48'
config device
option name 'br-lan'
option type 'bridge'
list ports 'eth0'
config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option proto 'static'
option netmask '255.255.255.0'
option ipaddr '192.168.2.1'
config interface 'Upstream_24G'
option proto 'dhcp'
option device 'wlan0'
config interface 'Repeater_Bridge'
option proto 'relay'
option ipaddr '192.168.11.2'
list network 'Downstream_24G'
list network 'Upstream_24G'
config interface 'Downstream_24G'
option proto 'dhcp'
option device 'wlan0-1'
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option path 'pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0'
option htmode 'HT40'
option hwmode '11g'
option country 'DE'
option cell_density '0'
option channel '11'
config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
option device 'radio0'
option mode 'sta'
option ssid 'GangRep2.4G'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key 'nottherealpassword'
option network 'Upstream_24G'
config wifi-iface 'wifinet1'
option device 'radio0'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'Repeater300E_24G'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key 'nottherealpassword'
option network 'Downstream_24G'
Did not give up completely. I reset it all again and configured it exactly (!) like described here . It worked (hence it extended my wifi and could browse the web with my pc). I plugged the repeater out of the socked and put it into another electric socked: it stopped working.
Made it work a second time after restart:
Logging into the configuration i noticed that the LAN connection had lost it's device (br_lan) and wwan also (wlan0). I attached those two again, then it worked again, hence i could browse, but only for like 2 minutes or so (!). I lost connection again. Ripping my hair out, i checked my computers assigned dhcp ip, it was a 192.168.1.238, which was NOT one within the range that should have been relayed by my upstream wifi. So again, i went into luci and by some miraculous flash of inspiration i checked the LAN interface for it's dhcp settings and there it was: ipv6 was set as server. I changed it to relay mode and then set this interface as master.
Which did the trick and it worked again.
I wonder for how long. I can't reconfigure my repeater on every restart. Seriously.
What I will do for now:
I will use the repeater for a few days and look for any abnormalities. If it repeatedly resets it's configuration, i guess that could point to a hardware issue.
. Just took me 4 days to figure that out.
