Most ath79 based devices (with 1 GBit/s ports at least) would be very similar (but not necessarily all identical, topic CPU ports and topology) in regards to the switch setup. Mediatek mt7621 would also offer similar feature, but the ramips architectures have moved from swconfig to dsa recently and would therefore use a very different configuration concept.
Maybe a stupid question. I have read about the problems with the Linksys, You think the Linksys problems could happen with the Fritzbox too because of the comparable chip?
So which model can you recommend instead of the Archer C7 for VLAN, which is not too expensive? It must be Atheros based, since this works best with bridged WLAN-routers. I have 3 C7 in use and I could use a C7 for VLAN testing and buy a better one for normal use.
Emphasizing on the cheaper, but similar aspect for representative testing, you might get lucky to score a TP-Link TL-WDR3600 or TL-WDR4300. To be very clear, this is a solid device - but not one I would recommend to buy in 2021 - but you can get them for ~10 EUR on the used markets. 560 MHz, 8/128, 802.11n, 1 CPU port, 4+1 1000BASE-T ports - less flash, only 802.11n and slower than an archer c7-v5, but rather similar.
I have a few TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v1.8 lying around, which still work as wireless bridge for webcams if needed, bricked one for unknown reasons. I don't care a lot if it costs 10€ more or less, thought only if there is a good recommendation cheaper than the C7, I am interested to check this router.
So I am asking in the other direction, what is the next expensive router for VLAN compared to the C7?
In that case, use those. 32 MB RAM is an issue for luci (possible, although not fun), but other than that the switch setup is almost the same as on your c7-v5.
Well, I have to find them, which have a very old OpenWRT installed, maybe 2014. It was not easy to flash a newer OpenWRT, got 2 working, bricked 1 and then I stopped it, since they are very rarely used. I don't want to destroy the configuration of devices with OpenWRT from 2018 I think. There have been very strange things.
Anyway, what is a little more expensive than the C7 and recommended with VLAN and Atheros chip?
The problem in your search and with this quest, modern targets are slowly migrating away from swconfig to DSA for the switch configuration, which is functionally equivalent (and partially superior), but needs a very different configuration approach.
mvebu, ramips, mt7622 and realtek (the rtl838x/ rt839x/ rtl93xx based smart-managed switches with 8-52 ports) have already switched to DSA, ipq806x and lantiq will follow very soon (PRs already submitted, pending to be merged). There isn't a whole lot better than ath79, but still using swconfig for the forseeable future - and while there is plenty hardware better than ath79, it's both more expensive or DSA (at least soon to come), making it non-representative for your primary intention of being a testbed for your c7-v5 switch configuration. While I'd prefer ipq40xx over ath79 any day of the week (very similar prices compared to the c7-v5), the VLAN specific issue in its swconfig driver will only disappear once it moves over to DSA as well (drivers available, needing further integration testing).
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Yes, ath79 also has a chance to be migrated over to dsa one day, but that will need further work on qca8k to support ar8237 in addition to the already supported qca8337 sporting on ipq806x.
I want to give you a little bit more info. I am a beginner with VLAN and want to use separate networks for WLAN and LAN for security reasons, so I need 2 VLANs, Changing all current networks is very dangerous, so I want to do some tests before to understand better what I am doing.
So my first step is to get 2 networks from the openWRT Router / C7 to the switch. Probably this has to be done with 2 tagged VLANs. I am open to any ideas. See Playground for VLAN
Certificate DSA is Digital Signature Algorithm, an old encryption standard that is no longer considered secure. Nothing to do with Distributed Switch Architecture.
As a totally anecdotal recommend, I just switched to a VLAN setup using Belkin AX3200 and it worked out great. I was using some Ubiquiti devices and the internal switch would strip the 802.1q headers one way and not the other. I hacked it together but it was ugly. The AX3200 worked exactly like I needed.
Ok, while I am getting closer in understanding how I can setup what I want: See
I need another OpenWRT router as Wireless bridge master for testing. Before I am sure, that everything works what I want, I will not touch the existing system.
What do you think about a MikroTik RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN as master?
Client for testing will be a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v1.8
After testing this router makes a little bit sense for me, because it has more than 4 LAN ports.
Alternative is the ZyXEL NBG6817 (Armor Z2) - https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/zyxel/zyxel_nbg6817 which is nearly the same as my NetGear Nighthawk X4S (R7800), which I use as master for my running system. The Zyxel has a lot more power than the Mikrotik and it is available for 170€ while the Mikrotik costs about 110€.