Temporarily connect to internet as regular client on OpenWrt installed on Raspberry Pi 4

[marwan]

TLDR

My OpenWrt Raspberry Pi 4 is not connected to the internet when connected as a regular client.

I am trying to use my Raspberry Pi 4 as a home router, and I am trying to temporarily connect the Pi to the internet as a regular client so we could install necessary packages.

After I flashed OpenWrt to the Pi, I powered and connected it to my Ethernet port on my PC, and I connected to it using SSH. I edited /boot/config.txt and added

dtparam=i2c1=on
dtparam=spi=on
dtparam=i2s=on

as per the OpenWrt documentation page. I then edited option ipaddr '192.168.1.1' under config interface 'lan' at /etc/config/network to option ipaddr 192.168.1.254 so DHCP and I will be able to find it when I connect it as a regular client.

But when I connected the Pi as a regular client through an Ethernet port, I was able to SSH into it on 192.168.1.254, but when I did opkg update or opkg install anything, it told me that it failed to download the package list, which obviously means that it couldn't connect to the internet.

How do I connect my Pi to the Internet? What did I do wrong?

the /etc/config/network file

config interface 'loopback'
        option ifname 'lo'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
        option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config globals 'globals'
        option ula_prefix 'fd01:117e:e158::/48'

config interface 'lan'
        option type 'bridge'
        option ifname 'eth0'
        option proto 'static'
        option ipaddr '192.168.1.254'
        option netmask '255.255.255.0'
        option ip6assign '60'

For reference, I am using this guide to try to use my Pi as a home router.

[krazeh]

You need to add DNS servers and a gateway to your IP configuration.

[marwan]

What are the config directives for that?

[krazeh]

Option gateway and option DNS

[marwan]

Thank you so much! The guide I referenced never mentioned that I have to do it. It just said that I have to change the IP.

[krazeh]

I think it assumes you'll be using it as the main router rather than just connecting it to the LAN as a normal device. Or that you'd use DHCP if you did do that.

[mk24]

You also have to disable the internal DHCP server or it will disrupt your network.

Another approach is to enable the wifi as a client of your home wifi and attach it to the wan network. This lets the Pi download from the Internet as a user but doesn't fully merge it with your existing home network.

[marwan]

The guide assumes that I will connect the Pi between the ISP router and switch, since the ISP doesn't allow different routers. I enabled DMZ to my Pi and disabled Wi-Fi on the ISP router. Do I still disable the DHCP server on the ISP router?

[marwan]

The guide is actually really confusing. They seem to be mixing up between the modem and "ISP router." As far as I'm concerned, I disabled DHCP and Wi-Fi on my ISP router, set up the Pi according to the guide, and set up DMZ to the Pi's IP address. Am I supposed to connect the Pi's Ethernet port to my switch and connect the USB-Ethernet dongle to my ISP router's WAN port?

[krazeh]

Does your ISP router have any options for a bridge or modem only mode?

[marwan]

This one?

[krazeh]

Nope, not a wireless bridge. You ideally want a modem mode or wired bridge that means the ISP router connects to the internet but passes the public IP address onto your openwrt router.

[marwan]

How about this one?

[krazeh]

It'll do at a push, but ideally you want a proper modem/bridge mode.

[marwan]

I looked for something like that, and DMZ seems to be the closest option available. I'm not sure if there's something on the GigaCenter 844E-2 manual, though.

Anyway, I did DMZ on the Pi and disabled DHCP and Wi-Fi on the ISP router, connected the Pi's Ethernet to my switch and connected the Pi to a LAN port on my ISP router using a USB-Ethernet dongle, and it's now finally working. The new DHCP has been updated and now I'm able to connect to LuCI.

However, just when I thought it was all finally good, whenever I try to connect to a website, it doesn't connect. It just stops respnding. How can I diagnose and fix this issue?

Also, do I flash the upgrade build on the UI? Any precautions?

Edit: Also, how can I access the ISP router gateway now?