DD-WRT Setup v1
Transcript of DD-WRT Setup v1
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 1
Mesh Network
Configuration for
DD-WRT V1
June 2012
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 2
Dear Reader,
At the time of writing there is no conspicuous guide that makes the setting up of a
mesh network available to those without specialized networking knowledge. The success of
any technology is measured only by the ability to be widely adopted. There seems to be disin-
terest on the part of the technically literate when it comes to disseminating their little tech-
nological treasures. It seems particularly ironic to the author in this case because mesh net-
work technology has been built to allow for the spreading of information easily and without
the need of a super entity, like an ISP, to disperse it
This guide serves as a clear path to setting up a mesh network with DD-WRT firmware.
It is outside of the scope of this document to instruct readers on the installation of the firm-
ware. Please refer to the DD-WRT website for further instructions.
This guide assumes that DD-WRT with OLSR has been installed on your router and that
it has been reset to default settings. When two or more routers are set up as instructed from
this guide they will automatically form a mesh network and begin to move traffic between cli-
ents. You can test this by using Wireshark. This testing is also outside the scope of this guide.
Further revisions are expected later in 2012 as recommendations, clarifications, en-
hancements, and corrections are made known to the PittMesh organization.
Any questions, comments, concerns, or criticisms can be sent to [email protected].
Special thanks to ECE@UPRM for writing the only guide in over a year of research that made
sense enough to get a mesh network up and running. Please visit their site:
https://sites.google.com/a/uprm.edu/ccli/Home/testbeds-1/wireless-mesh-network-testbed-using-wrt54gl-dd-wrt-and-olsr
Sincerely,
Adam Longwill
PittMesh
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 3
Name your router with a unique name
that will allow you to keep track of it in a
large mesh of other routers. This is the
third router of mine in a string and it
uses the OLSR protocol, so I named it
OLSR3. You can name yours Bob if you
like.
I like to change the maximum amount of
users to 99 from the default of 50 be-
cause I like to envision a world where
my dinky little router would have that
many simultaneous users. I dont like to
envision the lag that would cause,
though.
You can turn off the time-keeping client.
I dont know if it matters, but other
guides recommend turning it off and
who am I to thumb my nose at my pre-
decessors?
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 4
Change the Operating Mode to OLSR. If
you dont have this option you cant
mesh. You probably installed the wrong
version of DD-WRT. This is Mandatory.
Change the New Interface to eth1 and
click Add. A new set of settings will
appear. Dont Change them. Click Apply
Settings after the new settings appear.
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 5
Change Wireless Mode to Adhoc. Man-
datory.
Change your Wireless Network Name to
the EXACT spelling of the mesh network
you are trying to join. CASE SENSITIVE!
Mandatory.
Set Wireless Channel to the same chan-
nel as the rest of the network. Manda-
tory.
Change the Network Configuration
to Unbridged then set a UNIQUE
IP address on the same subnet. If
you dont know what that means,
get in touch with your mesh net-
work admins who will give you an
unused IP address. Mandatory.
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 6
Crank this baby up to 11! Turn up the
transmission power (TX Power) up to a
maximum of 251 milliwatts. The legal
limit is 1,000 milliwatts so dont worry
about being too loud. Be aware, any
change in electricity usage increases the
chance of frying your baby. Just sayin.
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 7
Turn off the SPI Firewall. This will allow
any and all traffic through the router.
Mandatory.
Uncheck Block Anonymous WAN Re-
quests. We definitely want to be able to
ping this router when its 50 feet in the
air on some tree and we want to know
if its reachable via wifi.
Uncheck Filter IDENT, too.
-
Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 8
Enable Enable Info Site but make sure
its password protected. This will let you
get info about the router in the wild.
Enable Web GUI Management as well as
Telnet Management. This will allow you
to put the your routers address in a
browser anywhere on the network.
Keep the ports at their defaults.
Change the number of ports to 4096.
Ports are good. Fire is bad. Various pro-
grams only talk on certain ports. Doesnt
do harm to openm up.
OVERCLOCK THIS BABY! High traffic de-
mands higher clock speeds. Be warned,
your router may become unresponsive
and you will need to reset it and restart
the configuration procedure.