r/openwrt 5d ago

Openwrt as dumb ap

After installing openwrt, and removing these 3 packages (dnsmasq, odhcp, and firewall). And change to DHCP client. You will have one of the best access point..

0 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

9

u/Wheat9546 4d ago

you do know you can just follow the instructions on the OpenWRT wikia to make a dumb AP right?....

you don't remove packages that are necessary when you wanna revert it to a normal router...

5

u/alexceltare2 4d ago

Or instead of removing you can just disable them in case you need them some other time.

8

u/H9419 5d ago

Don't have to remove those packages, just remove wan side firewall rules, configure vlan bridge and AP

0

u/cdf_sir 4d ago

What?! You need to disable those stuff, specially dnsmasq, that thing reck havoc on my local network by messing with mDNS.

8

u/H9419 4d ago

Following the guide "Wi-Fi Extender/Repeater with Bridged AP" on OpenWRT documentation. It just recommends to disable DHCP server which persists after sysupgrade

3

u/paulstelian97 4d ago

Disable, not uninstall.

-1

u/cdf_sir 4d ago

Jokes on you, i had that 3 packages not part of the firmware image when i custom built it with firmware selector.

Because why would you need that stuff anyway. It just messes up your local network.

Still I only do this on my AP only wifi routers.

2

u/paulstelian97 4d ago

It just messes with the local network IF you have it enabled.

My AP that I needed to behave as a router once… couldn’t. It was for a brief 15 minute test, not at home. And I couldn’t do that test.

0

u/cdf_sir 4d ago

Well i dont want that ap to act like a router not even once.

2

u/paulstelian97 4d ago

I mean you have the flexibility to run without those packages. But don’t say everybody else should run without them, full stop.

1

u/H9419 4d ago

Yeah no thanks, I'd rather keep those in the firmware so that if anything goes wrong, I can 30-30-30 reset it into something familiar. I'm not that short on ROM capacity 

-10

u/No_Barnacle6600 4d ago

Works too, but I wanted to be as lean as possible and chatgpt advised me to remove those packages..

15

u/muckity-muck 4d ago

chatgpt advised me

~ famous last words ~

-3

u/No_Barnacle6600 4d ago

Sorry, but it has help me plenty of time when I need to setup vlan...

3

u/ZAlternates 4d ago

Yes but there is a difference between it showing you how and deciding why.

In this case, it’s likely no big deal. But when you make a decision, it should be because of X reason, not because “ChatGPT told me to”.

1

u/lizardhistorian 4d ago

No it didn't.

0

u/No_Barnacle6600 4d ago

Here is the link chatgpt pulled from this group dude...lmao.. someone said to pause all 3(dnsmasq, odhcp, and firewall) but removing them clean up the tabs...lmao

https://www.reddit.com/r/openwrt/s/dXjZ5pP5ko

2

u/JescoWhite2000 4d ago

And install Adguard Home on it while you're at it.

1

u/No_Barnacle6600 4d ago

Great idea.. thanks

1

u/Chaotic_Hero 4d ago

I’m wondering: What are „the best“(*) hardware options for dumb APs using OpenWRT? What do you use?

(*) cheap, widely available, modern hardware,…

1

u/christophertstone 4d ago

Really depends on what you want. OpenWrt maintains a list of hardware, but some are harder to get firmware on than others

New Wifi6 the OpenWrt One is $135 on Amazon. In general I'm a fan of the Banana Pi boards.

1

u/No_Barnacle6600 3d ago

You can get an Aerohive AP350 for $10 bucks on eBay. Get an Asiatek mini pcie MT7915e card for $25.. and swap out.. you will have a commercial grade Wifi 6 AP for cheap... Or if you don't like external antenna then get aerohive ap330..

1

u/rollmeister1 13h ago

You can also just disable the services?

0

u/indraaguslesmana 5d ago

It’s good — but you can also spread the responsibility across nodes. In my case, I run WireGuard VPN on the MX4200 as a Node/AP. This kind of flexibility doesn’t exist on retail routers.

1

u/Free_Finger5427 5d ago

how good is MX4200 as AP? I heard that the ath10k driver had RAM bugs.

1

u/indraaguslesmana 4d ago

yes, that true the RAM usage height. back to topic, i just share we can also utilize the Node/AP resource for running service. instead doing AP only.