Think of it this way; your implementation would require every DD-WRT user to have external storage by default. Instead, by design it's configured to read only in order to prevent unnecessary internal flash wear.
It's always a router first; so it's up to you to externally offload parts of the file system that are needed to survive reboots, service restarts or any frequently written location that's really just in RAM (/tmp).
I think most ddwrt users have some external storage.
The thing is it limits too much what it stores by default in flash. These are basic configuration settings I am trying to add or change in proftpd. It shouldn't need to have to overwrite the entire config files.
Using an old build how can you say integrated ProFTPD is flawed; are they both the same version? OpenVPN and torrents are eating up all your CPU / RAM so I would expect services to fail. Remember by default most everything is running within RAM.
That moment when you realize someone else remembers something you forgot you said.
It was a design decision to by default use RAM, but you are allowed to change it, so no big deal, You could have the system automount a drive over all of the configs and use that by default.
For me, it is better to have a dedicated NAS/FTP server than using the router, but I still use the router's FTP capabilities for small/temp things. I am just glad the option is given to configure as opposed to no option.
I think most ddwrt users have some external storage.
Think again.
portsup wrote:
The thing is it limits too much what it stores by default in flash. These are basic configuration settings I am trying to add or change in proftpd. It shouldn't need to have to overwrite the entire config files.
You are asking the router to do non-router things. Think more about the original purpose of an SD card or USB drive for DD-WRT.
I noticed the lifehacker link at the bottom of the second Wildlion thread is missing pictures, so here's the archive.
The router r7000 and many others are designed to do some nonrouter things.
The thing is you can say something is or is not meant to be used like that and it is not important. You CAN use the router and ddwrt like that. DDwrt just makes it harder in some ways and easier in others. I am simply suggesting an intergrated way to bypass the restricted config options.
I would be interested how you can load all ddwrt to a drive and not ram.
Problems literally continued after I bypassed ddwrt and loaded proftpd separately. Discovered that the proftpd process was dying, I guess crashing. I setup cron to restart if down and every 5 hours. Then discovered if you grep ps for say proftpd and your sh also has that in the file name you get a result for the sh as well. Spun my head that the script filename was affecting it... but anyway lol.
I would guess some of the original problems I was having could be from however ddwrt restarts or handles proftpd dying.
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 Posts: 2146 Location: All over YOUR webs
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:25 Post subject:
Just a forword on Kodi shares.
You should really use either NFS or Samba shares, infinitely more reliable.
On proftpd it was updated recently to the latest version 1.3.7c its possible its not actually bug free, so consider checking out their issue tracker at https://github.com/proftpd/proftpd/issues
Also, consider resource usage, if you're maxing out or getting close to limits while everything is being hammered at same time (like shares being accessed, transmission going, vpn going, various other services needing more resources) this is going to cause slowdowns or some services may crash in background if they hang and you haven't noticed.
Also consider using wireguard, its faster and lower resources consumed, if you dont already.
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 Posts: 2146 Location: All over YOUR webs
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 13:58 Post subject:
When you say latest build... I go mine is bigger than yours Im on DD-WRT v3.0-r48490 std (03/14/22) so for you latest build must be 03-01-2022-r48432.
NFS is implemented https://github.com/mirror/dd-wrt/blob/master/src/router/services/services/nfs.c but there is no control in UI for it idk if this is router dependent or what, will need to make an inquiry. OR maybe a dud and its not suppose to work, there is always ipkg option for running a NFS server.
Openwrt has a kernel NFS server only 103KB + deps, I shall ask if its possible to add similar to DD-WRT
Samba should also be a good alternative low overhead since I believe its a kernel implementation (ksmbd), and the last choice is upnp which I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot stick. Proftpd is userspace so more resources needed/used when in use.
proftpd is working fine on my RT-AC68U E1 with my build.
You should monitor the memory usage maybe it needs more than you have available. Or wait until a newer build is public, as the one you have has a few bugs.
I would also recommend a wired connection to the kodi box and not over wifi. You dont mention your methods or setup exactly.
I would also consider using the kodi box to host the fileserver, not only would it be faster playing files locally but if you accessing shares from another machine the overhead would be small, whne using HW playback decoding, Kodi uses next to nothing of RAM/CPU.
On a personal note, for servers, nothing like a dedicated box, a rpi can be turned into a decent server, or some old crap hw laying around, or consider something else for torrents.
Build r48432 so maybe not latest but close sorry, I did just update and I don't see a newer build in the forum for the r7000
I tried samba and it has it's own issues, I prefer proftpd. If I could get the binary to work without the service enabled that would be good.
NFS support would be excellent. I found some routers have it in the gui but not the r7000, something about flash size which is weird cause the r7000 is big.
I will try samba some more but some devices couldn't connect and it was giving me slow speeds.
I noticed when I was having issues the processor was getting maxed.
I am using wifi but I tried wired before and it had the same issues.
I had this all working before I just needed to run proftpd with settings you can't do with the gui.
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 Posts: 2146 Location: All over YOUR webs
Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2022 15:40 Post subject:
portsup wrote:
I tried samba and it has it's own issues, I prefer proftpd. If I could get the binary to work without the service enabled that would be good.
Its not how these solutions are designed, the service has to be running. kernel space samba will perform faster and better than proftpd. Unless keep reading...
portsup wrote:
NFS support would be excellent. I found some routers have it in the gui but not the r7000, something about flash size which is weird cause the r7000 is big.
I agree I have 128MB flash on mine, but again I dont use the router as a one for all.
portsup wrote:
I will try samba some more but some devices couldn't connect and it was giving me slow speeds.
I noticed when I was having issues the processor was getting maxed.
Sadly everything require memory and CPU power even the ethernet/wifi while in use requires cpu and memory to buffer and send/receive packets, when you are asking a relatively low power machine to take on huge workloads and run umpteen services concurrently and expect everything to work, its unrealistic, when the limits are hit, everything will slow down, performance will drop, and some services may crash. Im surprised the router doesn't crap out and reboot. I would.
portsup wrote:
I am using wifi but I tried wired before and it had the same issues
Wifi will have extra overhead over wired always, wired has by a much lower latency and uses less resources, it maybe negligible for the untrained eye when the limits are not being reached, but on intense usage peaks it all adds up to more memory and more CPU. SO using the right tools matters if you want to squeeze it to the limit.
portsup wrote:
I had this all working before I just needed to run proftpd with settings you can't do with the gui.
Im sure you did, you can add those settings to the config file, but the issue is obvious, if you using torrent via vpn at same time and accessing shares for proftpd on 1 or 2 machines, plus wifi/wired lan/firewall services, logging, QoS, other native router services, etc, etc..., something will give and then you are back where you started, so I should point out what I have pointed out already.
Don't expect the r7000 to do a PC workload, it just cant handle it, it wont, it will crap out 100% of the time as you notice, consumer router CPU's are pretty old tech, you need to manage your expectations and divide the workload like I suggested, I bet you will see then it all works.
Good luck though, I dont think doing the same over and over and over again and expecting different results is going to solve your issues... Try out splitting the services and servers on other wired lan machines. You will notice performance and stability will happen.
That or get a better faster router, something like a x64 is ideal for the workloads you want with 2Ghz cpus or more and 8GB ram, DD-Wrt runs on x64 or x86 but x86 should die already.
Final words, optimize, optimize, optimize and split workloads thought more machines. Im closed for miracles though. sorry