Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2020 18:24 Post subject: R8000 - r44251 - Cannot bridge wireless interfaces (solved)
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TL;DR - Update September 1, 2020
The "issue" reported here was not actually a bug, but my failure to understand how to assign WiFi & eEthernet interfaces to a new bridge. See EGC's replies for the answer.
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Router Info
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Router Model / Version: Netgear r8000
Previous Firmware: Tomato firmware (new to DD-WRT)
Current Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r44251 std (08/27/20)
File: netgear-r8000-webflash.bin
Kernel: Linux 4.4.233 #936 SMP Thu Aug 27 17:44:00 +04 2020 armv7l
Reset: Yes. Once before, once after
Mode: Wireless - AP
Setup: Basic
Problem Description
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Issues: In Setup > Networking > Assign to Bridge, wireless interfaces are missing from the "Interfaces" column. The result is that you cannot assign a wireless interface to a bridge you create. I am attaching an image to illustrate this problem.
Can anyone else reproduce? If so, I will file bug report.
I also ran into this issue in a June build I tried.
Remediation Attempted
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1. Followed upgrade procedure. Attempted 30/30/30.
2. Downgraded to another recent build (June--don't remember which. Problem was present here as well)
3. Reset to factory defaults. No change.
Other Notes
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1. Originally running tomato. Reset to defaults, performed 30/30/30. Flashed to DD-WRT using nmrpflash (factory-to-DDWRT image). Performed 30/30/30. Installed same version using Web upgrade file. Performed 30/30/30.
Personal experience and aptitude
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* Worked as network engineer and sysadmin for several years. Familiar with advanced routing and switching concepts.
* Serviceable Linux administration knowledge.
* New to DD-WRT.
image_3_20200831_090236.png
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Last edited by NetSonic on Tue Sep 01, 2020 14:32; edited 1 time in total
Thank you for replying. Yes, I am keeping all of the interfaces at default as opposed to selecting "unbridged".
I am posting a diagram of my simplified network topology to show you what I am trying to accomplish.
I have a Netgear R8000 that has an uplink to a router, that is in turn connected to the outside world.
Basically, my Netgear R8000 has 3 wifi radios that I want to bridge 3 different VLANs (note, one radio will broadcast two different SSIDs, like a guest network).
I am assigning them to different bridges for security & bandwidth reasons. For example, I will have one bridge for untrusted IoT devices, and that will be associated with a certain VLAN. Security is the primary reason I am doing this.
I am also trying to prevent any potential traffic bottlenecks. The WiFi bandwidth of this AP is 3.2Gbps theoretical (5ghz 1.3Gbps, 5ghz #2 1.3Gbps, 2.4Ghz 600Mbps). Assuming real-world speed is half and all radios are saturated, that's too much data than can be transferred over the R8000's 1Gbps ethernet port. My solution is to dedicate one ethernet port to each bridge to make sure WiFi data never gets bottlenecked on the 1Gbps uplink to my router.
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12882 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:43 Post subject:
With your setup creating a bridge is the way to go.
I just checked with Broadcom/Mips, Broadcom/Arm (R6400)and Atheros R7800 running build 44251 or higher and I have no trouble creating bridges and adding VAP's to that bridge.
So either is is something specific for your router or you are making a setup error
One thing I noticed after creating a bridge I have to save and apply twice to make the bridge visible on Networking tab so that I could set its IP address
If you post screenshots (not more than 760 pixels width)of wireless setup and networking page maybe that will give us some clues?
Hmmm, your last reply makes me suspect that perhaps nothing is broken, but that I do not know how to use DD-WRT.
I also have no issues creating a virtual wireless (wl0.1, wl1.1, etc.) interface and assigning it to a bridge. This works well. However, this is not my problem.
I am saying that I cannot assign the physical wireless interfaces (wl0, wl1, etc.) to a new bridge, because they do not appear in the list (see my markup of your screenshot).
Should wl0, wl1 and wl2 be there? If not, where do I tell DD-WRT to put wl0 on br1, or wl2 on br2, etc?
. I really appreciate your assistance.
