Mesh Network Configuration v1::DD-WRT | 1

Mesh Network Configuration for DD-WRT

V1
June 2012

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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 disinterest on the part of the technically literate when it comes to disseminating their little technological treasures. It seems particularly ironic to the author in this case because mesh network 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 firmware. 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 clients. 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, enhancements, and corrections are made known to the PittMesh organization.

Any questions, comments, concerns, or criticisms can be sent to PittMesh@gmail.com.

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

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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 because 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 predecessors?

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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.

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Change Wireless Mode to Adhoc. Mandatory. 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 channel as the rest of the network. Mandatory.

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 network admins who will give you an unused IP address. Mandatory.

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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.

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Turn off the SPI Firewall. This will allow any and all traffic through the router. Mandatory.

Uncheck Block Anonymous WAN Requests. 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.

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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 programs only talk on certain ports. Doesnt do harm to openm up. OVERCLOCK THIS BABY! High traffic demands higher clock speeds. Be warned, your router may become unresponsive and you will need to reset it and restart the configuration procedure.