WRT54GL: Link Aggregation to switch

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Eaglebird
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Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 0:30    Post subject: WRT54GL: Link Aggregation to switch Reply with quote
I have a WRT54GL:
Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (03/27/09) std-nokaid
Time: 20:21:12 up 41 days, 2:34, load average: 0.01, 0.05, 0.01
WAN: Disabled

..set up as an access point in the same subnet as my LAN. My DHCP server hands out IPs to wireless clients. For all intents and purposes, the configuration of the WRT54GL is perfect.

However, to account for multiple users on the AP, I want to enable link aggregation on any two ports so that I can create a 'fat pipe' to the main switch on the LAN.
I recently got a Netgear GS108T 8 port gigabit switch to replace the unmanaged switch. It supports STP, LAG, and LACP. It's been set up for link aggregation on ports 3 and 4, which are cables running to the WRT54GL.
Currently, I have one cable plugged into the WRT54GL. I tried setting the option in the GUI for "Link aggregation on ports 3 & 4" and plugging the other cable in, but I see obvious evidence that this just creates a switching loop...
Code:

Summary Statistics 
 
 
  Ports TX RX
Bytes Unicast Packets Drop Packets Bytes Unicast Packets Drop Packets
1 3477548 13529 0 3730329 10789 0
2 733216 3654 0 298511 3747 0
3 2000933017 21614942 0 2391153911 29740197 0
4 2388272428 29723790 0 1996156557 21600949 0
5 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 449304 13 0 0 0 0
8 0 0 0 0 0 0
   
 

Ports 3 and 4, having only been plugged in for 2 or 3 minutes, have about ten thousand more (edit: ten thousand TIMES more) packets sent and received than the router (port 1) does.

How do I set up link aggregation? And please don't give me this, I've read it already and it doesn't make any sense to me.
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Eaglebird
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:50    Post subject: Reply with quote
bump.
phuzi0n
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 10141

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:35    Post subject: Reply with quote
Afaik the vlan page is broken so you'll have to do it in a shell and save it to a startup script after you have it working. I'm not sure this is the right way but I think you need to first separate the two ports into their own individual vlans, then add them both to a software bridge, and finally add that bridge to br0 or assign it another subnet.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Switched_Ports

http://linux.die.net/man/8/brctl

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Read the forum announcements thoroughly! Be cautious if you're inexperienced.
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Eaglebird
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:49    Post subject: Reply with quote
That makes more sense; is there a script that is supposed to run when "Aggregate ports 3 and 4" is checked? If so, I could maybe grab it and enter all the pertinent code manually, because as far as the concept, I think I get it, but the actual implementation seems a little foggy.
phuzi0n
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 10141

PostPosted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 8:37    Post subject: Reply with quote
The source is difficult to navigate and is mostly written in C. The web ui code is here but I'm not sure of the file structure, particularly what comprises the apply.cgi binary. Trying to read the source is a bad route to take and will be way over your head if you're having trouble using some more basic shell commands that are documented.

The first link I gave will help you separate the ports to individual vlans and the second link will help you create software bridge with spanning tree protocol enabled. One thing to note is that this is only going to give you failover not bonding so only one link will be used and the other is just for backup.

_________________
Read the forum announcements thoroughly! Be cautious if you're inexperienced.
Available for paid consulting. (Don't PM about complicated setups otherwise)
Looking for bricks and spare routers to expand my collection. (not interested in G spec models)
Eaglebird
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:44    Post subject: Reply with quote
I thought I had it for a minute.
I separated the two ports into vlan3 and vlan4, and bridged them with STP, but then that broke the wireless because they weren't bridged with eth1 or vlan0. So then I bridged with vlan0 and eth1, but that didn't have STP enabled, and when pinging the WAP, my pings jumped from ~1ms to as high as 2000+ ms, staying high for a while, then dropping again.

I am looking for load balancing however, as redundancy shouldn't be an issue here. If a port fails, it means new hardware, not a new port, and if a cable fails, it means new cable.
phuzi0n
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 10141

PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 20:36    Post subject: Reply with quote
These devices don't have enough processing power to load balance. The 200MHz chips top out around 40 Mbps when it has to go through software instead of the internal switch.
_________________
Read the forum announcements thoroughly! Be cautious if you're inexperienced.
Available for paid consulting. (Don't PM about complicated setups otherwise)
Looking for bricks and spare routers to expand my collection. (not interested in G spec models)
Eaglebird
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:57    Post subject: Reply with quote
Is there any way to actually calculate that? I'd be comfortable with using one link until it's maxed out before using the other; I was just hoping not to be limited to 100mbps FD.

In any case, should the bonding mod be installed on the device for this to work or can I do it with bridging and vlans? This may be why I found the 'bonding' tutorial so confusing, because I don't have a bonding option in my bridging section.
phuzi0n
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 10141

PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:39    Post subject: Reply with quote
As I just explained, these embedded devices don't have enough processing power to bond. Afaik the bonding options are only present in other versions of dd-wrt such as for x86. If you did get something working then it would be slower than a single switched port.
_________________
Read the forum announcements thoroughly! Be cautious if you're inexperienced.
Available for paid consulting. (Don't PM about complicated setups otherwise)
Looking for bricks and spare routers to expand my collection. (not interested in G spec models)
ohcarol
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 01 Jul 2009
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:18    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am trying to achieve the same thing bonding/STP. I just need to bond the two port for 2mbps link. How can I do that as I am novice in this section.
Eaglebird
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:35    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think you need to have the bonding package installed to do this. From there, it's pretty much separating two ports, and bonding them as per generic linux bonding tutorial using aliases and ifenslave to slave each port to a bond.

I think you can get a bonding package using ipkg, but I could not get my ipkg to work correctly, so I'm not totally sure.
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