What DD-WRT settings / tweaks are worth using?

Crow550

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
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Running DD-WRT version v24-sp2 (02/19/14) std - build 23598 on a TP-Link 1043ND.

Some stuff I changed:

For Wireless I leave it on Mixed, Dynamic and Auto for Wireless Channel and Extension Channel seems to work well.

Under Advanced set the TX Power, Antenna Gain, Protection Mode: RTS/CTS, RTS Threshold enabled, Short Preamble enabled.

For IP Filter Settings (adjust these for P2P) set TCP Congestion Control to WestWood. Along with Maximum Ports, TCP Timeout & UDP Timeout at there defaults.

under DNSMasq should I enable Local DNS?

Also under DHCP Server should I leave Used Domain on WAN or set it to LAN & WLAN?

Have OpenDNS set for the first two Static DNS.

Any settings in the Firewall I should tweak?

Any other settings I should tweak or change? Enable or disable?

Some of the DD-WRT settings can be a bit overwhelming.

Connection is 35mb down and 3mb up. House is wired with Gigabit switches for file sharing.

Gonna get a external drive for the routers USB sometime soon.
 

code65536

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2006
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DD-WRT has a very useful wiki:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki

Generally speaking, "if you're not sure you need to change a setting, you don't need to". DD-WRT's defaults are pretty good, and changes are needed only for very specific setups.

If you're behind a NAT, your NAT is basically your firewall. The DD-WRT's "firewall" is for more advanced things (using stateful packet inspection, SPI, which basically snoops every packet passing through) like filtering content. I always make sure it's disabled (which I think is the default?).

Why are you using OpenDNS? If you're using it to escape an ISP's evil DNS that hijacks non-existent DNS, you're better off using Google's free DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Use OpenDNS only if you want them to babysit you.
 

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,546
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Beside Passwords, DHCP range, Wireless security, or other info type variable you set in any Router when you start using on your specific Network

Do not change any thing from default, unless you need a specific feature for specific purpose.

All of these leave at Default.

Quote:


"Under Advanced set the TX Power, Antenna Gain, Protection Mode: RTS/CTS, RTS Threshold enabled, Short Preamble enabled.

For IP Filter Settings (adjust these for P2P) set TCP Congestion Control to WestWood. Along with Maximum Ports, TCP Timeout & UDP Timeout at there defaults".



:cool:
 

Crow550

Platinum Member
Oct 4, 2005
2,381
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Aw come on. Nothing cool to tweak. ;)

Is local DNS useful? I heard it's good if you want to access devices on a network by name and not address right?

I'll take a look at the Wiki some more. I did look at some stuff. I just figured I'd ask around here and see if there are any experts with DD-WRT and what all if offers. I could ask in the DD-WRT forums but why not here. :)

I was using Google DNS then switched back to OpenDNS but if GoogleDNS offers the same security I might switch back. I don't use the content filtering.... Looking at the Wiki.... Should I add the strict-order command? http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/DNSMasq_as_DHCP_server#DNS_Preferred_Order Similar also the instructions for OpenDNS say the same thing. So I assume this applies for GoogleDNS as well? http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/OpenDNS
 

dealguru

Member
Jan 13, 2014
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With the DD-WRT, the default settings are already perfect unless you understand networking 100%
 

code65536

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2006
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I could ask in the DD-WRT forums

/me shudders.

That place assumes that you've done your homework, read the wiki, and read all the stickies. Otherwise, the only response you'll get is to do just that.

And there's "nothing cool to tweak" because DD-WRT knows its audience (advanced/power users) and makes the defaults such that they're well-suited for their audience.


And the usefulness of DNSMasq Local DNS depends on what you are doing. Windows can find other Windows machines by the computer name without a DNS server helping it out, so if that's your use case, then it's optional. Otherwise, yes, it's useful. I have it enabled in all my setups (I can't remember if it defaults to on or not--are you saying that it defaults to off? If so, then maybe I should revise my statement above.)
 
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John Connor

Lifer
Nov 30, 2012
22,757
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If you want to cache DNS entries into the router for a faster page loading time you could set the following:

Under Setup: Use DNSMasq for DNS

Under services tab set the following:

DNSMasq Enable

Local DNS disable

No DNS rebind Enable

In the Additional DNSMasq Options box add the following:

no-negcache
bogus-priv
domain-needed
cache-size=10000




I use an older router a WRT54GL so I'm not sure if you have the same options there. It may be slightly different.

If you use torrents, under the Administration tab look for the setting IP Filter Settings (adjust these for P2P)

TCP Congestion Control: Vegas

Maximum Ports: 4096

TCP Timeout (in seconds): 15

UDP Timeout (in seconds): 15



With WIFI I just use AES non mixed key WPA2 with a 64 digit key. Use this to make a key. https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm

I use OpenDNS for the redundancy and security features. Google already knows too much about me, why should I allow them to see what sites I visit through resolved DNS entries? Food for thought.

I use the following OpenDNS servers in my router to occupy all three:

208.67.220.222

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220
 
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xantub

Senior member
Feb 12, 2014
717
1
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/me shudders.

That place assumes that you've done your homework, read the wiki, and read all the stickies. Otherwise, the only response you'll get is to do just that.

And there's "nothing cool to tweak" because DD-WRT knows its audience (advanced/power users) and makes the defaults such that they're well-suited for their audience.
I agree, dd-wrt forums are easily the most hostile forums I've ever read.
 

Guestof

Junior Member
Mar 23, 2014
1
0
0
i found the tx power and gain setting useful for limiting my broadcast radius
i ended up using 5db tx and 9db gain. and as i'm just connecting one laptop
i selected the n2.4ghz only which achieved a synchronous 30meg up 30meg down when connecting with the intel centrino wifi nic native to my wifes laptop
 

bxc107

Junior Member
Apr 29, 2019
1
0
6
wow you, and nearly every person before you are a bunch of useless, time wasting, disrespectful, dummies. i hope you feel more secure in the obvious enormity of your manhood by having just put the op in his place.

y'all really are the bee's knees. brilliantly intelligent, geniuses hiding in plain sight, far above the laymen lameness of other males. so beyond the IQ chart that yours isn't even a number, its just beyond. its default.

as a wise man, less wise than y'all of course, once said, 'the beginning of wisdom is not knowing'

but i can see the wisdom of your approach, by passing the whole wisdom thing altogether by embracing the not-knowing and in an impressive and totally original lack of thought, you make passionate love for the longest minute ever, and 9 months later give the world your great gift; ignorance.

small dicks, and smaller minds aside;

in response to the OP, the man with sack so big between his legs, that he can also embrace his own not-knowing, and whip out his huge head so we can see how big his brain is.

hope this gets your brain throbbin (don't read past this point if you're a default kind of person, consult your heart might not be healthy enough for custom settings)

ddwrt is the land of custom settings. and works out of the box on default because who wants to install something thats broken out of the box? I suppose if you idiots (the small dickers who kept reading when i said not to continue) really believe that the QoS settings are disabled cuz theyre not optimal, probably own an airport express, and have always been known as the "nice guy" or "play it safe" guy. no wonder you don't have kids... lol

its not a puzzle, its a ball of clay.

so full disclosure, i tend to prefer settings of the same type. which might not be the same settings you're into, so while you might not like my settings, you can at least respect that i like my settings, and that I'm willing to die for the right for you to like your settings. In the end the point is settings are cool, and fun to play with!

Tx power, I keep it around 35-38.dbm. a change of 3dBm is a 2 fold change. (inverse square law) Meaning if you want 2x the signal level at a given location, and the only thing you can control is Tx power, then a change from 35 to 38, or 1 to 4dBm, etc. is doubling the power output. So this one is cool to play with, because depending on how close you are to your router, and how much activity is on your network, it can be the difference between being cold at night, or someone having hot flashes because you're watching porn in the bathroom. (remember microwave ovens operate on 2.4GHz)

QoS settings make a huge impact, provided you have a capable cpu on your router. although if you play with it enough, like yourself, you'll eventually be able to get the most out of your hardware. ive got several wrt54gs routers running in client mode, with another router stacked to run the local network, with QoS, providing internet via a wireless connection to a publicwifi AP, vpn, dynamnicdns updating to do spam filtering via opendns. its good bit of stuff for aging hardware and it runs great.

short preambles, good
frame burst, good
protection mode disable (think about a room full of people yelling at each other, and one person raising their hand hoping someone will call on them, expecting the world to shut up so they can talk. never gonna happen, its gonna super delay the network, and allow b clients to conenct. u dont want that) be a man, and speak directly and effeciently. yelling all the time is gonna be hard to understand. whipspering in a loud room will be hard to understand, find the right balance between tx power level and gain, its not gonna be the same for everywhere and everyone.
pick non overlapping channels (1,6,11) use 20mhz vs 40 mhz if you have alot of other wifi in the area. (think talking to 2 people vs talking to 4 people about the same thing, in a room full of people yelling, 2 people asking what is less annoying and takes less time than 4 people doing it randomly.

ive got adhd and im over this post now, enjoy hope it helps, this is art. mold your ddwrt into something thats gonna make you happy, and make others happy. while it may or may not be better or worse than others, thats not the point. the point is making it the best that it can be for the settings closest to you. ;)