manual for BPi - R1 setup (Lamobo)

[Tido]

Hi

 

Back in February '15 I have started to write an instruction about the setup of a BPi-R1 (Router).

In the threads of the Forum, the information is scattered and it takes so much time for each to get along.

So I thought such a document would help to become not only faster, but to achieve a better result as well, as you can faster spend time with the device and tweak it.

My know how is getting better, but things are still missing.

If you like to help the 'community' with your know how, please leave comments in the document if you find errors or you find something missing.

 

Google Docs 

 

Thank you in advance - for your support

 

Cheers

Tido

[Tido]

An alternative for isc-dhcp on Page 9,

written from Ashok Aiyar, I put it here because it is not just a fix but an instruction how to replace the isc-dhcp server with dnsmasq.

 

 

I find dnsmasq to be a better option to isc-dhcp-server, because it provides both DNS and DHCP servers in a single package and configuration file.

Also, dnsmasq supports caching, so with a large cache, it provides really fast name resolution after using it for a little while.

 

Here is a dnsmasq setup consistent with the rest of the Armbian BPi R1 configuration given in this very helpful guide.

 

a) Install dnsmasq (apt-get install dnsmasq)

 

b  shutdown dnsmasq (service dnsmasq stop)

 

c) Edit "/etc/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf" with the contents shown below:

 

# interfaces

interface=br0

no-dhcp-interface=eth0.101

#

# DNS configuration

min-port=4096

cache-size=10000

local-ttl=3600

neg-ttl=3600

bogus-priv

domain-needed

expand-hosts

resolv-file=/etc/resolv.conf

#

# DHCP configuration

dhcp-authoritative

dhcp-leasefile=/var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases

dhcp-option=br0,1,255.255.255.0

dhcp-option=br0,3,192.168.9.2

dhcp-option=br0,6,192.168.9.2

dhcp-option=br0,28,192.168.9.255

dhcp-range=br0,192.168.9.150,192.168.9.250,255.255.255.0,72h

# explanation of options:

# option 1 = net mask

# option 3 = gateway

# option 6 = DNS

# option 28 = broadcast address

# assign address range = 150-250

# lease time = 3 day (72h)

d) shutdown isc-dhcp-server (service isc-dhcp-server stop)

 

e) start dnsmasq (service dnsmasq start)

 

f) confirm that IP assignment is working and that you are making use of the caching nameserver within dnsmasq

 

g) If it works, then remove isc-dhcp-server (apt-get remove isc-dhcp-server)

 

 

Thank you Ashok for your contribution 

[Tido]

Hi,

 

There was a broken Link to download the image-file. It is now fixed and you can walk easy through the manual to get the R1 up and running.

 

Cheers
Tido

[dreamer]

Has any of you found a solution to the poor LAN<->WAN network performance in this setup?

(WAN in my case is on a second LAN)

 

I've tried with both legacy and vanilla installs of armbian and get barely 30mbit upload from LAN->WAN

 

Does any one know if the u-boot option mentioned here is implemented in linux-u-boot-lamobo-r1 armbian package?

(or if linux-jessie-root-lamobo-r1 addresses this somewhere)

 

Sorry, couldn't dive deep enough in to armbian sourcecode to find this.

[Igor]

Has any of you found a solution to the poor LAN<->WAN network performance in this setup?

(WAN in my case is on a second LAN)

 

I've tried with both legacy and vanilla installs of armbian and get barely 30mbit upload from LAN->WAN

 

Does any one know if the u-boot option mentioned here is implemented in linux-u-boot-lamobo-r1 armbian package?

(or if linux-jessie-root-lamobo-r1 addresses this somewhere)

 

Sorry, couldn't dive deep enough in to armbian sourcecode to find this.

We have work hard to find out parameters for better performance, but unfortunately this is the best we could squeeze out. It's an low cost device with poor design. Performances does not match what they advertised and if you choose a manufacturers images, you will face even more problems and speed regression.

 

If you find this as a problem, consider getting Clearfog / Turrris omnia router board. There, performances are @ advertised speed.

[dreamer]

But 30mbit routed traffic 'most optimum' .. really?

From board to WAN I get a decent ~300mbit (only tested my internet, which is 200-300mbit depending when/how you measure).

 

30mbit as 'the best we could squeeze out' is really really horrid. Is there any indication what the bottleneck here is?

 

And can you asure me that the u-boot option I mentioned is actually used?

 

I'm not in the market for another device, I just want to use what I already have.

Not looking for 'ultimate performance' or anything, but 30mbit is just absolutely terrible in every single way.

(and I can't believe it's "

")

[dreamer]

Ok, I have now tested with a gbit nic on the LAN side and get around 300mbit which is actually good enough for my purpose!

(since my uplink is 300:30 and I pretty much get max performance now)

 

 

Strange that the netbook  (with 100mbit nic) I tried earlier only gave ~30:30 on speedtest-cli.

 

Seems I have less to complain about then I thought then

[Igor]

But 30mbit routed traffic 'most optimum' .. really?

From board to WAN I get a decent ~300mbit (only tested my internet, which is 200-300mbit depending when/how you measure).

 

I am just pointing out that this boards is shit / low end and we are not the one to blame. You need to either lower your expectation or bought a proper board. There are many topics on problems around this board in our forum and elsewhere.

 

Is this the best this hardware can provide? This is an assumption based on the fact that lot's of people already tried many things and spent waste amount of time on this board. If you can come up with better than this, we will be happy too.

[dreamer]

As mentioned in the previous post I already got 10x the performance as my first measurements (somehow the netbook can't deal with speedtest-cli very well) which is OK and just what I was expecting initially (@ 300mbit).

 

Thank you for all the effort put in to this.

[Jens Bauer]

I've started setting up my Lamobo-R1.

At first, I tried using IPFire, which disappointed me greatly.

Then I found Tido's documents and started reading.

 

At the moment, I do not have my fiber-connection; I expect it to be available in around a month or so (they keep promising ...).

 

So in the meantime, I'm borrowing a "Mobile WiFi" from my brother. This means that I can connect to the internet wirelessly only.

Initially I set up my PowerBook G4 so it acts as a router (using the Network+Sharing preference panels).

But I'd like to have a setup, where I can "detach" my PowerBook.

 

So when I read the manual, I thought that I might just need to switch "en0" with "wlan0" a few places, and it might work.

Can anyone confirm that doing this should work ?

 

(I wish I had bought the ClearFog, but I didn't know about it back then - I might still be able to raise funds for one, though).

[tkaiser]

I've started setting up my Lamobo-R1. At first, I tried using IPFire, which disappointed me greatly.

 

Ouch, that sounds you want to use this weird device as a firewall / router combination? Will never work without adding another Ethernet interface: http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/549-banana-pi-r-as-router/?p=15959

 

Apart from that: Replacing en0 with wlan0 won't work. OS X uses a pretty different network setup/configuration compared with Linux. The onboard WiFi on Lamobo R1 is unusable crap anyway.

 

Edit: Oh, I just realized that you use a PowerBook G4 as 'wireless gateway'. Please be aware that the old OS X versions that can run on this old device in this mode do not provide any effective encryption (WEP max which can be opened within minutes). 

[Jens Bauer]

Ouch, that sounds you want to use this weird device as a firewall / router combination? Will never work without adding another Ethernet interface:http://forum.armbian.com/index.php/topic/549-banana-pi-r-as-router/?p=15959

 

That is certainly a good post! Thank you for pointing me to it.

I think I have one of the popular cheapBay USB-ENET interface somewhere, but I'll have to wait until next month before I can find that adapter (it's around 6 hours travel from here).

 

Apart from that: Replacing en0 with wlan0 won't work. OS X uses a pretty different network setup/configuration compared with Linux. The onboard WiFi on Lamobo R1 is unusable crap anyway.

 

Thank you, I very much appreciate this information. You just saved me weeks of frustrations!

 

... I use Mac OS X 10.5.8, the best it can do seems to be WEP2.

 

So at best, the Lamobo-R1 would be suitable for running a Redis server, which could connect to multiple clients.

I better start saving up for the ClearFog.

[Tido]

I better start saving up for the ClearFog.

 

Beside ClearFog, this is also interesting Turris Omnia https://omnia.turris.cz/en/