TechInfoDepot:DD-WRT/What is DD-WRT?
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DD-WRT is a third party developed firmware released under the terms of the GPL for many IEEE 802.11a/b/g/h/n wireless routers based on a Broadcom or Atheros chip reference design.
The firmware is maintained by BrainSlayer and is hosted at dd-wrt.com. The first versions of DD-WRT were based on the Alchemy Firmware from Sveasoft Inc, which is in turn based on the original GPL'd Linksys firmware and a number of other open source projects. DD-WRT was created directly from Sveasoft's software decision to start charging for their firmware, closing the door to open source.
At present DD-WRT is available for free, although a different business model is being drafted by BrainSlayer in order to pay his salary, as this is his full time job.
The new version of DD-WRT (v24) is a completely new project. DD-WRT offers many advanced features not found in the OEM firmwares of these devices, or even the firmware available for purchase from Sveasoft. It is also free of the product activation or tracking found in the Sveasoft firmware.
Note: Beta firmware, by its very nature, will contain bugs. It is not recommended to install beta firmware on large networks that are used for businesses, etc. However, there is now a bugtracker in place for DD-WRT firmware located here: DD-WRT Bugtracker trac.
Among other features not found in the original Linksys firmware, DD-WRT adds the Kai Daemon for the Kai Console Gaming network, WDS wireless bridging/repeating protocol, Radius Authentication for more secure wireless communication, advanced Quality of Service controls for bandwidth allocation, and software support for the SD-Card hardware modification.
What does dd stand for in dd-wrt? Sash: its the german car numberplate code for Dresden.
Requirements
- A computer (Windows, Linux, Mac, whatever)
- A broadband internet connection (DSL, Cable, or similar)
- A Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS router or other supported router.
- The DD-WRT firmware image from The DD-WRT Project
- Follow the instructions under Installation to install the new firmware on your router.
Features
A list of new features, updates and bugfixes can be found in the Changelog. For a detailled view of code diffs see the SVN revisions at the timeline.
Supported & Recommended Devices
For a list of supported devices, check Supported Devices. For a list of recommended devices see Firmware FAQ#Which router should I buy?.
Which V24 build do I flash onto my router
[NOTE] - ALWAYS do a Hard reset or 30/30/30 on the router BEFORE and AFTER flashing a firmware build.
[NOTE] - Do not use Backup/Restore anytime you change the firmware build even from one svn to another. Backup/Restore should only be used when the exact same build (same svn) is reloaded or if a hard reset is done and you wish to restore the configuration on that same build.
Check Supported Devices to see which chipset your router has and whether any special flashing procedures are required.
First check your wl0_corerev by issuing the following command in telnet.
nvram get wl0_corerev
The following Broadcom chipsets require the VINT builds:
- Any older routers using Broadcom 4702/4710 chipsets (125MHz) and have mini-PCI cards wl0_corerev < 5 (such as Belkin F5D7130-4 v1000 - v1112)
- Linksys WRT54G v1
- Linksys WAP54G v1
- Sitecom WL-105b
The following Broadcom chipsets require the normal builds (sometimes referred to as NEWD):
- Asus WL-520GU
- Buffalo WHR-G125
- Linksys WRT54G v8.0-8.2
- Linksys WRT54GS v7.0
- All newer routers using Broadcom 4704, 4785, 5354, 5365 chipsets
The following chipsets can run both the normal (recommended- sometimes referred to as NEWD) and VINT builds.
- Buffalo WHR-HP-G54, WHR-G54S
- Linksys WRT54G v4.0
- Linksys WRT54GL 1.0 & 1.1
- All routers using Broadcom 5352 chipset
- All routers using Broadcom 4712 chipset (BCM4712) with wl0_corerev 5 or higher
The normal build (sometimes referred to as NEWD) uses a new wireless driver where the VINT (vintage build) uses an older one.
File Versions
Different versions of the firmware have different features. The tables below attempt to outline the features of each version but sometimes the features of a specific version are changed. You can check the config files on the SVN server to verify exactly what features are in each specific version for official Brainslayer builds, but the config files for Eko's unofficial versions are not published.
Atheros Based Devices (incl. UBNT)
Atheros based devices typically only have one version of the firmware available per model. The feature set in Atheros builds are generally limited by the amount of flash memory that a unit has. So basically, Atheros 4MB flash units have features somewhat similar to a Broadcom K2.6 mini version while 8MB Atheros flash units have features more similar to a Broadcom K2.6 BIG version, but the features will vary. Atheros builds are still pre-baked and specific to its unit, so features in one unit's version may slightly differ from another unit's version. For this devices you need to buy an activation at the dd-wrt Shop [1].
Broadcom Based Devices
Broadcom based devices have several different versions available to choose from. Consult Note 4 in the Peacock Announcement from the Broadcom forum for information about which versions can run on your hardware.
V24_pre_sp2 K24
This consolidated chart is a WIP. If you spot something wrong or needed to be added, pm me. DarkShadow
Need verification of pound and tcpdump
K2.4 Build Features
| Micro (1) | Micro Plus (2)(7) | Micro Plus ssh (2)(7) | Mini (1) | Mini Hotspot Kaid (2) | Mini USB (2) | USB Generic (1) | Mini USB FTP (2) | Nokaid (1) | Open VPN JFFS Small (2) | STD (1) | STD NoKaid (2) | STD NoKaid No Hotspot NoStor (2) | STD NoKaid USB (2) | VOIP (1) | VPN (1)(3) | Big (2)(4) | Mega (1)(4) | |
| Access Restrictions | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| AnchorFree | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Asterisk | • | |||||||||||||||||
| Bandwidth Monitoring | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Chillispot | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||
| Connection Warning Notifier | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| Dynamic DNS | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| EoIP Support | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| ext2 Support | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| ext3 Support | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||||
| FreeRADIUS Server | • | |||||||||||||||||
| Hotspot System | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||
| HTTP Redirect | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| HTTPS Support for Web Mngt | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| IPv6 (5) | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||
| JFFS2 (6) | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| kaid | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
| MMC/SD Support | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| NoCat | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||
| NTFS Support | ||||||||||||||||||
| OpenVPN | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
| Pound | • | |||||||||||||||||
| PPTP Client/PPTP Server | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| ProFTPd | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||||
| Micro (1) | Micro Plus (2)(7) | Micro Plus ssh (2)(7) | Mini (1) | Mini Hotspot Kaid (2) | Mini USB (2) | USB Generic (1) | Mini USB FTP (2) | Nokaid (1) | Open VPN JFFS Small (2) | STD (1) | STD NoKaid (2) | STD NoKaid No Hotspot NoStor (2) | STD NoKaid USB (2) | VOIP (1) | VPN (1)(3) | Big (2)(4) | Mega (1)(4) | |
| QoS | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| radvd | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| Repeater | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| RFlow | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| Samba/CIFS client | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||
| Security Log | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| SFTP | • | |||||||||||||||||
| SIPatH/Milkfish | • | • | • | |||||||||||||||
| SMTP Redirect | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| SNMP | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| SPI Firewall/Iptables | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Sputnik | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| SSH | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| Syslogd | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| tcpdump | • | • | ||||||||||||||||
| Telnet | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Tx power adjust | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| UPnP | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| USB | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||||||
| VPNC | • | • | ||||||||||||||||
| Wake On LAN | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Wifidog | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||||||
| WPA/WPA2 Per/Ent | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Wiviz | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
Notes
(1)Official dd-wrt builds by Brainslayer
(2)Eko specialized Broadcom Only Builds
(3)Smaller VPN JFFS builds are available for 4MB units: downloads/others/eko
(4)Only on DD-WRT v24 (8MB+ flash required)
(5)Apparently, IPv6-related features DO NOT work by default in DD-WRT v24. See IPv6 on v24.
(6)Not available on VPN-builds for v24sp1 (see prerequisites for JFFS).
(7) CFE Compressor needed to run. See (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=38844).
The files for v24 contain six versions:
| filename | description |
|---|---|
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_asus.trx | Web interface version for flashing. See Flash Your Asus WL-500G Deluxe |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_generic.bin | Generic version for flashing via web interface on all supported devices (including Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS) and for flashing Siemens SE505 with boot tftp on 192.168.2.1 |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_wrt54g.bin | tftp versions for WRT54G. You CAN use this to flash via web interface but do so only AFTER you have done so using the mini version. These versions were just made specifically for TFTPing to those routers. (v5/v6 note: Since the WRT54G/GS v5-v6 uses a modified WAP54Gv3 once made 'linux ready', it will not accept these standard WRT54G/GS firmwares. You must use the 'generic' build for TFTPing to these units). |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_wrt54gs.bin | tftp versions for WRT54GS. You CAN use this to flash via web interface but do so only AFTER you have done so using the mini version. These versions were just made specifically for TFTPing to those routers. |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_wrt54gsv4.bin | tftp versions for WRTGSv4. You CAN use this to flash via web interface but do so only AFTER you have done so using the mini version. These versions were just made specifically for TFTPing to those routers. |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_wrtsl54gs.bin | tftp versions for WRTSL54GS. You CAN use this to flash via web interface but do so only AFTER you have done so using the mini version. These versions were just made specifically for TFTPing to those routers. |
| dd-wrt.v24_<type>_moto.trx | For initial Flash Your Motorola WR850G (Micro and Mini builds ONLY) |
where <type> is a placeholder for mini, std, voip, etc. For upgrading from the original Linksys firmware, please use the mini version first and flash it from the web interface. After this first flash you can then upgrade to any distribution of your choice.
Note eko's builds are for Broadcom only (both K24 and K26).
V24_pre_sp2 K26
WARNING: Do not use the K2.6 builds unless you are certain your device can support it! It will brick it! Forum thread about K26 build supported broadcom based router List
K2.6 Build Features
| Mini | Mini Hotspot | Mini USB | Mini USB NAS | OpenVPN | OpenVPN Small | STD NoKaid Small | STD USB NAS | VOIP | VOIP Small | Big | Mega | (Giga) | |
| Access Restrictions | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| AnchorFree | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | •'" | • |
| Asterisk | |||||||||||||
| Bandwidth Monitoring | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Chillispot | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| Connection Warning Notifier | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Dynamic DNS | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| EoIP Support | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| ext2 Support | • | • | • | ||||||||||
| ext3 Support | • | • | • | ||||||||||
| Hotspot System | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| HTTP Redirect | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| HTTPS Support for Web Management | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| IPv6 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| JFFS2 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| kaid | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| MMC/SD Support | |||||||||||||
| NoCat | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| NTFS Support | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| OpenVPN | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| Pound | |||||||||||||
| PPTP Client / PPTP Server | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| ProFTPd | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| Mini | Mini Hotspot | Mini USB | Mini USB NAS | OpenVPN | OpenVPN Small | STD NoKaid Small | STD USB NAS | VOIP | VOIP Small | Big | Mega | (Giga) | |
| QoS | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| radvd | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| Repeater | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| RFlow | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| Samba/CIFS client | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| Security Log | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| SFTP | • | • | • | • | |||||||||
| SIPatH/Milkfish | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| SMTP Redirect | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| SNMP | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| SPI Firewall/Iptables | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Sputnik | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| SSH | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |
| Syslogd | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| tcpdump | |||||||||||||
| Telnet | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Tx power adjust | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| UPnP | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| USB | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| VPNC | • | • | • | ||||||||||
| Wake On LAN | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Wifidog | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||||
| WPA/WPA2 Per/Ent | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| Wiviz | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • |
Notes
K26 builds do not have MMC/SD support yet.
Special Versions
Currently brainslayer offers a special version of DD-WRT with extended QoS capabilities:
- set maximum bandwidth available per netmask/MAC address (v.24-SP1: even for different vlans)
- set a default rule for any unconfigured netmask/MAC address
This version is always based on the current sources and atm only available for kernel 2.4 based units.
The version is available from the DD-WRT Shop.
Updates for this special firmware version are provided in the special Customer Downloads & Updates forum.
Firmware releases customized to your corporate design are also available.
Intel IXP Based Devices
Ralink Based Devices
Ralink based devices typically only have one version of the firmware available per model.
