Mike's Meanderings

A Better Router

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Did you know that you can do more with your router? It is possible to have very granular control over everything that this all-important machine does. You just have to unlock it.

I installed DD-WRT onto my Linksys WRT1900ACS router.

What is DD-WRT? It's Linux-based firmware for wireless routers and access points. It is the software that enables your router to work, just open-sourced — meaning it can be much more powerful and flexible than what comes prepackaged on your store-bought router. The tradeoff is that it is more convoluted to set up and much easier to break.

Steps to Follow

  1. Download the required software for my Linksys WRT1900ACS
  2. Flash the DD-WRT image to my router
  3. Set up DD-WRT
  4. Set up Pi-Hole to serve as DNS server

1. Download the Required Software

I went to the DD-WRT website and searched for my router. I own a Linksys WRT1900ACS Version 2, which led me to the DD-WRT router database entry. I also needed to download an older version of the Linksys firmware to install DD-WRT. It took some searching, but eventually I found what I was looking for at userdrivers.com. This was required due to changes in Linksys's more recent firmware — I could not just upload the new software directly. Fortunately, Linksys makes the flashing process easy. After the router rebooted, the firmware update was complete.

2. Flash the DD-WRT Image

The first part is downgrading the current firmware. Using the 1.1.8 version obtained from userdrivers.com, I logged into my router at 192.168.1.1 and navigated to the "Connectivity" tab. From there I selected "Firmware Update", selected the appropriate file, clicked "Start" followed by "Yes", and let the process run.

Then I could load DD-WRT. I followed the exact same steps, but this time selected the DD-WRT firmware instead of the Linksys firmware. After the router rebooted, DD-WRT was running!

3. Set Up DD-WRT

This is the long and tedious part. Many aspects of a router are automatically configured in most commercial models — in DD-WRT, you define everything. Here's a brief rundown of the basic setup.

Setup Tab

Setting Value
Router Name Router Name
Domain Name URL pointed at my IP address
DHCP Type DHCP Server
DHCP Server Enable
Start IP Address 192.168.1.XXX
Static DNS 1 1.1.1.1
Static DNS 2 1.0.0.1
NTP Client Enable
Time Zone US/Central

Click "Save" then "Apply Changes".

Wireless Tab

Since this is a dual-band router, it broadcasts on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Each needs to be set up separately — settings are the same for both except where noted.

Setting Value
Wireless Mode AP
Wireless Network Mode AC-Only (5 GHz) / Mixed (2.4 GHz)
SSID The Banana Stand 5GHz (5 GHz) / The Banana Stand (2.4 GHz)

Click "Save" then "Apply Changes", then switch to the "Wireless Security" tab.

Setting Value
Security Mode WPA
Network Authentication WPA2 Personal
WPA Algorithms CCMP-128 (AES)
WPA Shared Key WiFi Password

Click "Save" then "Apply Changes". The router is now ready for normal use!

4. Set Up Pi-Hole as DNS Server

With the old Linksys firmware, all I had to do was enter the Pi-Hole's IP address as a static DNS server. DD-WRT is a bit trickier, but I did get it working.

  1. Open the "Services" tab
  2. Select the nested "Services" tab
  3. Scroll down to the DNSmasq settings and enable as needed
  4. Under "Additional DNSmasq Options" enter: dhcp-option=6,192.168.1.101
  5. Scroll to the bottom and click "Apply Settings" — your Pi-Hole is now the DNS server for the router

To ensure that devices with a hardcoded DNS address (looking at you, Android phones and Chromecasts) also use the Pi-Hole, go to Administration Tab > Commands and enter the following, then click "Run Commands" and "Save Startup".

Commands:

iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 192.168.1.101:53
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 192.168.1.101:53
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp -s 192.168.1.101:53 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp -s 192.168.1.101:53 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT

Firewall:

# Keep network on Pi-Hole
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 192.168.1.101:53
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to 192.168.1.101:53
# Punch DNS hole for Pi-Hole
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p tcp -s 192.168.1.101:53 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -t nat -I PREROUTING -i br0 -p udp -s 192.168.1.101:53 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT

Once set up, log into your Pi-Hole settings and go to the "Conditional Forwarding" section. Enter the IP address of the router and the domain name assigned to the router. This enables the Pi-Hole to resolve DNS queries by hostname instead of by IP address.

Takeaways and Future Thoughts

  • Unexpected problems: Complicated setup with so-so documentation
  • Future concerns: Future-proofing and updates will be fun
  • Future enhancements: I expect much tinkering to ensue — I'm not even sure of all the capabilities yet

This project was almost completely done following the DD-WRT documentation and forums.

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