upgrade openwrt kernel and reinstall all packages manual

gistfile1.md

upgrade the system

Make sure you can ssh to the router by root and type in the command:

cd /tmp
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-mw4530r-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
sysupgrade -v openwrt-ar71xx-generic-mw4530r-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

wait for the router to reboot and then ssh to it again. the password for root should keep the same.

Reference: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/generic.sysupgrade

install USB support

Some packages need to be installed

opkg update
opkg install kmod-usb-storage block-mount kmod-fs-ext4

Reference: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/usb.storage

Mount / at USB for larger space

opkg update
opkg install e2fsprogs
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1  
mkdir -p /mnt/sda1
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
tar -C /overlay -cvf - . | tar -C /mnt/sda1 -xf -
vi /etc/config/fstab

and make sure your fstab config file looks like

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /etc/config/fstab 
config 'global'
	option	anon_swap	'0'
	option	anon_mount	'0'
	option	auto_swap	'1'
	option	auto_mount	'1'
	option	delay_root	'5'
	option	check_fs	'0'

config mount
	option target /overlay
	option device /dev/sda1
	option fstype ext4
	option options rw,sync
	option enabled 1
	option enabled_fsck 0

you can run df to check, /dev/sda1 should be mounted on /overlay like

root@OpenWrt:~# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                 7730640     21676   7293220   0% /
/dev/root                 1792      1792         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    63184       948     62236   2% /tmp
/dev/sda1              7730640     21676   7293220   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay     7730640     21676   7293220   0% /
tmpfs                      512         0       512   0% /dev

Reference: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot

install LUCI web UI

opkg update
opkg install luci
/etc/init.d/uhttpd enable
/etc/init.d/uhttpd start

Reference: http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/luci.essentials

remote ssh security

• disable root password access (via luci UI)
• add ssh public key (via luci UI)
• change ssh port to something other than the default port
• create a new user for ssh access. NEVER use root for remote access

opkg update
opkg install shadow-useradd
useradd nicolaus
passwd nicolaus
mkdir /home/nicolaus
chown nicolaus.nicolaus /home/nicolaus
vi /etc/passwd
   nicolaus:x:1000:1000:nicolaus:/home/nicolaus:/bin/ash

Open firewall port for remote ssh access.

add this to your /etc/config/firewall

config 'rule'
        option 'target' 'ACCEPT'
        option '_name' 'ssh'
        option 'src' 'wan'
        option 'proto' 'tcp'
        option 'dest_port' '22'

change 22 to your ssh port.

Reference:

• http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/secure.access
• https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=31951