Configure Your OpenWrt Device

This page will guide you through installing the OpenWISP agents on a device that supports OpenWrt.

Hint

No physical device? No problem! You can try OpenWISP using a Virtual Machine.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have already Installed the OpenWISP Server Application and Configured a Management Network.

Flash OpenWrt on Your Device

If you have a compatible network device, follow the official OpenWrt flashing guide.

If you don't have a physical device, you can install OpenWrt on a VirtualBox Virtual Machine.

Note

Enable SSH access and connect the device or VM to the internet.

When using VirtualBox, both Adapter1 and Adapter2 should use "Adapter Type: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop". Use a different IP address for the OpenWrt device than the one used for the local OpenWISP website (e.g., if your OpenWISP site uses 192.168.56.2, use 192.168.56.3 for the OpenWrt device).

Install the OpenWISP OpenWrt Agents

We recommend installing the latest versions of the OpenWISP packages. Download them onto your device from downloads.openwisp.io and then install them as follows:

cd /tmp

# WARNING: the URL may change over time, so verify the correct URL
# from downloads.openwisp.io

wget https://downloads.openwisp.io/openwisp-config/latest/openwisp-config_1.1.0a-1_all.ipk
wget https://downloads.openwisp.io/openwisp-monitoring/latest/netjson-monitoring_0.2.0a-1_all.ipk
wget https://downloads.openwisp.io/openwisp-monitoring/latest/openwisp-monitoring_0.2.0a-1_all.ipk
opkg install openwisp-config_1.1.0a-1_all.ipk
opkg install netjson-monitoring_0.2.0a-1_all.ipk
opkg install openwisp-monitoring_0.2.0a-1_all.ipk

Note

If wget doesn't work (e.g., SSL issues), you can use curl or alternatively download the packages onto your machine and upload them to your device via scp.

Once the agents are installed on your OpenWrt device, let's ensure they can connect to OpenWISP successfully.

Edit the config file located at /etc/config/openwisp, which should look like the following sample:

# For more information about the config options, please see the README
# or https://github.com/openwisp/openwisp-config#configuration-options

config controller 'http'
    #option url 'https://openwisp2.mynetwork.com'
    #option interval '120'
    #option verify_ssl '1'
    #option shared_secret ''
    #option consistent_key '1'
    #option mac_interface 'eth0'
    #option management_interface 'tun0'
    #option merge_config '1'
    #option test_config '1'
    #option test_script '/usr/sbin/mytest'
    #option hardware_id_script '/usr/sbin/read_hw_id'
    #option hardware_id_key '1'
    option uuid ''
    option key ''
    # curl options
    #option connect_timeout '15'
    #option max_time '30'
    #option capath '/etc/ssl/certs'
    #option cacert '/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt'
    # hooks
    #option pre_reload_hook '/usr/sbin/my_pre_reload_hook'
    #option post_reload_hook '/usr/sbin/my_post_reload_hook'

Uncomment and update the following lines:

  • url: Set this to the hostname of your OpenWISP instance (e.g., if your OpenWISP server is at "192.168.56.2", set the URL to https://192.168.56.2).

  • verify_ssl: Set to '0' if your controller's SSL certificate is self-signed; in production, use a valid SSL certificate to ensure security.

  • shared_secret: Retrieve this from the OpenWISP dashboard in the Organization settings. The list of organizations is available at /admin/openwisp_users/organization/.

  • management_interface: Refer to Setting Up the Management Network.

Hint

For more details on the configuration options, refer to OpenWrt Config Agent Settings.

Note

When testing or developing using the Django development server directly from your computer, make sure the server listens on all interfaces (./manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000) and then point OpenWISP to use your local IP address (e.g. http://192.168.1.34:8000).

Save the file and restart the agent:

/etc/init.d/openwisp_config restart

Note

No changes are needed for the monitoring agent at this stage. The default settings work for most cases, and the agent restarts itself when the config agent is restarted.

For more details on its configuration options, refer to OpenWrt Monitoring Agent Settings.

Your OpenWrt device should now be able to register with OpenWISP.

If not, refer to the following troubleshooting guides:

See also

Compiling Your Own OpenWrt Image

Warning

This section is for advanced users.

Compiling a custom OpenWrt image can save time when configuring new devices. By doing this, you can preinstall the agents and include your configurations (e.g., url and shared_secret) in the default image.

This way, you won't have to configure each new device manually, which is particularly useful if you provision and manage many devices.

Refer to the guide on compiling a custom OpenWrt image for more information.