DD-WRT API

About:

• Minimalistic API library to communicate with a network router powered by DD-WRT firmware.
• The Repo contains:
  • the API
  • a console app that uses this API.

The console app in action

Table of Contents

• API's Features
• Setup
• Usage
  • List of commands
• Implementation details
• History
• How I used this project?
• What is a DD-WRT router?
• Links
• Similar projects

API Features

• List WiFi devices
• List Active devices
• List All devices (Wired, WiFi, Active, and no longer active)
• Reboot the router

Setup

Before using please modify the app.config file:

• Username and Password
• RouterUrl (router's IP needs to be prefixed with http:// such as http://192.168.0.1)
• DisplayDuration in format Days.HH:mm:ss = the duration the app will run
• WaitTimeSeconds = [when reading data] the time between two subsequent data readings from router.

Usage

The command line app accepts zero, one or four parameters:

• 0 (zero) parameters:
  If configured correctly, the app will display all users in a useful format (see below commandName all) and will loop until the end of DisplayDuration with pauses of WaitTimeSeconds after each loop.

• 1 parameter: commandName
  This is a convenient way to run the app by just passing the command, assuming that the rest of parameters in config file are correct

• 4 parameters: commandName, userName, password, routerUrl
  The app will execute the command and will use the userName, password and routerUrl passed as arguments, so you can avoid exposing them in the config file.

List of commands:

• wifi - display WiFi users
• active - display active users (including WiFi)
• lan - display all users
• all - combines the commands above to display all users and to indicate which ones are Active and/or WiFi
• reboot - reboots the router.

Implementation details

• Works only with routers flashed with DD-WRT Firmware
• Tested with DD-WRT version 3.0 but it may work with other versions.
• Communicates with the router via its HTML Control Interface
  Note: DD-WRT does not offer a WebAPI REST service, but anyone may extend this API and create one.
• Targets on purpose .NET 4.0 so that it can run even on older Windows XP machines

[I also wrote a reboot app that controls the router via Telnet and it seems more efficient]

History

This project stems from my necessity to evaluate the effectiveness of a High-Gain antenna that I acquired to enhance the WiFi signal for an outdoor IP WebCam.
Despite the installation of the new antenna, there was no noticeable improvement.
Consequently, I sought to obtain quantitative data to either confirm or refute my observations.

Regrettably, DD-WRT's Control Panel proved to be challenging when deciphering device names and IPs (refer to the image below):

DD-WRT UI - Wireless Nodes - difficult to figure-out the devices

Given that the DD-WRT UI didn't align with my requirements, I made this project to allow me to measure and record my IP WebCam's signal values for a few hours, at every 20 seconds.

I hope that this app will be useful to others as well.

How I used this project?

• As mentioned above, I utilized the project to measure and record WiFi signal values into a CSV file for extended durations (two hours) and at specific intervals (every 20 seconds).
  
• My measurements indicated that the 11 dBi High-Gain Antenna I tested improved the WiFi signal by 2 dBi (58% higher).
• Unfortunately, switching back-and-forth the old and new antennas during measurements damaged the connector and rendered my camera useless :(
  
• Update 2024-01-20: After three years of being stored in a drawer, I have finally fixed the camera by replacing the antenna connector. It is operational once again! :)
  [To access the dome's screws and antenna connector point, I had to drill a few holes inside the camera's case.]
  
  

What is a DD-WRT router?

DD-WRT is Linux-based firmware for wireless routers and access points. Originally designed for the Linksys WRT54G series, it now runs on a wide variety of models. ... The remainder of the name was taken from the Linksys WRT54G model router, a home router popular in 2002–2004."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD-WRT

Links

Miles Burton - DD-WRT Web-services
My selection of DD-WRT commands
ChangeLog

Similar projects:

DD-WRT calling web service from Arduino ESP8266 (18 Oct.2018)