OpenWrt Multi-WAN Router
The study has historically suffered from unreliable network connectivity. To solve this, I set up an OpenWrt router that combines two WAN paths — WiFi and a dedicated Powerline link back to the server room — with automatic failover between them.
Multi-WAN setup
- WAN 1 — WiFi (802.11ac) — higher throughput but less stable, used for bulk transfers and general traffic.
- WAN 2 — Powerline (Ethernet backhaul) — lower throughput but rock-solid, carries latency-sensitive traffic like VPN tunnels and Teams calls.
- Failover — both paths are active simultaneously; if one drops, traffic automatically shifts to the remaining path. This provides redundancy in both directions.
Traffic is routed intelligently based on connection quality: VPN and real-time communication prefer the stable Powerline path, while everything else benefits from the higher WiFi throughput when available.
Network role
- Connected to a dedicated Zyxel GS1200-8HP managed switch in the study.
- Serves as the gateway for all study devices, including retro-computing hardware and the development VM.
- Provides advanced VLAN segmentation beyond what the main Fritz!Box offers.
IoT VLAN 189
A dedicated, isolated network segment for IoT devices, running on a separate small WiFi access point on a different channel. This keeps smart home hardware — including the balcony sensors and light controller — off the main network while maintaining full connectivity to the homelab services.
- VLAN ID: 189
- Purpose: Isolate IoT/smart home devices from general network traffic.
- Connected devices: Balcony sensor unit (balcony light controller, sensors), smart plugs, and other IoT hardware.
- Routing: Traffic from VLAN 189 is routed to the homelab Docker hosts for MQTT, InfluxDB, and monitoring, but cannot initiate connections to the main network.
Monitoring
The OpenWrt router is integrated into the Prometheus monitoring stack via SNMP exporter, providing visibility into WAN uptime, throughput, and connection quality across both paths.