Backup and Restore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
NOTE: I no longer use DD-WRT and am unable to answer any questions about it.
I’ve been a big advocate of DD-WRT. It really works great and offers a lot of features in comparison to the stock router firmwares. You can review my other posts on the subject or head over to http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index for more information. Installation is not for the in-experienced, but the outcome is well worth the effort.
Over the last 18 months I have experienced only 2 problems with DD-WRT. Both times it was the same issue. Both times it happened after saving / applying a change. The result was complete reset of the configuration to defaults. Both times I did not have a current backup, though I did have old ones, of the configuration and was forced to rebuild it. The problem as I see it occurs only if multiple saves or applies are performed in succession, not necessarily rapid, but back to back.
Though I regularly backup all my tablets and computers, the other devices were off my radar. I’ve now added, at least, the routers and wireless access points to period backup schedules. In the case of DD-WRT it takes several hours to get the configuration set up (for me), mainly because of the DHCP reservations, local DNS, QOS configuration, local HTTP hosting, to name but a few.
Todays lesson: Backup *ALL* your devices that have a backup ability. In the case of DD-WRT, it only takes a minute to login to the GUI and do the backup. Here is how:
- Login to the routers web interface.
- Select the Administration tab.
- Select the Backup tab.
- Click the Backup button. The file “nvrambak.ini” will be saved to the location your browser is set to save files (in my case, the desktop).
- Move the file to a backup location such as a NAS drive, etc.
Unfinished Bitness 