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Is MAC address data lost when clearing NVRAM?

DougB628
Apprentice

Is MAC address data lost when clearing NVRAM?

So I just recently started my "journey" with the Orbi system, but I have lots of experience with various routers. One of the features I really like about the Orbi system is how it lets you assign a model, name, and device type to each device connected to your network. I've got 40-ish devices so far, and I find this feature amazingly useful for quickly knowing what a particular device is. But it has taken me several days to slowly updates lots of devices, and it occurred to me - what will happen if I have to clear NVRAM as part of a firmware upgrade? Will I lose not only my router configuration data, but also all of this manually entered device information too? I understand why some firmware upgrades require clearing NVRAM, considering that some old configuration parameters may get restructured in later firmware, making the old data incompatible with the new. But this manually entered device information has nothing to do with the configuration and operation of my router - it should be able to be preserved from one firmware upgrade to the next.

 

Does anyone have any info on this? Even if I had to take some extra steps to export this info before upgrading, and manually import it back in, I'd be OK with that. I don't think this is possible right now, at least from what I've seen in the admin UI.

Model: RBR50| Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi (Router Only)
Message 1 of 3
ekhalil
Master

Re: Is MAC address data lost when clearing NVRAM?

This data (model, name, and device type) is part of the backed-up NVRAM data once committed:

Parameters like:

orbi_dev_name12=8C:2D:AA:45:F4:F9 Home iMac

orbi_dev_name_ntgr29=8C:2D:AA:45:F4:F9 13 Apple iMac

will be preserved after a SW upgrade.

You can keep a copy of all system parameters and configuration data in the GUI as follows:

Screenshot 2019-01-06 at 03.24.53.png

 

Message 2 of 3

Re: Is MAC address data lost when clearing NVRAM?

A simple test of what is and isn't retained would be to backup the configuration, then reset the router.

 

Then look at the areas that you want saved. If they are still there, great. If not, drat.

 

Then restore the backup of your settings. That will recover your saved data.

 

Remember, there are times when it pays to reset the thing and not to restore the settings. That's why many experienced users take screen shots of key settings for future reference.

 

 

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