A lightweight multi-WAN management daemon for OpenWrt with failover and load balancing capabilities. Designed as a simple alternative to mwan3 for OpenWrt 24.+.

Mini-MWAN monitors multiple WAN interfaces and manages routing based on connectivity status. It supports:

• Failover mode: Primary/backup WAN with automatic failback
• Multi-uplink mode: Load balancing across multiple WAN connections
• Interface monitoring: Ping-based connectivity checks
• Traffic statistics: Per-wan RX/TX byte counters
• Web interface: LuCI integration for easy configuration and monitoring
• Automatic recovery: Interfaces automatically return to service when connectivity is restored

With mwan3 unavailable in OpenWrt 24+, Mini-MWAN provides a simpler, more maintainable solution for basic multi-WAN needs. It's written in pure Lua with minimal dependencies, making it easy to understand, modify, and troubleshoot.

No Firewall Dependencies: Unlike mwan3, Mini-MWAN uses standard Linux kernel routing features (routing metrics and weights) instead of iptables or nftables rules. This means:

• Simple troubleshooting: Check routing with ip route show table main - that's it
• No firewall proficiency required: Works with any firewall backend (fw3, fw4, or none)
• Compatible with all OpenWrt versions: No dependency on specific firewall implementations
• Less complexity: Fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break

• OpenWrt: 24.x or later recommended
  • The daemon may work on 22.03 and 23.05, but the LuCI interface requires verification
  • Dependencies need to be checked for earlier versions
• Architecture: Platform-independent (Lua-based)
• Dependencies:
  • lua
  • libuci-lua
  • luci-lib-nixio
  • lua-cjson
  • luci-base (for web interface)

Download the latest .ipk files from GitHub Releases.

Via SSH:

# Copy packages to your router
scp mini-mwan_*.ipk luci-app-mini-mwan_*.ipk root@192.168.1.1:/tmp/

# SSH into your router
ssh root@192.168.1.1

# Install the packages
# ---- For OpenWrt 25+ ----
apk add --allow-untrusted /tmp/mini-mwan_*.ipk
apk add --allow-untrusted /tmp/luci-app-mini-mwan_*.ipk

# ---- For OpenWrt 24 and earlier ----
# opkg install /tmp/mini-mwan_*.ipk
# opkg install /tmp/luci-app-mini-mwan_*.ipk

Via LuCI Web Interface:

1. Navigate to: System → Software
2. Click "Upload Package..."
3. Upload and install mini-mwan_*.ipk
4. Repeat for luci-app-mini-mwan_*.ipk

See Building the Package section below.

1. Navigate to: Network → Mini-MWAN
2. Configure your WAN interfaces:
   • Enable/disable each interface
   • Set ping target (e.g., 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8)
   • Set metric (lower = higher priority in failover mode)
   • Set weight (for load balancing in multi-uplink mode)
3. Configure global settings:
   • Mode: failover or multi-uplink
   • Check interval: How often to ping (in seconds)
4. Click Save & Apply

# Global settings
uci set mini-mwan.global=global
uci set mini-mwan.global.enabled='1'
uci set mini-mwan.global.mode='failover'
uci set mini-mwan.global.check_interval='30'

# Configure WAN1 (primary)
uci set mini-mwan.wan1=interface
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.enabled='1'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.name='wan'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.ping_target='1.1.1.1'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.ping_count='3'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.ping_timeout='2'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.metric='100'
uci set mini-mwan.wan1.weight='1'

# Configure WAN2 (backup)
uci set mini-mwan.wan2=interface
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.enabled='1'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.name='wan2'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.ping_target='8.8.8.8'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.ping_count='3'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.ping_timeout='2'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.metric='200'
uci set mini-mwan.wan2.weight='1'

# Commit and restart
uci commit mini-mwan
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan restart

Global Settings:

• enabled: Enable/disable the service (0/1)
• mode: Operation mode (failover or multi-uplink)
• check_interval: Ping check interval in seconds (5-3600)

Interface Settings:

• enabled: Enable/disable this interface (0/1)
• name: OpenWrt interface name (e.g., wan, wan2)
• ping_target: IP address to ping for connectivity check
• ping_count: Number of ping attempts (default: 3)
• ping_timeout: Ping timeout in seconds (default: 2)
• metric: Routing metric - lower value = higher priority (default: 100)
• weight: Load balancing weight in multi-uplink mode (default: 1)

# Start service
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan start

# Stop service
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan stop

# Restart service
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan restart

# Check status
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan status

# Enable on boot
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan enable

# Disable on boot
/etc/init.d/mini-mwan disable

Navigate to Network → Mini-MWAN → Status to see:

• Current operation mode
• Interface status (UP/DOWN/Disabled)
• Ping latency
• Traffic statistics (RX/TX bytes)
• Gateway information
• Last check timestamp

Status updates automatically every 5 seconds.

# View status via ubus
ubus call mini-mwan status

# View logs
cat /var/log/mini-mwan.log

# Or via logread
logread | grep mini-mwan

Use Mini-MWAN if you need:

• Simple failover between 2-3 WAN connections
• Basic load balancing
• Easy setup and maintenance
• OpenWrt 24+ support
• No firewall rule complexity

Use mwan3 if you need:

• Complex routing policies (per-application, per-protocol)
• Sticky sessions for specific services
• Advanced traffic rules and policies
• OpenWrt 23.05 or earlier (where mwan3 is available)
• IPv6

This repository follows OpenWrt feed conventions and contains two packages:

mini-mwan/  (repository = feed structure)
├── mini-mwan/                    # Package: Mini-MWAN daemon
│   ├── Makefile                  # Feed-ready Makefile
│   ├── Makefile.devcontainer     # Development Makefile
│   └── files/                    # Daemon source files
├── luci-app-mini-mwan/           # Package: LuCI web interface
│   ├── Makefile                  # Feed-ready Makefile (uses luci.mk)
│   ├── Makefile.devcontainer     # Development Makefile
│   ├── htdocs/                   # JavaScript views
│   ├── root/                     # Menu and ACL config
│   └── po/                       # Translation files (i18n)
└── ... (build infrastructure)

• Docker Desktop (macOS, Windows, or Linux)
• Git

# prerequisites - see SETUP_LOCAL_REPOS.md
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/alex-schwartzman/mini-mwan.git
cd mini-mwan

# Build using Docker
make build

Built packages will be in ./bin/packages/x86_64/*/:

• mini-mwan_1.0.0-r1_all.ipk
• luci-app-mini-mwan_1.0.0-r1_all.ipk

This project includes two build modes:

Uses official Makefile with luci.mk for production-ready packages:

make                # Full build: fetch feeds, register, and build (default)
make build          # Build both packages only (assumes feeds ready)
make feeds-fetch    # Fetch/discover packages from feeds (feeds update)
make feeds-register # Register feeds into build system (feeds install)
make shell          # Open shell in build container
make help           # Show all targets

This mode:

• Uses Makefile (includes ../../luci.mk)
• Compiles .po → .lmo translation files
• Tests the exact structure that will be published to feeds
• Recommended for final testing and building release packages

The LuCI web interface is ready for internationalization via Weblate. Translation files, reduced to my limited knowledge of each language, are included for:

• 🇷🇺 Russian (ru)
• 🇨🇿 Czech (cs)
• 🇫🇷 French (fr)
• 🇪🇸 Spanish (es)
• 🇩🇪 German (de)

All translatable strings in the source code use the _("English text") format, following LuCI conventions. When published to the official feed, luci.mk automatically compiles .po files to .lmo files during build.

Translation files location: luci-app-mini-mwan/po/

To publish to the official OpenWrt feed:

1. Copy package directories:

   # Copy daemon to packages feed
   cp -r mini-mwan/ /path/to/packages/net/mini-mwan/
   
   # Copy LuCI app to luci feed
   cp -r luci-app-mini-mwan/ /path/to/luci/applications/luci-app-mini-mwan/

The po/ directory contains translation templates and boilerplate files ready for Weblate integration.

Mini-MWAN uses standard kernel routing features, so troubleshooting does not require nftables or iptables proficiency. The daemon simply manages default gateway routes based on interface connectivity.

# View current routing table (main table)
ip route show table main

# You should see default routes with different metrics:
# default via 192.168.1.1 dev wan metric 100
# default via 192.168.2.1 dev wan2 metric 200
#
# Lower metric = higher priority
# Traffic uses the route with the lowest metric

# Check logs
logread | grep mini-mwan

# Check UCI configuration
uci show mini-mwan

# Verify dependencies
# ---- For OpenWrt 25+ ----
apk list -I | grep -E 'lua|uci|nixio|cjson'

# ---- For OpenWrt 24 and earlier ----
# opkg list-installed | grep -E 'lua|uci|nixio|cjson'

• Verify interface name matches OpenWrt interface (not device)
• Check that ping target is reachable
• Ensure interface is enabled in both OpenWrt and Mini-MWAN config
• Check status via ubus call mini-mwan status for error messages

# Check which route is being used
ip route get 8.8.8.8

# Verify interface gateways
ip route show | grep default

# Check interface status
ubus call mini-mwan status

• Verify luci-app-mini-mwan is installed
• Restart uhttpd: /etc/init.d/uhttpd restart
• Clear browser cache

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request

GPL-2.0 - See LICENSE file for details.

Alex Schwartzman openwrt@schwartzman.uk

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and changes.