Mikrotik Router OS basic commands

Basic Examples

Example

Assume you need to configure the MikroTik router for the following network setup:

In the current example we use two networks:

• The local LAN with network address 192.168.0.0 and 24-bit netmask: 255.255.255.0. The router's address is 192.168.0.254 in this network
• The ISP's network with address 10.0.0.0 and 24-bit netmask 255.255.255.0. The router's address is 10.0.0.217 in this network

The addresses can be added and viewed using the following commands:

[admin@MikroTik] ip address> add address 10.0.0.217/24 interface Public
[admin@MikroTik] ip address> add address 192.168.0.254/24 interface Local
[admin@MikroTik] ip address> print
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic
  #   ADDRESS            NETWORK         BROADCAST       INTERFACE
  0   10.0.0.217/24      10.0.0.217      10.0.0.255      Public
  1   192.168.0.254/24   192.168.0.0     192.168.0.255   Local
[admin@MikroTik] ip address>

Here, the network mask has been specified in the value of the address argument. Alternatively, the argument 'netmask' could have been used with the value '255.255.255.0'. The network and broadcast addresses were not specified in the input since they could be calculated automatically.
Please note that the addresses assigned to different interfaces of the router should belong to different networks.

Viewing Routes

You can see two dynamic (D) and connected (C) routes, which have been added automatically when the addresses were added in the example above:

[admin@MikroTik] ip route> print
Flags:  A - active, X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic, C - connect, 
 S - static, r - rip, b - bgp, o - ospf, d - dynamic
    #    DST-ADDRESS        G GATEWAY         DISTANCE INTERFACE
    0 ADC 192.168.0.0/24     r 0.0.0.0         0        Local
    1 ADC 10.0.0.0/24        r 0.0.0.0         0        Public
[admin@MikroTik] ip route> print detail
Flags: A - active, X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic, C - connect,
       S - static, r - rip, b - bgp, o - ospf, d - dynamic
 0 ADC dst-address=192.168.0.0/24 prefsrc=192.168.0.254 interface=Local scope=10

 1 ADC dst-address=10.0.0.0/24 prefsrc=10.0.0.217 interface=Public scope=10
 
[admin@MikroTik] ip route>

These routes show, that IP packets with destination to 10.0.0.0/24 would be sent through the interface Public, whereas IP packets with destination to 192.168.0.0/24 would be sent through the interface Local. However, you need to specify where the router should forward packets, which have destination other than networks connected directly to the router.

Adding Default Routes

In the following example the default route (destination 0.0.0.0 (any), netmask 0.0.0.0 (any)) will be added. In this case it is the ISP's gateway 10.0.0.1, which can be reached through the interface Public

[admin@MikroTik] ip route> add gateway=10.0.0.1
[admin@MikroTik] ip route> print
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic, J - rejected,
C - connect, S - static, R - rip, O - ospf, B - bgp
    #     DST-ADDRESS        G GATEWAY         DISTANCE INTERFACE
    0 ADC 192.168.0.0/24                              Local
    1 ADC 10.0.0.0/24                                Public
    2 A S 0.0.0.0/0          r 10.0.0.1         0      Public
[admin@MikroTik] ip route>

Here, the default route is listed under #2. As we see, the gateway 10.0.0.1 can be reached through the interface 'Public'. If the gateway was specified incorrectly, the value for the argument 'interface' would be unknown.
Notes
You cannot add two routes to the same destination, i.e., destination-address/netmask! It applies to the default routes as well. Instead, you can enter multiple gateways for one destination. For more information on IP routes, please read the Routes, Equal Cost Multipath Routing, Policy Routing manual.
If you have added an unwanted static route accidentally, use the remove command to delete the unneeded one. You will not be able to delete dynamic (DC) routes. They are added automatically and represent routes to the networks the router connected directly.

Testing the Network Connectivity

From now on, the /ping command can be used to test the network connectivity on both interfaces. You can reach any host on both connected networks from the router.
How the /ping command works:

[admin@MikroTik] ip route> /ping 10.0.0.4
10.0.0.4 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=7 ms
10.0.0.4 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=5 ms
10.0.0.4 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=5 ms
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 5/5.6/7 ms
[admin@MikroTik] ip route>
[admin@MikroTik] ip route> /ping 192.168.0.1
192.168.0.1 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=1 ms
192.168.0.1 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=1 ms
192.168.0.1 64 byte ping: ttl=255 time=1 ms
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1/1.0/1 ms
[admin@MikroTik] ip route>

The workstation and the laptop can reach (ping) the router at its local address 192.168.0.254, If the router's address 192.168.0.254 is specified as the default gateway in the TCP/IP configuration of both the workstation and the laptop, then you should be able to ping the router:

C:\>ping 192.168.0.254
Reply from 192.168.0.254: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=253
Reply from 192.168.0.254: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=253
Reply from 192.168.0.254: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=253

C:\>ping 10.0.0.217
Reply from 10.0.0.217: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=253
Reply from 10.0.0.217: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=253
Reply from 10.0.0.217: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=253

C:\>ping 10.0.0.4
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Notes
You cannot access anything beyond the router (network 10.0.0.0/24 and the Internet), unless you do the one of the following:

• Use source network address translation (masquerading) on the MikroTik router to 'hide' your private LAN 192.168.0.0/24 (see the information below), or
• Add a static route on the ISP's gateway 10.0.0.1, which specifies the host 10.0.0.217 as the gateway to network 192.168.0.0/24. Then all hosts on the ISP's network, including the server, will be able to communicate with the hosts on the LAN

To set up routing, it is required that you have some knowledge of configuring TCP/IP networks. We strongly recommend that you obtain more knowledge, if you have difficulties configuring your network setups.

Advanced Configuration Tasks

Description

Next will be discussed situation with 'hiding' the private LAN 192.168.0.0/24 'behind' one address 10.0.0.217 given to you by the ISP.

Application Example with Masquerading

If you want to 'hide' the private LAN 192.168.0.0/24 'behind' one address 10.0.0.217 given to you by the ISP, you should use the source network address translation (masquerading) feature of the MikroTik router. Masquerading is useful, if you want to access the ISP's network and the Internet appearing as all requests coming from the host 10.0.0.217 of the ISP's network. The masquerading will change the source IP address and port of the packets originated from the network 192.168.0.0/24 to the address 10.0.0.217 of the router when the packet is routed through it.
Masquerading conserves the number of global IP addresses required and it lets the whole network use a single IP address in its communication with the world.
To use masquerading, a source NAT rule with action 'masquerade' should be added to the firewall configuration:

[admin@MikroTik] ip firewall nat> add chain=srcnat action=masquerade out-interface=Public
[admin@MikroTik] ip firewall nat> print
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic
 0   chain=srcnat out-interface=Public action=masquerade

Notes
Please consult Network Address Translation for more information on masquerading.

Example with Bandwidth Management

Assume you want to limit the bandwidth to 128kbps on downloads and 64kbps on uploads for all hosts on the LAN. Bandwidth limitation is done by applying queues for outgoing interfaces regarding the traffic flow. It is enough to add a single queue at the MikroTik router:

[admin@MikroTik] queue simple> add max-limit=64000/128000 interface=Local
[admin@MikroTik] queue simple> print
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic
 0    name="queue1" target-address=0.0.0.0/0 dst-address=0.0.0.0/0
      interface=Local queue=default/default priority=8 limit-at=0/0
      max-limit=64000/128000 total-queue=default
[admin@MikroTik] queue simple>

Leave all other parameters as set by default. The limit is approximately 128kbps going to the LAN (download) and 64kbps leaving the client's LAN (upload).

Example with NAT

Assume we have moved the server in our previous examples from the public network to our local one:

The server's address is now 192.168.0.4, and we are running web server on it that listens to the TCP port 80. We want to make it accessible from the Internet at address:port 10.0.0.217:80. This can be done by means of Static Network Address translation (NAT) at the MikroTik Router. The Public address:port 10.0.0.217:80 will be translated to the Local address:port 192.168.0.4:80. One destination NAT rule is required for translating the destination address and port:

[admin@MikroTik] ip firewall nat> add chain=dstnat action=dst-nat protocol=tcp 

dst-address=10.0.0.217/32 dst-port=80 to-addresses=192.168.0.4
[admin@MikroTik] ip firewall nat> pr
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic
 0   chain=dstnat dst-address=10.0.0.217/32 protocol=tcp dst-port=80
     action=dst-nat to-addresses=192.168.0.4 to-ports=0-65535