Chapter 1.1 – Introduction
About MikroTik
MikroTik is a company founded in 1996 in Riga, capital of Latvia, created to develop routers and wireless systems for Internet Service Providers (ISP – Internet Service Provider).
In 1997 MikroTik created the RouterOS software system that provides stability, control and flexibility for all types of data and routing interfaces.
In 2002 MikroTik decided to manufacture its own hardware and thus the RouterBOARD was born. MikroTik has distributors in many parts of the world, and customers probably in almost every country on the planet.
What is RouterOS?
MikroTik RouterOS is the operating system of the MikroTik RouterBOARD hardware, which has the necessary features for an ISP: Firewall, Router, MPLS, VPN, Wireless, HotSpot, Quality of Service (QoS), etc.
RouterOS is a standalone operating system based on the Linux kernel v3.3.5 that provides all the features in a quick and easy installation, with an easy-to-use interface.
RouterOS can be installed on PCs and other x86-compatible hardware devices, such as embedded cards and miniITX systems. RouterOS supports multi-core and multi-CPU computers. It also supports Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP: Symmetric MultiProcessing). It can run on the latest Intel motherboards and take advantage of new multicore CPUs.
Symmetric Multiprocessing
It is a Software and Hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared memory, having access to all I/O (input and output) devices, and which are controlled by a single instance of the OS (Operating System). , in which all processors are treated equally, without any being reserved for special purposes.
In the case of multi-core processors, the SMP architecture is applied to the cores, treating them as separate processors.
RouterOS will format the partition and become the device's default operating system. Supports a wide variety of network interfaces, including 10 Gigabit Ethernet cards, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ad wireless cards, and 3G and 4G modems.
Release dates of RouterOS versions
- v6 – May 2013
- v5 – Mar 2010
- v4 – Oct 2009
- v3 – Jan 2008
RouterOS Feature
Hardware Support
- Compatible with i386 architecture
- Supports SMP (multi-core and multi-CPU)
- Requires a minimum of 32MB of RAM (recognizes up to a maximum of 2GB, except on Cloud Core devices, where there is no maximum)
- Supports IDE, SATA, USB and flash storage media, with a minimum of 64MB of space. Includes HDDs, CF and SD cards, and SDD disks
- Network cards supported by the Linux kernel v3.3.5 (PCI, PCI-X)
- Switch Chip Configuration Support:
- Compatibility of different types of interfaces and devices. There is a compatibility list fed by users in the following link:
Installation
- Netinstall: Network-based installation from a PXE or EtherBoot enabled network card.
- Netinstall: Installing to a secondary drive mounted on Windows
- CD-based installation
Configuration
- MAC based access for initial configuration.
- WinBox - Standalone graphical configuration (GUI) tools for Windows.
- WebFig: Advanced web-based configuration interface
- Powerful Command Line-based configuration interface (CLI) with integrated scripting capabilities, accessible via local terminal, serial console, telnet and ssh.
- API: A way to create your own configurations and monitoring applications.
Backup and Restore
- Binary configuration backup
- Export and Import Settings in readable text format
Firewall
- Filtering based on packet state (Statefull filtering)
- Source NAT and Destination NAT.
- NAT helpers (h323, pptp, quake3, sip, ftp, irc, tftp).
- Internal marks: mark-connection, mark-routing and mark-packet
- Filtering based on IP address and address range, port and port range, IP protocol, DSCP and many more.
- Address lists (Address lists).
- Custom Layer 7 filters.
- Support for IPv6.
- PCC: connection-based classifier, used in load balancing configurations.
Routing
- Static Routing
- Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF).
- Policy based routing
- Routing interface.
- ECMP routing.
- IPv4 dynamic routing protocols: RIP v1/v2, OSPFv2, BGP v4
- IPv6 dynamic routing protocols: RIPng, OSPFv3, BGP
- Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD).
MPLS
- Static Label bindings for IPv4
- Label Distribution protocol for IPv4.
- RSVP Traffic Engineering Tunnels.
- MP-BGP VPLS-based auto-discovery and signaling
- MP-BGP based on MPLS IP VPN
- In the following link you can review the complete list of MPLS features
VPN
- IPsec: tunnel and transport mode, certificate or PSK, AH and ESP security protocols. Hardware encryption support on RouterBOARD 1000.
- Point to point Tunneling (OpenVPN, PPTP, PPPoE, L2TP, SSTP)
- Advanced PPP Features (MLPPP, BCP)
- Support for simple tunnels (IPIP, EoIP) IPv4 and IPv6
- Support for 6to4 tunnel (IPv6 over IPv4 network)
- VLAN: Support for IEEE802.1q Virtual LAN, Support Q-in-Q.
- MPLS-based VPNs.
wireless
- IEEE802.11a/b/g Wireless Client and Access Point
- Full support for IEEE802.11n
- Nstreme and Nstreme2 proprietary protocols
- NV2 protocol.
- Wireless Distribution System (WDS)
- Virtual AP
- WEP, WPA, WPA2
- Access List Control
- Wireless client roaming
- WMM.
- HWMP+ Wireless MESH protocol.
- MME wireless routing protocol.
DHCP
- DHCP server per interface
- DHCP client and relay
- Static and dynamic DHCP IP address leasing
- RADIUS support
- DHCP Custom Options
- DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation (DHCPv6-PD)
- DHCPv6 client
HotSpot
- Plug-n-Play access to the network
- Authentication of local network clients
- User Accounting
- RADIUS Support for Authentication and Accounting
QoS
- Hierarchical Token Bucket (HTB) QoS system with CIR, MIR, burst and priority support.
- Simple Queues for basic QoS implementation for a quick and simple solution
- Equitable delivery of bandwidth to the client dynamically (PCQ).
proxy
- Proxy server for HTTP caching
- HTTP Transparent Proxy
- SOCKS protocol support.
- Static DNS entries.
- Support for caching on a separate drive
- Parent Proxy Support
- Access Control List
- Caching list
Tools
- Ping, traceroute
- Bandwidth test, ping flood
- Packet sniffer, torch
- Telnet, ssh
- Email and SMS sending tools
- Automated Script Execution Tools
CALEA. - File Fetch Tool.
- Advanced traffic generator
Additional characteristics
- Samba support.
- Support for OpenFlow.
- Bridging: spanning tree protocol (STP, RSTP), bridge firewall and MAC natting.
- Dynamic DNS Update Tool
- NTP client/server and synchronization with GPS system.
- Support for VRRP v2 and v3.
- SNMP
- M3P: MikroTik Packet Packer Protocol for Wireless and Ethernet links
- MNDP: MikroTik neighbor discovery protocol, supports CDP (Cisco discovery protocol)
- RADIUS Authentication and Accounting
- TFTP server.
- Asynchronous: serial PPP dial-in/dial-out, dial on demand
- ISDN: dial-in/dial-out, support for 128K bundle, Cisco HDLC, x75i, x75ui, x75bui line protocols, dial on demand
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