It is not possible since MikroTIk was designed with the Linux kernel, so the assignment of IP addresses is always done from back to front.
The way MikroTik RouterOS, based on the Linux kernel, assigns IP addresses via DHCP may not always follow a strict ascending pattern from the lowest to the highest address within the specified range. In many DHCP systems, including those based on Linux, the assignment of IP addresses may not be purely sequential from start to end of the defined address range.
In MikroTik RouterOS, and more broadly in Linux-based DHCP systems, the DHCP server tends to assign IP addresses starting at the end of the defined address range, moving towards the beginning of the range. This means that if you have an address range of 192.168.88.2-192.168.88.253
, the DHCP server might start assigning addresses near the end of the range (e.g. .253
, .252
, etc.) and continue down.
The logic behind the method of assigning IP addresses may vary and is not necessarily guaranteed to follow this pattern in all cases or configurations. Factors such as IP address renewal, specific DHCP client requests (if a client requests an address it previously had, for example), and IP address reservations can affect the order in which addresses are assigned.
While you cannot inherently change the IP allocation method to follow strict ascending order through settings in RouterOS, you can manage address range and allocations through specific reservations if you want more control over which addresses IPs are assigned to specific devices.
Unfortunately, for applications where strict control over the order of IP address assignment within a range is needed, the limitations of the DHCP server in RouterOS and other Linux-based systems may not allow direct fine-tuning of this behavior. Best practice generally involves managing expectations and designing the network with the default behavior of the DHCP server in mind.
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