Recently, we recorded a webinar to explain a design concept frequently used by iparchitechs.com to build and migrate WISP, FISP and Telco networks – separation of network functions. It centers around simplification of roles within an ISP network. It also explores the use of lower-cost commodity network equipment to maximize the service area for a given ISP footprint while meeting key requirements like scale, redundancy and capacity.
The pace of development for MikroTik RouterOS version 7 has definitely sped up in 2022 and we are seeing the results in improved stability and features added.
As of August 31st, 2022, MikroTik moved ROS v7.5rc2 into v7.5 stable
dhcpv6-relay – not being able to relay a PD request from a delegating router for IPv6 has been a limitation of MikroTik routers for a while so getting this fixed has a big impact on scaling MikroTik IPv6 deployments
RTSP helper – The addition of a Real Time Streaming Protocol helper is a great addition to ROSv7 to make NAT traversal for realtime applications (IPTV, SIP and IP cameras) easier.
A good overview of the discussion leading up to the addition of RTSP is here: RTSP Helper – MikroTik
l3hw – fixed hw offloaded NAT – This feature still has some issues as IP ArchiTechs recently filed a bug (SUP-91389) where src-nat traffic that carries an H flag in the connection table will die after 1 hour with a 10G load on the router. Once this feature receives further bug fixes and testing, it’s going to be very useful for high capacity but low cost NAT44 gateways.
lte – this category got a significant amount of development work as there are numerous fixes with many relating to the Chateau devices.
wifiwave2 – There was also a significant amount of development in wifi wave 2 which included notable additions like 802.11k for roaming.
vrrp – added “sync-connection-tracking” compatibility with preemption-mode – this is a long awaited feature that showed up early in ROSv7 but did not have pre-emption mode capabilities. The addition of connection synching between routers positions MikroTik routers much closer to traditional enterprise firewall vendors so that failover between devices can include connections.
One of the common questions asked by MikroTik users is how to go about upgrading from ROSv6 to ROSv7.
Before upgrading, always make sure:
– The config is backed up using ‘export’ and ‘backup’ and the files have been moved off the router – Console access is working (if applicable) – A method to netinstall is available in case the upgrade fails for any reason
Understanding config migration
MikroTik added a helpful chart to the support docs that shows what config is automatically upgraded and what needs to be manually adjusted.
BGP config migration has gotten better in the last few versions of v7. For the most part, it works without intervention but occasionally config will need to be removed and readded or edited.
Note the changes below to the structure of BGP menus and peerings as it has changed.
OSPF has come a long way in RouterOS v7 and is stable as well as interoperable with RouterOSv6. Interface templates have replaced network statements to advertise prefixes and form neighbor adjacencies, so be sure to look in that menu after upgrade to work with network statements in v7. Upgrading to v7 for OSPF normally works without issue or intervention.
MPLS is still a work in progress. Like the other protocols it has gotten better but still may need adjustments since it now includes the AFIs for IPv4 and IPv6 with LDP. Be sure to review the syntax pre and post upgrade as well as the operation state and be prepared to delete and re-add the configuration as needed if MPLS is not functional post upgrade. In general, MPLS and VPLS works between ROSv6 and ROSv7
Routing filters are also a work in progress. Most of the functionality and config upgrade works now when moving to v7 but the context sensitive help and tab complete is still being developed and filled in.
