Layer 3 – Mikrotik Tips

Aug62020 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

Common mistake on mikrotik configuration: forgot to use netmask

Common mistake on mikrotik configuration: forgot to use netmask. This mistake often made by those who are new to Mikrotik RouterOS. If no mask provided, then RouterOS will automatically assign /32 mask on the IP address, which result the router cannot access anywhere. Solution: always put netmask everytime you configure IP address

Nov82019 by Achmad Mardiansyah2 Comments

Combining 8 ISPs with a single mikrotik device

GPON, layer 2, Layer 3, load balancing, PCC

Hello all, this time, we would like to share our project of combining 8 ISPs with a single Mikrotik device. So, our client already subscribes to internet connections from 8 different ISPs, and want to use them to provide internet connections to his customers. The reasons are simple: For availability purposes. If one connection is down, the customer is still able to connect via other links (there are eight connections in total, you know that, right? :-p) To increase capacity and also sharing traffic load among the connections. These mean let say if each link has a 100 Mbps datarate, having 8 of them will result in 800 Mbps in total. Sounds good, right? so this is what we did: configure ONU modems to be in the bridge-mode. The upstream…

Sep172018 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

FULL-routes vs partial-routes on BGP

BGP, Layer 3, routing table

In the previous articles, we already talk about setting up a BGP session between routers in the form of peering. When a BGP session established, the routers will start to exchange their routing prefix, put them into the main routing table, apply BGP best-path algorithm, and the router will have optimized routes that will be used for FIB (Forwarding Information Base). FULL-routes vs partial-routes on BGP. A question arises, are those routes full or partial? What's the difference between them? Which one should I pick? Ok here it is: FULL-routes a FULL-routes is a whole prefix in the (BGP) world, meaning a collection of all prefix/routes of any AS in the world. in 2018, there are 700 thousand routing entries in FULL-routes, and it keeps growing. It will stop growing…

Jun112018 by Liem AgungNo Comments

Intranet vs Extranet

firewall, internet, IP address, Layer 3, logical topology

Intranet vs Extranet. Untuk beberapa orang mungkin istilah ini sudah tidak asing lagi, tapi bagaimana dengan yang lain? apa sih intranet itu? atau apa itu extranet? seperti apa penerapan intranet itu? apa perbedaan intranet dan extranet? dan lainnya lagi. Pada artikel kali ini saya akan membahas tentang Intranet vs Extranet. Apa itu Intranet? Anda pernah membuat atau menggunakan koneksi jaringan yang dimana hanya bisa diakses ditempat anda terhubung? Atau mungkin anda pernah bertindak sebagai FTP client disuatu organisasi, dimana service FTP tersebut hanya bisa digunakan ketika kita terhubung dengan jaringan di organisasi tersebut? Nah, hal itu termasuk kedalam Intranet. Jadi Intranet itu adalah sebuah jaringan LAN (local area network) yang menggunakan standar komunikasi LAN dan hanya dapat diakses oleh internal saja. (more…)

Jan152018 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

January 2018, MUM Manila, Philipines, GLC Networks Presentation : BGP vs OSPF

BGP, BGP session, internet, ISP, Layer 3, Layer 4, Layer 5, load balancing, Router

This is a presentation from GLCNetworks at Mikrotik User Meeting, Manila, 15 january 2018. We talked about the essential differences from BGP and OSPF routing protocol, which is important for those who plan to operate both. MUM agenda is available here: https://mum.mikrotik.com/2018/PH/info/EN This topic is part of GLC Networks training. For more information, please contact us here or stay tuned with our schedule. Recording is available here: Presentation slide can be accessed here: Mikrotik User Meeting Manila: bgp vs ospf from Achmad Mardiansyah

Jan52018 by Achmad Mardiansyah6 Comments

Why it is a bad idea to block youtube IP address?

IP address, L7-filter, layer 7

[caption id="attachment_1136" align="alignleft" width="251"] no youtube in our office[/caption] so, at my client's office, there was a need to block youtube access during working hours (08:00-17:00). the local administrator there tried to create rules on mikrotik router OS firewall, using layer7-filter, block youtube ip address, and the result is more complaints from user :-( (more…)

Jun222017 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

Do you really need a layer 3 switch? don’t have to be tricked by sales guy…

layer 2, Layer 3, Router, switch

So one day, after attending a Mikrotik User Meeting in Indonesia, i had a chance to have a talk with an employee of a retail company in Bandung. H told story about a network implementation project on his company, where they put Mikrotik as main router to forward traffic between internal networks, and the networks were created with the help of VLAN technology. ok sound cool so far... he then continued confidently "we use a cool layer-3-switch that makes our network stable". "ok" i nodded, "so what did you configure on your fancy layer-3 switch", i replied. and he said, "well, we configure VLANs there, and route the traffic using our mikrotik router" (that means he just configured the layer-3-switch for VLAN only. all traffic between network or inter-VLAN traffic…

Jun192017 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

Routerboard selection guide: switch

layer 2, Layer 3, Router, Routerboard, switch, SWOS

So, many years ago (before 2014), Mikrotik just produced switches for small network. Therefore, when we build a network that requires high-port density (requires many ethernet ports), we use products from other vendors. Mikrotik at that time was used as a routing device. This article will talk about Routerboard selection guide: switch But now in 2017, mikrotik product portfolio has improved, and you already see some switches products on the list. Why ethernet switch? Not token ring or other? Because Ethernet is the technology that people use most. Its cheaper, easy to get and install, and still evolving to support higher and higher data rate. That is why Mikrotik produces ethernet switches. (more…)

May202013 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

How packets travel over network by using Layer 2 and 3 information

layer 2, Layer 3

How packets travel over network by using Layer 2 and 3 information. This is a class-based course about Networking. In this session we were discussing how packets travel on the network using layer 2 (data link) and layer 3 (network) information. We decided to explain the concept using simulation, asking a volunteer from students to become a packet that travels over network. On his front, we put "headers" information (layer 2 and 3) so router can use that information to forward the packet to destination. (more…)

Mar92011 by Achmad MardiansyahNo Comments

Routing protocol vs routed protocol

Layer 3, routed protocol, routing protocol

Routing protocol vs routed protocol. Kebetulan lagi iseng baca artikel rekan saya tentang routing & routed protocol. kliatannya rekan saya ini lagi semangat-semangatnya belajar networking. Sebuah kritik positif terhadap artikel tersebut adalah kurang jelasnya mendefinisikan perbedaan fundamental antara routing protocol & routed protocol. bisa jadi juga karena kendala bahasa (english) dimana akan susah dimengerti jika ditranslate ke indonesian. so, saran saya, kalo belajar IT sebaiknya langsung dari bahasa aslinya. (more…)