hi,

I'm playing around with v3 and came across a 'Master Port' drop down box and a 'Switch' line (non-editable) on each Ethernet interface (General Tab). Currently, 'Master Port' is set to 'none' and 'Switch' displays a '0' on all my Ethernet interfaces.

What are they and what are they used for?

It means that you can turn your RB into switch. For example,
/interface ethernet
set ether7 master-port=ether6
set ether8 master-port=ether6

Now ports ether6,ether7 and ether8 will act as a switch.

It means that you can turn your RB into switch. For example,
/interface ethernet
set ether7 master-port=ether6
set ether8 master-port=ether6

Now ports ether6,ether7 and ether8 will act as a switch.

isn't that the same as using Bridge?
create Bridge1
Add Ether6, Ether7, Ether8 to the bridge, same result

Why have 2 different ways of doing the same thing?

a switch function will be way faster than a bridge function.

a switch function will be way faster than a bridge function.

by general definition, a Bridge is usually software based and only has 2 ports, where a Switch is generally hardware based (using ASIC) and having more then 2 ports. so if you add more then 2 ports into a bridge, it already is acting as a switch.

so what is really the difference between adding 3 ethernet ports into a bridge and setting a master interface? is it not accomplishing exactly the same thing, since there is no ASIC hardware performing the bridgeing, it's the going through the same CPU as everything else, is there any benifit at all?

First of all bridge with three or more ports is not a switch.
With this new switch support each port can transfer up to 97Mbits per second. You won't be able to do that by bridging ports on RB 100 series boards.
I believe this new feature was added because chipset used in RB192 has integrated switch support.

First of all bridge with three or more ports is not a switch.

correct, it would be similiar to a hub, not a switch.

First of all bridge with three or more ports is not a switch.
With this new switch support each port can transfer up to 97Mbits per second. You won't be able to do that by bridging ports on RB 100 series boards.
I believe this new feature was added because chipset used in RB192 has integrated switch support.

Ok, so is this Switch feature supported on ALL RBs? or just on RB192 and other RBs with special switch support?

In other words, what will happen if I use this feature on an RB532? and on a PC with Intel NIC Cards? Will it just 'emulate' the switch support hardware by doing a bridge interface internally?

On RB532 or other boards that don't support switch this feature is simply not availabe. So you are not even allowed to set it.
It is supported on RB192 and also I believe it was supported on 153.

There seems confusion about terminology:
Check
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_bridge
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_switch

Which includes the line "Network switch is a marketing term rather than a technical one".
At a basic level, Bridging = switching, when operating at Layer 2, i.e. directing packets on basis of MAC address. Vendors blur the lines with marketing talk, e.g. "multilayer switches" etc because of course switching can also be done at higher layers (3 or above), but Bridging refers to Layer 2 operations alone.

The point here is that bridging in RouterOS is normally done in software, which implies CPU limitation on throughput.
MT have cleverly enabled the hardware-switch (bridging) features in the Infineon processors on the RB1xx boards. Neatly, this enables a very low cost board with a 175MHz CPU to put more than 90Mbps net throughput, without loading the CPU.
The caveat of course, is that doesn't apply to wireless throughput, which traffic has to go through drivers, and hence the CPU.
Neat, and I expedct MT will support future chipsets with inbuilt switching/routing hardware or hardware acceleration.

Hope that's of help

Regards

Each switch have inner database where it registers client MAC address and switch port relation (where to send data to get to this MAC address). In this case they both are switches

In software bridge situation this database is in the software, so it is possible to add additional features like bridge and IP firewall on this traffic (use CPU, ram of the board)

in hardware-bridge situation this database is stored on the switch-chip itself, so there are no need to pass traffic to the software or to the CPU, it gets redirected automatically.

BTW when you specify a master interface for specific interface, this specific interface will stop working as a interface

Exactly -

So the "which/why should I use each" decision would look something like:

RouterOS Software Bridge
- can control traffic flow
- can monitor flow
- can do L2 and L3 functions like firewall
.. but uses CPU power to do it

Hardware Bridge Feature
- faster throughput
- low CPU load
.. but can't do any sophisticated processing or monitoring

Hello,
I have RB150 running RouterOS 3.20 with almost default setting. Port ether2 is set as master of ether3-ether5. It is working, but I have noticed that all LEDs on ether2-ether5 are blinking the same. Is this normal? Does it mean that all packets from any port are sent to all ports? If so, this is not how switch should behave. Anything I can do about it except making a SW bridge?

Thank You

Hello,
I have RB150 running RouterOS 3.20 with almost default setting. Port ether2 is set as master of ether3-ether5. It is working, but I have noticed that all LEDs on ether2-ether5 are blinking the same. Is this normal? Does it mean that all packets from any port are sent to all ports? If so, this is not how switch should behave. Anything I can do about it except making a SW bridge?

Thank You

Yes - it is broadcasts, ether generated by clients, or by the hardware-switch itself (in case it is unable to locake dst-mac-address in his local database)

All, perhaps this is an old thread, but it seems there is a nice discussion of this in the newer MikroTik documentation here: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Sw ... p_Features

The relevant text is reproduced here:

"Switching feature allows wire speed traffic passing among a group of ports, like the ports were a regular ethernet switch. You configure this feature by setting a "master-port" property to one ore more ports in /interface ethernet menu. A 'master' port will be the port through which the RouterOS will communicate to all ports in the group. Interfaces for which the 'master' port is specified become inactive - no traffic is received on them and no traffic can be sent out. "