DHCP-Client stuck at searching in latest v6.49.x

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi,
I have installed a few Mikrotik devices last year, some of them had worked with out fail. But others, well it is another story.
Will tell a tiny story (that repeated twice), I went to a client site, with a ISP Cisco device placed for corporate service, bring Mikrotik RB3011 with latest firmware v6.47.x, installed it, configured it with WAN Static Public IP, all working great. Some months forward the device fails somehow, bring replacement, same model with now the new firrmware v6.49.x, installed it, upload configuration of the damaged device, and now DHCP-Client stuck at searching… I have placed a EdgeRouter for the moment until I figure this out, no problem at all.

I’m scratching my head, with previous firmware was working without fail, and now, this happened..

Same story happened to me with another client, bring new device with new firmware v6.49.x, installed it (have the same ISP Cisco device for corporate service), start configuring it, put the WAN Static Public IP and device stuck at DHCP-Client status searching… I did not finish the installation with Mikrotik, I placed a EdgeRouter ER-4, and all started working great.

This mean, I’m doing something wrong, or there is more to it.

Just to give you an idea, both Cisco devices were subnettted like this:

Range: 192.168.0.184 - 192.168.0.191
Gateway: 192.168.0.190 not 192.168.0.184
Broadcast: 192.168.0.191

They changed the gateway in both Cisco.

Configuration of both it is/was the default one, with minor changes. Nothing extraordinary. One weird thing it is, that the ping leaves Mikrotik to 8.8.8.8 without a problem, in both scenarios.

I have read two forum posts where this happened, DHCP Snooping it is turned off from bridge and I changed the name of the device, in case Cisco did not like it the name Mikrotik.

2

How did you “upload configuration of the damaged device” ?
That is always a bit tricky on MikroTik devices.
It is not allowed to restore a .backup file from another device!
It is possible to “/import” a “/export” (.rsc) from another device but it is always a tedious operation because it often needs edits to work around import problems (where the import stops halfway).

MikroTik really need to work on a procedure to easily transfer configuration from one device to another.

3

Thank you for your answer,

I did not knew that you could not transfer configuration files, that sucks huge time, I can not wrap my head around this, so the Mikrotik devs are not installers or integrators? this is a very much needed indeed. SMH.

But to answer your question, when I detected that the configuration file might be the problem, I factory reset the device and just reconfigure like the first device, I did redo everything by hand, and still got the error. in the process I gain knowledge about the .rsc files, and from damaged devices, just took the DHCP-Server static IP.

The configuration files and .rsc files, were never stopped half way, very weird.

4

The DHCP client is bound to which interface? If you have to configure static IP address on RB’s WAN interface, then most probably there’s not DHCP server in WAN subnet. So just disable DHCP client.

5

Hi @mkx, thank you for joining in, both devices had the factory settings, so WAN was/it is eth1, bridge it starts from eth2 to eth10. This port it is not part of the bridge.

Cisco devices do not have DHCP server, you have to assign their public IP by hand to any direct connected devices. Right now I’m not on site, just gathering knowledge when I go there, I can test several things. Will deactivate DHCP client.

Edit:

Listening to your advice, I checked and @sindy in another forum replied this:

If so, you can disable (and later remove) the /ip dhcp-client row with interface=ether1 completely, as each of these rows is attached to a particular interface to which an IP address can be attached.

Or, if you need to be able to manage the modem, you can keep the /ip dhcp-client row active, but set add-default-route, use-peer-dns, and use-peer-ntp all to no (so it won’t break your routing any more, and the only thing left will be to make sure that the modem doesn’t use a subnet you use elsewhere in your network).

So will test this out.

6

Ok, I assumed you required a DHCP client and it was always working, but not on the new router.
Now it turns out you do not need or want the DHCP client. You can remove it.
When you install an “enterprise grade” MikroTik device it comes with empty configuration (the “home” devices get a default NAT router configuration) but when it does not get an IP address within a minute or so it automatically adds a DHCP client to the first ethernet port in an attempt to help you access it.
(so you do not need MAC-level access but can access it via the IP obtained by the DHCP client)

Of course in case there is no DHCP server on the network you connect it to, that is not going to be helpful.
But once you have imported the config that includes the static IP you put on the outside interface (from that subnet routed by the Cisco) you can remove that DHCP client entry.

7

Ok, I assumed you required a DHCP client and it was always working, but not on the new router.

Yes, the first time I configure it with the static public IP, the DHCP-Client was showing bound, so I believe all was working great.

Now it turns out you do not need or want the DHCP client. You can remove it.

I do not know what I need, since there is not a clarification in the documentation that I read, that said, if you put an static WAN IP, you must disable DHCP-Client (if you use logic this implies no DHCP-client it is needed, but bright humans like me, need a little bit more clarification), so just want to know, how to make my router work. So far, will now disable DHCP-Client, and see if the routing start working, following @sindy and @mkx advices.

When you install an “enterprise grade” MikroTik device it comes with empty configuration (the “home” devices get a default NAT router configuration) but when it does not get an IP address within a minute or so it automatically adds a DHCP client to the first ethernet port in an attempt to help you access it.
(so you do not need MAC-level access but can access it via the IP obtained by the DHCP client)

Of course in case there is no DHCP server on the network you connect it to, that is not going to be helpful.
But once you have imported the config that includes the static IP you put on the outside interface (from that subnet routed by the Cisco) you can remove that DHCP client entry.

Will follow your advice, and disable the DHCP-Client entirely.

8

I do not know what I need, since there is not a clarification in the documentation that I read, that said, if you put an static WAN IP, you must disable DHCP-Client (if you use logic this implies no DHCP-client it is needed, but bright humans like me, need a little bit more clarification)

Well, RouterOS is for network professionals who would know what a DHCP client is for, and what static addressing means. It will not hold your hand and tell you “now that you set a static address, you may want to remove your DHCP client. and did you think about adding a static default route first? And configuring DNS resolver addresses? Maybe some NTP servers?”.
When you expect that kind of hints, RouterOS may not be for you.