Ethernet NIC ports and names changing?

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Hello,

When I first configured an RB532 the PoE port was responding to ether1, like written on the label.. “Eth1/PoE”. link ok, ping ok.
Then, when I installed it on the roof, there was no link (seen from MK OS) and no ping reply on ether1, though the link leds were blinking on the RB and the switch..(I guess because all ethernet interfaces are enabled by default)
So, it took me some time to figure out the ethernet port “eth1/PoE” was now on ether4!

Second RB532 I had to configure, the Eth1/PoE interface was named ether4 from start..

Why is this happening? What if we, or others, have to use each of the 9 ethernet ports..?
We usually must have the RB configured and ready before we place it.

The temporary solution we found is to bridge all ethernet interfaces together, we use only one ethernet port anyway..for now..

2

I personally have never seen such behaviour on a RouterBoard.
This can happen if you swap the physical network interfaces (like changing PCI nics), but this is hard on a RB532… :wink:

Best regards,
Christian Meis

3

Can you confirm your “Eth1/PoE” ports are correctly named “ether1” by MK OS?
Or does it also appears as “ether4”?
Maybe our RB532 is a newer PCB revision? (we bought them just a week ago)

4

Right now I don’t have any RB532s left in the office, but installations at customer locations often do use ether2 for client connections, and those are the ports that are also labeled ether2 on the case…

Best regards,
Christian Meis

5

On the 10 or so I’ve installed ether1 is always the first port w/ poe.

Sam