Flat network - two CRS 328s

RouterOS General
1

Hi,
I’m new to Mikrotik and learning.
I have two CRS328-24P-4S+RM switches.
I’d like for both switches to be part of a flat 192.168.1.1 network to start testing with, where 1 of the switches is connected to my RT-AC68U SOHO internet access point that does DHCP etc. Both switched have unique static IP addresses that fit inside 192.168.1 and are outside of the DHCP range.

I’ve connected sfp-sfpplus1 & 2 on each switch with 10G cables.
I’ve set both switches in bridge mode. I’ve removed sfp-plus1&2 from the bridge, made a bonding and then added the bonding back to the bridge on both. I can see they can communicate although the internal bandwidth testing tools in RouterOS don’t show more than 300Mbps speed, which should be higher I guess.

What doesn’t work right now is that I put one 1G cable into one switch, connect that to the RT-AC68U and then go with a laptop to try to connect to the other switch. The first switch I can see and access, but I cannot reach the second switch through the 10G bonding link.

RouterOS is 6.43.8 (stable) on both CRS328s.

Questions:

  1. The quickset screen shows a mode option for Router and Bridge. I did not set an IP in my router mode page. When I click on the bridge mode page I have a static IP and can reach the switch.
    Does RouterOS remember I want both switches in Bridge mode, and have set that? Why it is always coming up in quickset with the Router mode selected instead of the Bridge mode I configured?
  2. Is the config correct on both switches, where I set it to bridge, have all the interfaces in bridge, but for the two sfp-sfpplus1&2 interfaces, which are in a bonding and then added back to the bridge?
  3. did I miss setting some configuration that will allow me to traverse to the second switch over the 10G bond?
  4. Can this work with one flat network, or will it only work if I do more complex things with VLANs and Firewalls on these switches?

I have orders some books on Mikrotik Router OS so I can learn more. I find the manuals online confusing since they do not seem to have caught up with the screens I can see in 6.43.8, but I guess everyone likes the CLI in networking, where I am more a GUI person :frowning:.

Hope the forum can help a newbie with some simplistic configuration. I promise to learn fast, didn’t buy these CRS’ for shelfware.