Home User RouterOS Consultancy - Uber for MikroTik

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi,

I wonder if anyone on the forum offers consultancy/help for home users trying to get to grips with their RouterOS device? Kind of like a ride-share scheme - quick help to get where you want to go without a big fee.

I love routeros but I don’t have the time or patience to learn everything about it. If you can help I would like to do some or all of the following:

  • Setup an end-point VPN for my iPhone, Android and PCs to connect to my network externally. Optionally, allowing VPN but not for internal access - only to dial back into the UK internet. I’ve tried this several times and never got it to work properly.
    Enable ipv6
    General setup and housekeeping check
    Sending certain traffic down selected VPN routes, e.g., directing Hulu traffic to a US VPN.

Darren.

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https://mikrotik.com/consultants

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Anav, that’s the list of professional taxi drivers which charge starting fee, by minute, by mile and by coffee. OP is after friendly uber drivers who will do everything for a beer. Yup, that’s you.

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Yes, but if he wants to get to his destination before a vaccine for covid is released the OP should really get your advice - price: A bottle of good Canadian Rye Whiskey.

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In other words, OP is asking for a normal help, which all 3 of us provide here on regular basis for free.. (at least I didn’t get paid yet)

@dazzaling69: don’t make a big deal out of it. Just ask for specific things because nobody will give you a full-blown lecture on all networking stuff. If you have a clearly defined target and you tried to get there using online manuals and you failed… just describe it the best way possible, explain what you want to do, what you did, what did not work etc… and someone may offer an advice. It is kinda common around here :slight_smile:

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I almost got paid once … a spanish guy was so thankfull for my advice he wanted to pay me. He was mentioning paypal which I don’t use, so instead he made a donation to MSF.

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Thank you for the replies to my question.

The problem I find with written advice is that, no matter how clear, it always seems to fall down in a way that I can’t troubleshoot or fix. VPN access frustrates the hell out of me! I was wondering whether I could allow someone access to my network (through windows remote help, for example) to dive into the router and a) get it working and b) teach me what you’ve done.

That was my thought. If there is anyone who could help in that way let me know.

Alternatively, if there is some written advice about how to do any of the things I’m trying to do can anyone point me in the right direction?

Darren.

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I could allow someone access to my network (through windows remote help, for example) to dive into the router and a) get it working and b) teach me what you’ve done.

Don’t do that ever!!! Please…

You have quit heavy/varying needs and what you need is not a UBER driver but a personal chauffeur :slight_smile: (aka: full time admin)
Your requirements…:

Setup an end-point VPN for my iPhone, Android and PCs to connect to my network externally.

indeed this is not the simplest thing to do, but also not impossible. I would say if you don’t be able to set this up, you won;t understand
what I guy is doing to your router and home PC, and that is REALLY dangerous…

Optionally, allowing VPN but not for internal access - only to dial back into the UK internet. I’ve tried this several times and never got it to work properly.

This can be achieved with any VPN provider and no Mtik device needed. Just intall Cyberghost or NordVPN on your phone and select country you want…

Enable ipv6

Most people don’t want IPV6 at home (my case), why do you need/want this?

General setup and housekeeping check

This is simple and forum can help you. If you use default Firewall most things are good!

Sending certain traffic down selected VPN routes, e.g., directing Hulu traffic to a US VPN.

This again is nothing simple. traffic changes, IP addresses, DNS names do change as well (its all the cloud).
You can have this set up once by a person and it might work, but you might find soon it won;t work anymore.
or the method you use is no more the right solution. (example: sent all traffic from that PC to the US, but now you want to print to your local network printer)
So for sure soon you will need to change something…
[/quote]

If you really need all this maybe best is you do a training like MTCNA. Then you know what you do, and you can in the future admin your network.
In your above lines, there are tons of decisions to be taken and various approaches can make this happen.

If you are serious about this, there is no way around paying a “real driver” or learning it yourself.

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I get the security issue. I understand enough to know how things basically work, but I’d like some live tuition while helping me fix things. By giving access via, .e.g., zoom, I’d be able to make the changes myself whilst someone is watching. This is therefore safe - no direct access needed - and would really help with the tricky business of setting up VPNs.

Anyone able to help?

Darren.

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Hi. Does anyone have any suggestions about help setting up my router?

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First with whatever connection you have now download winbox

The default setup of the router is a good starting place.
That means a network is setup on etheport2. Just plug you pc into etherport 2 and you should gain access (assuming PC is set to get assigned a dhcp).
No internet connection is required yet.
What kind of ethernet connection then will determine the next steps.
With winbox you will start that up and it should detect your router and you should be able to access it now.
THis will be your tool to configure the wan, some basic security steps and just look around.

Once you have reached this step, give us a shout and let us know what your ISP connection is…
(if i have time i dont mind doing a quick skype session, once you have a wan connection.

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Thank you for your suggestion. I’m more advanced than this (with both config and understanding of what’s going on), but I’m sure there are tips and tricks I could pick up with even the basics, given the power of RouterOS.

The next step for me is a working VPN that all my devices can connect to. I find the iPhone to be the most picky, but this is really a VERY fiddly and non-user-friendly thing, IMHO. I’d like to be able to set it up so that I can have two classes of connection - one where I can access my home network and WAN and one where I can access just the WAN and NOT the home network. Fault-finding seems hard to do, and I’m pretty much guessing when I’m trying to fix it. I have, occasionally, got it working, only for something to break for some unknown reason.

How can I do that?

PS. Any reason why I shouldn’t allow ipv6 on my LAN and WAN? I thought it was the future :slight_smile:

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IPv6 is the future, it’s just that there are still many people who like the past, fear the future, or both. :slight_smile: