Hello experts,
I’m using TPLINK CPE610 antenna to connect to a far way SSID and then connect the CPE610 to the mikrotik router and then from the mikrotik to several access points.
Currently my mikrotik settings is simple: no dhcp client or server or nothing, just one bridge and added ports. The internet is connected but sometimes the antenna lose the SSID.
Now I wanna connect another internet source to mikrotik router ether2 and make this secondary source jump over only when the primary fails and jump out when the primary returns.
Please assist me to achieve this in plan
Note: the second source is from the same network but different SSID (same gateway ip 192.168.10.1).
There are hundreds of postings on this “dual wan” or “dual isp” setup on Mikrotik to make it work in a solid way.
The “Search” function on this new forum will guide you into the right direction.
I’m aware of the benefits of the search option as I have benefited from it a lot.
But my scenario is a bit different and unique because both ISPs have the same gateway ip, this may cause a conflict or something, not to mention that I need to get this done without dhcp client or server in order to get the IPs from the source for each connected device. Because these SSIDs are public but each user needs a voucher to access the internet.
Meaning, I need to achieve this while maintaining that every user gets an original ip from main source to avoid sharing the same voucher among users. Currently with one ISP, this is achieved successfully, but would it be achieved too after adding the secondary source?
As it was suggested. Use search function for DUAL WAN and you will receives tons of examples more or less similar to your configuration.
Do small staps.
Connect the second WAN
Configure manual switching to test if you can manually and intentionally switch traffic from one to another interface with no loss of services
As a matter of fact this seems different from many (if not all) failover tutorials around because of two things:
the Mikrotik is setup as simple bridge
the two gateways have the same IP
In my situation I briefly explored the possibility of such a setup here:
(looong topic, skip over it as it is unlikely thay it contain anything useful in your case)
At the time I also did another (crazy) experiment in GNS3 setting the Mikrotik as a bridge with three ports added to it (Lan/ISP1/ISP2) BUT disabling the ether port connected to the secondary ISP router/modem.
Then made a Netwatch script checking internet connectivity that would, in case of lost connection, disable the ether port connected to primary ISP router/modem and enable the one connected to the secondary ISP (same IP’s for both routers/modems).
To be able to check if the connectivity of ISP1 returned, I had another port (out of the bridge) also connected to the ISP1 modem/router, which was the one on which the Netwatch script was attached.
It did work, but it became complex with three ISPs (in my case) and it was “sticky” due to arp (cache) so I had to add a “gratuitous arp” script to update the arp table when the switch between ISP’s happened.
Maybe something can be built on the ashes of that.
Otherwise, all failover methods you will find will be based on the Mikrotik acting as router (i.e. natting, which in your case will likely become a double nat), if changing the router settings is not a problem, there are many ways, including the VRF based one (because of the same ISP modem/router IP) in the mentioned thread.
The thing is -as I understand it- the mikrotik will depend on pinging 8.8.8.8 to check internet status on ether1, but because my internet source is (a voucher-captive-page-thing) the mikrotik MAY always sense that ether1 doesn’t have internet access because the voucher still not entered to access the internet, hence can’t ping 8.8.8.8, this is what I mean when I said my scenario is unique.
I know some would say “try first and then see what happens” but I need to know it’s doable before buying the equipment and stuff.
That depends on how the captive portal (or whatever) is setup.
Ping (ICMP) towards some sites and a certain number of internet http sites may be left open/free because this (or that) OS may use them to detect the presence of the captive portal.
Hard to say what could work in your case.