Hello guys! I just want to know if it’s possible to install the netem package on a MikroTik router. I want to use it to add latency to my WAN connection and i bet it is also useful in other scenarios.
Is this possible? If not, does MikroTik have any plans to include this package in a future update? I believe i seen this around a few times already, people asking for this specific package…
No. Only packages signed by Mikrotik can be installed directly on the device. Only Mikrotik know what their plans for future functionality is. If you have a model capable of supporting containers you can add functionality that way.
RouterOS isn’t Linux, so no Linux packages.
But +1 for “netem” — although it more a queue type, than “package”. Mikrotik did add fq_codel and CAKE qdisc’s recent. And another /queue/type with netem’s “delay” be nice option in /queue.
Since they don’t support it, I think a container is only Mikrotik-based solution for WAN emulation. But it is suboptimal since you have to route via the container interface which add a lot of unknown in any testing (e.g. high CPU/mem & packets NOT following the same flow without emulation).
You can also put in a feature request at https://help.mikrotik.com/servicedesk/servicedesk/customer/portal/1/create/6 for netem support & see what Mikrotik says.
I just meant it’s not a Linux distro like Ubuntu or OpenWRT. e.g. RouterOS has no SysV/BSD userland tools and uses only the Linux kernel, with their own services.
Point was it’s netem is good feature request… since only Mikrotik can add things to the OS.
I am not sure how to put that request although i believe it is not very hard for devs to do it, netem has been around since forever and it sure seems to me that more and more people are searching for devices that can add artificial latency for a lot of purposes, in my case it’s for online gaming. Can you put in the request please? I’m just a new member here i believe they most likely take you into consideration much more than a nobody like me. Btw i did use fq_codel on opnsense and the results were not as good as using ipfw pipes and rules, i also find fq_codel much more complicated to setup. Also i would like to add that currently there is a market for this adding latency thing as more and more people seem to understand how lagcompensation works in online games, specially when it’s badly implemented like in Counter-Strike 2.