Hello,
I have a MikroTik L009UiGS-2HaxD router that was fairly easy to setup as a home WiFi router. However, I would like to use it as a WiFi bridge, is that possible? I have a detached garage where I run a few devices on a private LAN. I would like to connect it to the LAN in the rest of the house and the Internet using WiFi.
If it is possible, would I use the web interface or winbox to configure the router? Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Dana
If I get it right you want to have your L009 in the garage as a “client[1]” to an Access Point that is in your home, right?
Is the Access Point also a Mikrotik device or not?
The WiFi standards do not really cover this usage, so different manufactures have worked around with different solutions, if the AP is also Mikrotik, you can use the WiFi radio in the L009 in mode “bridge”, otherwise you will need to use it in “pseudo-bridge”.
Pseudo-bridge is described as “better avoid if possible”:
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/122388518/Wireless+Station+Modes
but there are a number of reports that it works just fine.
The basic configuration is not particularly complex/difficult, here is a reported as working example:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/station-bridge-vs-station-pseudobridge/171926/1
I don’t know if there is a Quickset setup in the L009, in some devices there is the CPE one:
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/328060/Quick+Set
that can be also a base for configuration (remember, that if you use QUickset it should only be run ONCE starting from a device reset with no default configuration, otherwise you are likely to get troubles).
[1] What the good Mikrotik guys call “station”
Hi Jaclaz,
Thanks very much for the response.
If I get it right you want to have your L009 in the garage as a “client[1]” to an Access Point that is in your home, right?
Yes, that is exactly what I want to do. I have this working on a ASUS router in what they call Repeater mode. My main router is also ASUS.
The L009 seems to have Quickset but its in “Homeap” mode. I saw mention of CPE mode, which seemed like what I wanted - the documentation said to select it in the “Quickset pull down menu”. No pull down menu on mine, just Homeap mode. Perhaps if I do a device reset with no configuration the pull down will appear? I will have to try that when I get a chance.
I will follow the other pointers you provided when I get back to this project.
Thanks again,
Dana
No, different devices have (or have not) a number of quicksets (it seems like more recent ones have few of them that’s why I asked if your L009 had it).
It is not a bad thing in an absolute way, as quickset is known to be prone to cause issues, unless used “from clean” (and this piece of info is not clearly conveyed to users).
The example I pointed you to is for a different device (a map lite) but the basics are the same.
You add all ports, including wlan1, to a bridge (minus maybe one ether port, with static address so that you can use it for local connnection/management in case of need)
Set the interface wireless (to mode=station-pseudobridge) and security profiles using your data (you want to select band=2ghz-b/g/n channel-width=20/40mhz-XX for the radio as a first test).
On the L009 you probably have then under wifi instead of wireless due to the new drivers, but settings should be similar.
Then you set a dhcp-client on the bridge and that should be enough. (this might be not strictly needed, buy it might be handy for pinging/testing).
You don’t need/want anything in firewall, so it may be easier to start from blank (reset configuration with no default configuration loaded) and just add these settings (as opposed to loading default configuration and then disable or delete everything you don’t need.
Hi,
L009UiGS-2HaxD is my first Mikrotik router and I’m a bit lost in all the configuration parameters. I purchased it to replace a router (configured in bridge mode) that had to be rebooted every couple of days. I selected this model essentially because it has 8 ethernet connectors and I’m often short of them, at least when there are only 4.
My configuration is that I have a main router in my basement provided by the ISP, and the Mikrotik is on the 2nd floor (opposite side of the house) to which various devices of that part of the house are connected (wireless), including a printer (eth8). This Mikrotik is wire-connected to the main router (eth1, not wirelessly as the OP). I need it to be a bridge so the printer can be accessed from computers connected to the main router, but also for HomeAssistant (installed on a RasPi located in the basement because it has to control some Zigbee stuff there) to access some devices connected (wirelessly) to the Mikrotik.
It’s a bit unfortunate that this router doesn’t come with the “quick setup” to put it in bridge mode. I tried several things that basically revolving around what has been suggested in this thread:
But when I do that, the WIFI doesn’t show up anymore. Plus I don’t understand how the ethernet ports would be in bridge mode in that case. At least the computer connected to aMikrotik ethernet port keeps it’s 192..168.88.* address.
I also went through the documentation but it usually applies to other models.
What should be the steps to convert this router into a bridge for all ports and WFI?
Thanks.
François
Let’s clear the requisites/intended setup first.
The network/internet is connected by wire to the Mikrotik and you want some devices (printer as an example) to connect wirelessly to it.
If this is the case, you want the Mikrotik to be an Access Point, not a client (station).
Even if it is technically incorrect, because a bridge is a bridge, the previous posts are about main network/internet “coming from” WiFi and being distributed to wired interfaces, while your use case is the reverse with main network/internet “coming from” wired interfaces and being distributed to WiFI.
See:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/apbridge-mode-vs-station-mode/131651/1
So you want the radio to be in “ap-bridge” or “ap” mode (in v7) and it will “create” a WiFi network to which the printer and other devices will connect to.
The documentation is often confusing, also because things changed from v6 (wireless menu/section) and v7 (wifi menu/section).
Thanks for your reply. I’ll try to explain better. My configuration is as follow:
Outside world
|
ISP router (10.0.0.1) — devices (10.0.0., including a RasPi with HomeAssistant and some “intelligent” devices)
|
Mikrotik L009UiGS in AP mode (10.0.0.18) — devices (192.168.88., including a printer and other “intelligent” devices)
Because of that, devices that are connected directly to the ISP router (with a 10.0.0.* address) cannot access the devices connected to the Mikrotik router because the 192.168.88.* cannot be resolved from there. If I could configure the Mikrotik as a bridge, then devices connected to it would be assigned a 10.0.0.* address directly from the ISP router, and devices connected to the ISP router would be able to access the devices connected to the Mikrotik router. At least, that’s how things were working with the old router connected in bridge mode.
i.e.:
|
Mikrotik L009UiGS in bridge mode (10.0.0.18) — devices (10.0.0.* addresses assigned by the ISP router, , including the printer and other “intelligent” devices)
And I cannot simply ask the L009UiGS to assign 10.0.0.*, it has to be assigned by the ISP router so it knows where/how to root things.
Thanks for your help!
Well, your ISP router should be running a DHCP server, which you want to keep as “authoritative”.
You can set the Mikrotik as an AP bridge (i.e with all intefaces, including the Radio/Wi-Fi into a single bridge, with only one ether interface - advised - kept out of the bridge for emergency access).
You can then put on the bridge the DHCP client.
This is the simpler solution, but - in my little experience - and it depends on the devices involved - it may create issues in some cases.
Personally I would limit the IP pool of the ISP router and assign a static IP address to the Mikrotik router (please read as switch) bridge.
So:
On ISP router:
set DHCP server to an IP pool of (say) 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.249 netmask 255.255.255.0
On the Mikrotik:
FIRST thing:
Make sure that ether1 (which is usually WAN) is marked as LAN
Assign to it the address 192.168.1.251/24
Before making any other change, make sure that you can access the L0009 when connected directly to ether1 with Winbox via MAC, AND via browser/Webfig after having assigned temporarily to your PC address 192.168.1.252 netmask 255.255.255.0.
THEN:
Create a bridge and add to it interfaces wlan1 and ether2-ether8.
Make sure that the bridge is marked as LAN.
Assign to it the address 192.168.1.250/24
Configure the wlan1 as “ap”, add SSID, authentication, wi-fi password. (unless you really need it, avoid using WPA3 as it has reported to be giving issues with many devices).
That’s basically it.
Strictly speaking both the bridge and ether1 should not need an IP address assigned, as through Winbox you should always be able to access both via MAC, but this way you can use also Webfig or SSH.
Since you are using a bridge, you can disable or remove anything in /ip firewall.
If you get to this point, we can later discuss of further needs/requirements, in any case once you have a basic configuration (fully working or not) follow this post:
http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/forum-rules/173010/1
and provide your (anonymized) configuration, so that it can be used as a base reference for fixing possible mistakes/fine tuning,/etc.