LHG LTE18 Passthrough and Firmware updates

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi,

I have an LHG LTE18 which I have managed to reconfigure for LTE passthrough using VLAN support.

The problem I have now is that the LHG has no method of updating its firmware or checking for updates. I think this is because it has no default route for itself as all data is passed back to the firewall instead.

Is it possible to reinstate direct firmware checks on the LHG unit or do I need to manually update and install packages?

2

I have the same potential issue after moving to passthrough setup.

But I’m hoping that I could connect computer directly to LTE18 and use Winbox to connect LTE18 with the MAC address. I haven’t tried yet, but theoretically should be possible.

3

You can setup a connection to the unit using Winbox. But because the LTE modem has been passed back to the firewall behind, all of the traffic wants to go back to the firewall, but since that traffic originates outside of the firewalls wan port it has nowhere to go.
If you look at the routing table in LTE mode it has no default route of 0.0.0.0

So everytime you use the “check for updates” options you get no access to the net. Now router board could be upgraded manually but the LTE modem firmware can only be upgraded over the air.

4

Create a management VLAN with a default route via the firewall for the firmware upgrades.

LTE firmware updates can be done locally as an alternative - https://blog.linitx.com/how-to-update-the-mikrotik-lte-modem-firmware-via-local-file/

5

I have created a Management VLAN back to the firewall, but it is not working correctly as the LHGG can not get access to the internet.

I have set the DNS server address to 8.8.8.8 but the update pages respond with unable to resolve DNS address.

The manual LTE firmware upgrade only seems to work with LTE class 6 modems and not 18.

6

Your management VLAN probably needs to be separate to the one used for LTE passthrough. The latter doesn’t need a default route.

If you have two VLANs (one for passthrough and one for management/upgrades) with the correct default routes (you can put the passthrough one in a VRF to ensure it’s separate) then the problem is your firewall rules.