Port switching group on RB1100AH? Or something else?

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi all,

I’m replacing a Draytek 2820 with a new RB1100AH (very exciting) - The Draytek 2820 simply has four ports at the back, which are all switched. Our network is currently flat, same subnet, no VLANS etc.

On the RB1100AH, each port is independent (by design, of course) but for the moment, I just want it to behave like the 2820 - so aside from the WAN1 and WAN2 on ether1 and ether2, I can just plug in to any port.

Is the ‘correct’ way to go about this to just designate ether4-13 as slaves of the ether3 master?
Is there a better way that I’m not perhaps aware of?

I understand that normally one would just use an unmanaged/managed switch for this, but it seems a waste with all the GigE ports already there.

For a frame of reference, the 1100AH will be acting as firewall and gateway/NAT, with dual WAN interfaces.

Many thanks.

Jeremy

2

Switching the ports together is best but you won’t be able to switch 4-13 together, they aren’t in the same switch group. You can do 1-5 and 6-10.

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Switch_Chip_Features

3

Thanks for your reply.

Does this mean I must use a patch cable between ports 5 and 6 (or between any ports in the two switch groups I suppose)?

4

Nope, you can bridge the master ports together.

5

Hi cbrown,

Hmm, I think I have gotten myself thoroughly confused (and a bit frustrated). I could do with a gentle push in the right direction.

Lets say that ether1 and ether2 are my WAN1 and WAN2 interfaces respectively, and that I want the rest of the ports to behave as one big unmanaged switch for now.
Do I therefore want:

ether3 a master in my switch group of ether3-ether5,
ether 6 a master in my switch group of ether6-10,
ether3 and ether6 in the rtsp bridge group bridge-local, with the master MAC from ether3?

Do I then run my DHCP server on ether3 or bridge-local?

Thanks,
J

6

Yep and you will run your DHCP on the bridge. You don’t have to set the master mac for ether3. You could leave it blank and it will select its own.

7

Seems to be working perfectly now, thanks.

Still a bit confused about the conceptual side of these things.
What happens if I add my ether-wan port (ether1) into the switch group, for example?

Very, very impressed with routerOS. Learnt a lot in the last few days..

8

Hi there

Even though this is old, i thought i would chime in. I was a MT noob, and probably still am, but my understanding is of the RB1100AH (not x2) is

Port 1-5 has its own switch chip with wire speed performance
Port 6-10 same thing

BUT port 11 is directly connected to the CPU, so what you want to do it make THAT your WAN port.
And im not too sure about the performance specs of port 12+13, but i would use those as your secondary WAN / management port.

If you want traffic to flow between port 1-10 like a big switch on the same network, create a bridge with port 1 and 6 included in it and assign your subnet address /ip address 192.168.x.0 to hit the bridge.