Question about fastpath for new user

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi all, I like the features and price of the RB3011 and was thinking about using it for my home network which is fairly simple on a gigabit up/down network.

I have read that to achieve these speeds you need fastpath enabled and to enable fast path you need to ensure you don’t use some functionality.

Now, I am a techie type but networks was always the job of others in my work. No doubt I will dive in and learn all the in’s and out’s but before I buy I would like to put my mind at ease :slight_smile:

I will be using five ports directly, one for a wireless access point serving another seven wireless devices which throughput is not a concern. The other machines the speed is important and I would like to get the gigabit speed.

My trouble is not know what you can and cannot do before losing the fastpath option? I assume things like upnp are fine. I have one machine that will act as a server using NAT but it will be basic port forwarding for ip and udp.

Very much a beginner question I know! I am keen to go get one and learn but just a quick sanity check that my simple requirements will not mean I cannot use fastpath. Also, if I do something a bit more complicated, is fastpath a router wide option or per interface? E.g. would fastpath be available to some interfaces while not to others and if so, would the interfaces with fastpath still be able to achieve maximum throughput assuming the interfacenot using fastpath was relatively idle?

Thanks!

2

You should be fine with your setup.
Fastpath used correctly is just a blanket “do nothing more with” rule on expected packets on the firewall, I’ve implemented it (badly) before and been stumped as to why my queues stopped working but then fast track was removing them from the equation.

If it was a corporate network and you wanted/needed the additional control then I’d say go for a CCR that can do the throughput without fast track but you will be fine. The RB3011 is a good router.

3

Thanks Steve, I also managed to find a local person with one and a similar situation to mine. His is going well so I have placed an order and look forward to it.

Thanks.