RB1100AHx2 upgrade 6.32.4 to 6.46.4

RouterOS Beginner Basics
1

Hi all,

I’m planning to upgrade RB1100AHx2 from 6.32.4 (quite old release) to latest version 6.46.4.
I was thinking to upgrade first to 6.45.8 (long-term) and then 6.46.4 (stable).

Would you recommend that or there is a better step by step solution?

Thanks in advance…

2

As also mentioned in the installer: remember to make a backup before you start upgrading. But you probably already know that…

Anything special in your configuration? Why is it still on the current version?

3

It strongly depends on how complex your config is and how much work you want to spend to save problems.
My recommendation would be:

  1. export and backup the current config and get the files to an external device (PC)
  2. netinstall the router to 6.46.4, enable IPv6 when you use it, then reset it to defaults
  3. manually configure the device with the export file at hand to remind you what you need to configure.

When possible, do new config using the user interface, do not blindly paste old config into the new version.
You can use paste for specific sections that may be long and laborious to re-do, like address lists or static route tables.

There have been many major changes in this version gap, e.g. the move from ethernet master-port to bridge+hw accell,
much improved default firewall, and restructuring of the IPsec config.
Trying to upgrade it will probably cost you the same amount of time to debug and clean it up as it would cost to
start from defaults, but this of course depends on how complex your config is.

4

thanks for quick reply

@erlinden
I always do backup :slight_smile:
reason why the are still on current ver. (6.34.2) is that this company doesn’t have any maintainer for the last few years. From time to time we do some minor changes/fixes if needed.
they don’t have maintenance contract with us either.

@erlinden & pe1chl
configuration has:
1 internet provider with 1 static public IP
1 LACP connection to L2 switch
about 25 Filter rule (inpout/forward)
about 28 NAT rules (SNAT/DNAT)
3 IPsec VPN tunnels,site-to-site
static routing
DHCP server for 2 networks

no master/slave ports used, just 2 Bridges.

5

I’m not really sure if the RB1100 is in the “default settings are completely empty” category (like the CCR) or the “default settings are for NAT router with DHCP server and firewall” category (like most other routers are).
Maybe an RB1100 owner can advise on that.
If the latter, I would certainly reset it after netinstall of the latest version and start over.
If not, you can consider to just upgrade it and see what happens, and maybe you have to re-do some parts but others will be fine.

It also depends on what philosophy you use when configuring routers. E.g. on experience with the CCR I have learned it is best to put a bridge on every network, even the port facing the ISP which has only a single external port. The advantage is that it becomes much easier to move the ISP connection to another port e.g. because you bought a replacement router that has a different port layout.
Converting to such a setup is easy to do when you start from scratch anyway.

6

Yes it is completely empty.

7

Ok that is a pity… but also makes it less necessary to do the reset.

Remember when you want to try the upgrade but need to make sure the change can be rolled back, you can use partitioning.
Check if partitioning is already in use, if not make sure that you have way less than half of the diskspace in use.
(remove .npk and .rif files in the files area, download and remove backups and exports)
Then set the number of partitions to 2. Do the reboot it required, then copy part0 to part1 and do the upgrade.
When there are problems, you can make part1 active and reboot, you will be back in the original 6.32.4 and its config.