RB250GS v1.17 vlans inop

SwOS
1

I have two RB250GS switches, both with v1.17 firmware. They are connected to and powered by a UBNT ToughSwitch. Vlans on the RB250s are not working. Is this a known issue with 1.17? I have used the RB250 with tagged vlans in the past, but with older firmware.

I currently have one of the RB250s connected to a “Trunk” port on the TS. Default vlan on the Trunk is vlan 1. The other RB250 is connected to a TS port that is not configured as a trunk. In this case, vlan 1 is untagged on the port while several other vlans are tagged.

On the RB250s, all vlans are defined on the vlans tab. Appropriate ports are checked. The port that uplinks to the TS has all vlans checked. On the vlan tab, vlan mode is “enabled” for all ports. Default Vlan ID is set to the correct vlan for the port (all ports except uplink connect to a host and need to be untagged). “Force Vlan ID” is not checked on any port. For the VLAN Header, “Always Strip” is selected for all ports except the uplink, which has “Add if missing” selected. I have tried checking “Force VLAN ID” but it had no effect.

Any suggestions? Does anyone have older SWOS verison lying around?

2

Found the answer on my own and posting here in case someone else runs into this issue.

The switch must be rebooted after port vlan changes. I suspect but did not confirm that it is only the default vlan setting that requires the reboot.

I downgraded one of my RB250s to 1.15 and my vlan problems continued. Not sure why, but I decided to try a reboot of the switch. I had not tried a reboot before. I would make vlan changes, they would not work, and I would change the switch back to settings that were correct for one untagged vlan on all ports. This time I left my vlan configuration in place, and after the reboot the vlans worked. I re-installed 1.17 and noted the same behavior. After port vlan changes (possibly just default vlan changes) the switch must be rebooted.

I do not recall this behavior in early firmware versions, and this definitely relegates the RB250 to home or lab-toy duty - reboots for vlan changes are simply unacceptable in any professional environment, from any switch, at any price. I’m aware that the RB250 is not a current product, but I’m disappointed with Mikrotik nonetheless.