hi all,
Looking at the RB5009 and seems like pretty cool device to me. However, it might just be me, but I am missing a console port!?
On devices like the hapac2/3 and such I can imagine they are left out. But, what should I do when I am locked out on a RB5009 because of some configuration issue? Reinstall and begin all over?
kind regards
Jouk
A WOOBM can help you out. Or, if you like old-fashioned solutions, a pair of USB-to-serial converters, each plugged to router and PC, interconnected by an RS232 cable.
I don’t see how RB5009 is different than hAP ac2 in this regard though …
This actually works? I’m guessing RouterOS binds the first (compatible) USB serial device it finds to serial output (and input, obviously) tty? That’s actually pretty cool to know, tbh.
Edit: confirmed working on my RB5009 with serial cable between a pair of PL-2303. The router supports the “non-genuine variety” of such as well which is good news for consumers.
What speed does the RB5009 set the serial connection of the adapter it is connected to? 115200? What about flow control?
The MikroTik help isn’t real clear about using two serial adapters back to back.
So if you got two of the USB to RS232 cisco Rj45 cables, and a "RJ45 8P8C modular coupler with rollover wiring (1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3, 7-2, 8-1) then it should work. Those type of coupler used to be easy to get as they were used with multi line analogue phone systems in the 1980’s. Not as easy to get now. This appears to be one.
Alternatively, two USB to 3.3V TTL wired back to back with TX-RX, RX-TX, GND-GND (and if available, CTS-RTS, RTS-CTS)
How can I tell if it will support a CH340 USB to serial adapter?
First, I understand this is an old thread, and the OP may have already figured this out. But since I just had to go figure it out myself, I thought I’d post the solution I used for others who may be searching.
First, cabling: Serial consoles generally can be wired as Console or Terminal, and this determines which pin is Rx and which is Tx. So, a proper connection requires one of each, or if both are Console or both are Terminal, a roll-over cable is required (or a rollover RJ45 adapter, etc.).
While there are a lot of possible solutions (back-back CH340 or FTDI UART adapters with Tx/Rx crossed, etc.) I wanted something clean, easy, and not fragile. I ended up with two USB-Serial adapter cables branded as “oikwan” from Amazon, one with a male DB9 (ASIN B0759HSLP1) and the other female DB9 (ASIN B0BKJKYCJK). Both allegedly have an FTDI chip (it’s often counterfeited and I can’t confirm if these are genuine, but both cables are working fine with FTDI driver). Plug the DB9s into each other, one USB in the rb5009 and the other into the computer (or in my case raspberry pi).
The console connection does not come up automatically, which unfortunately makes it pretty worthless if you’ve locked yourself out of the router before configuring the console (as I had… oops). To bring it I used the following commands:
Confirm you can see the usb-serial cable
/port print
Should show something like:
0 1-1 usb1 1 Serial Console(#0) Auto
Set baud rate to 9600
/port set 0 baud-rate=9600
Enable system console
/system/console/ add port=usb1
/system/console enable 0
After that, from a Linux system, you should be able to connect with:
screen /dev/ttyUSB0 9600 (or PuTTY, or whatever your terminal emulator of choice is).