So I was curious to see if i could get RouterOS to run under any virtual environments…
I started with Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.
The install process seemed to work ok, however when it came time to reboot and install system it got 80% there and just froze. I let it sit there and finally gave up and uninstalled VPC 2007.
Next attempt was with VMware Player, so I went to http://dcgrendel.thewaffleiron.net/vmbuilder/2.02/ and got a VM built and well, it worked. Cool!
After that I downloaded and installed VMware Workstation 6.0.
It gives you much greater control over the setup and operation of the VM’s.
I have never never seen ROS install and run sooo fast, I created a virtual 10 port Ethernet switch/router.
I have been able to use a Demo key and ROS “sit” between all of the interfaces on my laptop and do some amazing stuff.
So I mapped my built in ABGN WiFi adapter to a VMnet bridge to a virtual Ethernet interface in ROS.
(you have to remove all the protocols on the adapter, except for the “VMware Bridge Protocol” or it wont work.)
Then I went back into Vista and told the wifi card what AP SSID to acquire to.
Connected.
Next, I added a VMware “host only” virtual Ethernet adapter in Vista and another virtual Ethernet adapter in the ROS VM.
I setup the ip addressing between them. Poof instant CPE.
But i still have a real Ethernet interface left in my laptop so I again mapped it to another ROS interface.
Using a crossover cable I was able to plugin a VoIP ATA into my laptops Ethernet port.
Now its just a matter of configuring the ROS VM properly.
So dhcp client on the wifi card. “ether1”
grap an ip.
Private administration ip address pair for winbox “ether2”
Mac Telnet/Winbox access doesn’t seem to work at all. You have to assign an ip.
10.123.0.1 <=> 10.123.0.2
Physical Ethernet port “ether3”
setup your ip 10.124.0.1/24
setup your ip pool 10.124.0.5-10.124.0.10
setup the dhcp-server network gateway ect
setup dhcp-server
And your done, I could make voip calls.
Setting up all the bridging between the real and virtual interfaces can be tricky.
But just think of it as plugging in virtual Ethernet cables.
This kinda of a virtual ROS setup can be a real handy tool to test and debug configurations.
If not alone just for the tunneling capabilities but, it has untold applications for teaching ROS as well.
You can whip up a Virtual ROS configurations as examples for people to play with and experiment.
The only thing the ROSVM doesn’t really do is anything AP/Wireless related.
You can create a virtual AP within the virtual ROS but it won’t do anything.
I Hope this has inspired someone,
Mike
