I helped a customer install a network where we recommended various MikroTik hardware and software solutions, including multiple RouterBoards running RouterOS, and some MikroTik SwOS switches. This was the first place we had ever installed or used any SwOS devices. We have been doing RouterOS for many years, are generally pleased with RouterOS and RouterBoards, and so we had faith that SwOS would perform at least as well.
So far, we have been extremely disappointed in the performance of these switches. We originally bought them with the intention of using them to do some VLAN trunking, but of course this feature doesn’t actually work properly with these switches, as has already been covered many times in other threads.
We finally gave up on using them to trunk VLANs and are now just using them as dumb switches. The only programming change we are making to any of them is to change the default password and give them an IP address. Other than that they are configured with default settings. Even so, we are experiencing switch crashes at this site all of the time. It’s not just one switch: we have 6 RB250GS switches at this location, and each one of them has had this problem at one time or another. What happens is that one of these switches will just randomly stop switching. The switch becomes unreachable (via its IP address), and none of the devices plugged into the switch are reachable either. It seems to happen every few days, and rebooting the switch by removing and reapplying power fixes the problem when this happens.
Initially, I thought it must be the software version, but I have updated all of the switches to SwOS 1.9 and the customer is still experiencing the issue. HELP! …before we rip all of these out and replace them with something else!
Thanks. I will do as you recommend and let you know if it helps.
One thing to mention which may or may not make a difference is that even though I am leaving VLAN mode as “disabled” and VLAN header as “leave as-is” and leaving the VLANs tab empty, there are tagged ethernet frames passing through these switches (there are Polycom IP phones plugged into the switches and they tag the VoIP traffic with a 1Q VLAN). This works, but maybe this is contributing to the crashes.
I need to be able to set a VLAN to be untagged on one port, and have the same VLAN be tagged on another, while also allowing for a different VLAN to be untagged on the same port. So for example:
Port 1: VLAN 1 untagged
Port 2: VLAN 2 untagged
Port 3: VLAN 1 untagged, VLAN 2 tagged
This cannot be done. This is extremely basic stuff, and I’ve never met a switch (until now) that cannot do this. I have tried various things, including messing about with the ACLs, and nothing I’ve tried works. I’m not alone, as you can see from these other threads:
RB250GS does not support tagging and untagging on the same port at the same time. It has port-based egress actions - the same action for all VLANs on the port.
But RB260GS can do it. RB260GS allows to set vlan-based egress actions - each VLAN can have its own egress action on the port.