Unbelieavably frustrated with Mikrotik

[andreas140265]

@vgeisler

I made the decision to migrate from a Motorola wireless network to a Mikrotik based WDS/mesh network on my ISP. To say the experience has been painful doesn’t even begin to cover it. I come from a Cisco CCIE background so maybe im spoiled by good documentation and stability.

Currently I cannot for the life of me get 5SXT radios to form a proper mesh. Currently im using wds/RSTP in a bridge, and while my clients can connect I cannot manage any radio beyond the gateway radio. winbox wont connect via IP or MAC yet they pass data. Ive been bashing my head against barely usable documentation and unpredictable results now for over a month.This is affecting 2500+ customers.

I’m asking anyone at Mikrotik to PLEASE put out a proper mesh howto as the ones currently on the wiki are badly flawed and just plain dont work. My other choice is to remove the MT gear, smash it with a hammer and go with another vendor. our “Mikrotik consultant” which we have paid a large sum of money to to help with this transition knows less about networking than i do, so that hasnt been much help either.

For sure, Mikrotik’s manuals are not the best.
Last days I also spend many hours trying to create a MESH network + Hotspot.
If you need just mesh then it is much easier.

First take alook at this : http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Wireless_WDS_Mesh

Describes two ways, I chose dynamic mesh. Give IP’s to the mesh (or bridge) interface and add the ethernet to that interface on the router that acts as “gateway”.DHCP server also on this interface.
You can choose static mesh if you want to have control on which AP is connecting to another. check this http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/wireless-mesh/71130/2
Dont forget the wireless>>access list, very useful.

The bridge (RSTP) method was problematic for me.

And a last tip. If things are not ok, try rebooting the routers, it helps

Good luck
Andreas