Why does SwOS exist?

SwOS
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Why does SwOS exist when some very similar hardware runs RouterOS?

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  1. Because some people don’t like or need the complexity of RouterOS’s bridge/VLAN configuration
  2. Because there are a few smaller chips they use that don’t have the capacity to run RouterOS, but make a great platform for creating cost-effective switches
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The last such pair of products I looked at (CSS326 vs CRS326) had a US $40 spread in cost. Prior to that, I compared the hEX PoE to the RB260GSP, for an even smaller delta, $33. For some people and applications, these small increments in cost can make all the difference. For others, $33-40 looks like a cheap RouterOS Level 4 license. :man_shrugging: You lays your money down and you takes your ride.

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For switches, I MUCH Prefer SwitchOS. The cost difference has essentially nothing to do with my purchase decision.

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simplest switches only have resources to run SwOS

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Only thing that would be great is that we can configure switchOS from winbox. :smiley: But I also prefer SWOS

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I’d like to see the opposite: port the SwOS web UI to RouterOS to generate common configurations graphically, especially VLAN stuff.

Like QuickSet, I expect that as soon as you start making CLI changes, the SwOS UI will get increasingly confused, and changes made there will have a better and better chance of breaking the configuration, but it would at least help newbies get started more easily without needing to throw it all away when their needs begin outstripping the web UI’s capabilities.

1 Like
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I just thought of a cute alternative to this that would likely be easier to implement and more reliable besides. Quoting what is now SUP-131051:


MikroTik has several switches in the CRS line with dual-booting, which implies that the SwOS configuration is available in flash somewhere after you reboot into RouterOS.

Therefore, I suggest this new feature: a QuickSet mode that reads the SwOS configuration in from flash and translates it to the equivalent RouterOS configuration.

This would let people start out with SwOS, then migrate seamlessly to RouterOS in a safe one-way fashion. Going back to SwOS would still mean reverting any changes made under RouterOS, as would reapplying the “mirror” command, but in the main, it would act as a shallower on-ramp to RouterOS.

If you like this idea, please vote for it through the support portal.