Hi,

I just got through http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:CR ... AN_Routing

I understand what it does but is it necessary to use a master port (ether2 in the exemple)
Nothing will be physically connected on this port. and it could have been used for other purposes.

isn't it possible to attach the Vlan interfaces from RouterOs to the switch cpu port ?or maybe some sort of virtual port ?

Assigning a master port will not do anything special to that particular port, i.e.: you can use it as you'd use any other port in that particular switch segment, it just acts as an interface between the switch chip and the cpu. You're not stuck to ether 2 either, e.g.: you have ether 4,5,6,7 in use that you want to act as a L2 segment: configure ether 5,6 and 7 to ether 4 as master port, configure you VLAN table and configure any VLAN interfaces that you want to interact with on L3 ether 4.

Consider the switch menu separate from the rest of RouterOS. Once you set a master port(s), they become the virtual interface you're talking about in RoS interfaces menu.
In the switch all master ports hook directly to switch1-cpu port. The physical Ether2 port (whatever master ports) is then defined by the switch menu settings.

So you would define all your vlans that need routing under interfaces/vlan on the master port AND under the switch menu for cpu port. Then define the individual physical ports under the switch menu as you individually need them configured. (Vlans, tagged, untagged, etc.)

ok, i think i got it.
please tell me if this is correct.

as soon a port (let's say ether3) has a master port (let's say ether2) both of them become part of a group of ports in the switch.
the "master" port becomes the hook between this group witch and routerOS but refers to the switch group and not the physical port
the "slaves" ports are only displayed for status and packet count but are no longer real interfaces where we could attach IP or vlans.

this master/slave way of presenting things it is somehow confusing.
I was expecting something that looks like the bridge menu.
Let's say a new interface named something like "ethernet switch group 1" which enslaves all the member ports.

what do someone from Mikrotik thinks about this ?

Everything written here became obsolete with RouterOS 6.41 and the new bridging system