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Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:53 am
by HellMind
Can be RouterOs 3.x guest on a VM host?
I'm runing a routeros 3.x on a x86 400mhz and I would like to move it to a bigger machine that would be used for storage.

My RouterOs will be run corretly, slow, or faster on the new Virtualized Machine?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:01 am
by HellMind
Can be RouterOs 3.x guest on a VM host?
I'm runing a routeros 3.x on a x86 400mhz and I would like to move it to a bigger machine that would be used for storage.

My RouterOs will be run corretly, slow, or faster on the new Virtualized Machine?
I'm reading -> http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualization

I want to tell , that media wiki is missconfigured, the search form gives no results, the cron indexing is failing or something

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:33 am
by jp
I have run multiple copies of it on Xen with no performance issues.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:57 am
by winxp2000
I think the host meaning is using ROS in a VM ware software condition.

I make a VM to install ROS 3.XX version, it work normal.

The VM version is VM workstation 6.XX.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:08 am
by invader zog
I've thought about running RouterOS in a VM a few times. How could you configure the host machine's network settings so that it wasn't exposed... (i.e. I'm used to using bridged mode where both the host and virtual adapters are on the same network)...

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:41 pm
by janisk
if you want to make your host system fully unexposed - add more network cards and use them exclusively on quest (child) systems. And as host must be minimalistic, set that hosts services are running only on interfaces dedicated for host.

in most cases - this is vitualisation, so, as a result it will be slower that simple routeros installation, but if you have powerful hardware, why not to use it if your configuration needs it.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:17 pm
by HellMind
Can routeros share files ( samba ) without using a vm?
Isn't there a file sharing package?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:13 pm
by Chupaka
there's no Samba in ROS

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:47 am
by ghmorris
I have run multiple copies of it on Xen with no performance issues.
It works perfectly on VMware Server as well. As usual, add adequate hardware if you want to load it down.

George

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:26 am
by iam8up
Can anyone tell me what application they found any virtualization useful for ROS?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 9:51 pm
by jorj
I think that running multiple instances of a virtualised VM with ros installed a single time,( by copying the files needed to create aditional virtual machines, I say), would be a breaking of the licence. Am I right, janisk ? :)

Otherwise, it works very nice, both on vmware and M$ virtual pc. Haven't tried other virtual machines. Yet.

[EDIT]
Actually, after reading http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualization it sais that MT can be a HOST for a virtual machine ?!? In the Download section of Mikrotik.com, there appears a Virtualization package(Highly experimental!) Well done. Even it is outside of the requirements of a router. IMHO, it would be better to focus on ospf and pppoe stability. My 2c....... :)

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:55 am
by jp
Can anyone tell me what application they found any virtualization useful for ROS?
Variable storage space is my #1, in case I ever need to capture lots of data for calea.

I also have an MT hotspot/userman controller as a virtual.

I've also used virtualization to play around with routerOS and making it do certain things with multiple mikrotiks.

Other people could make a virtual pptp/ipsec/vpn server, a virtual firewall to protect the other VMs on the box it's running on, any of those network centric tasks that aren't real particular about hardware.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:42 am
by HellMind
I'm trying to run ubuntu on a routeros machine but I can't get the correct kernel and initrd files,
Anybody knows where can I download a linux guest vm ready to run, for file sharing ( samba )?
I prefer Ubuntu Server, but anything will be useful.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:05 am
by omega-00
RouterOS works fine on VMserver, won't work with ESX thou due the support required for SCSI disks as far as I've seen.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:24 pm
by HellMind
RouterOS works fine on VMserver, won't work with ESX thou due the support required for SCSI disks as far as I've seen.
I said I'm running routeros as HOST!

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:34 pm
by jorj
Relax, man. Don't shout. Chill out.
How would you like to see ubuntu or centos running on your hdtv ? or on your iphone ?!?

It's a router ! And I can't really see the point in working any mor on this from the mt stuff.
But hey ! It's their time, their money... ( and the product WE are using..... )

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:56 pm
by Chupaka

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:25 pm
by jorj
I sure did.
If you're talking to hellmind, I hope he will.
I am emphasizing on the bells added to one fine product. Today, even my watch has usb and plays mp3 files. It's getting too much.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:20 am
by HellMind
Relax, man. Don't shout. Chill out.
How would you like to see ubuntu or centos running on your hdtv ? or on your iphone ?!?

It's a router ! And I can't really see the point in working any mor on this from the mt stuff.
But hey ! It's their time, their money... ( and the product WE are using..... )
Isn't like that,

My routeros will have a lot a hardware so I will use it with virtualization
Or should I have 1 box for every solution I need?

You should virtualize yourselft baby
:lol:

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:22 am
by HellMind
I don't want to install centos :(
I want one debian based

And those step aren't compatible with debian distro I tried it, that's why i'm asking a little more help

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:40 pm
by janisk
if you are using debian with xen enabled kernel you should install it without any problems on routeros.

install debian on normal host - install xen kernel, get files needed to boot in in routeros and off you go.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:22 pm
by HellMind
if you are using debian with xen enabled kernel you should install it without any problems on routeros.

install debian on normal host - install xen kernel, get files needed to boot in in routeros and off you go.
I did that but it doesn't start

It's say error but no info,


Can I do this with a demo key?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:32 pm
by pekr
RouterOS works fine on VMserver, won't work with ESX thou due the support required for SCSI disks as far as I've seen.
If it can't run under ESXi, then it sucks pretty much badly. I wonder what sense does it make to install Linux or Windows, and then VMWare Server upon it? That is the old-school and recovery nightmare. Direct thin layer as ESXi is the solution. I actually was about to try it, as I thought I could run back-up router along with our Linux web server.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:04 pm
by omega-00
I haven't tried with ESXi but please let me know how you go.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:00 am
by janisk
RouterOS works fine on VMserver, won't work with ESX thou due the support required for SCSI disks as far as I've seen.
If it can't run under ESXi, then it sucks pretty much badly. I wonder what sense does it make to install Linux or Windows, and then VMWare Server upon it? That is the old-school and recovery nightmare. Direct thin layer as ESXi is the solution. I actually was about to try it, as I thought I could run back-up router along with our Linux web server.
you can install RouterOS, then install xen package on it and run routeros directly of your RouterOS box, so no need for any other virtualizer.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:08 am
by spirosco
Very nice feature the virtualization. I'm using it for a while in a couple of vpn servers without problems.
But how good it gets, it depends on how much you pull out from the combination of the hw/sw.

For example Xen gives you the capability to hide a nic from the host and passing it to a guest (called pci-hide or pci-passthrough).
This means that you have no emulation or the overhead of a bridged vif, aka maximum perfomance at least as far as concern the ethernet interfaces.

Unfortunately Mikrotik's xen doesn't recognise the pci devices that host exports to it, because you can't run (routerOS) it paravirtualized over a linux xen host (you can run it only in hvm mode).
In hvm mode you get qemu emulated devices, meaning that even if you have a beast machine, you loosing much in performance.

It would be great some day to been able to load paravirt based mikrotik over linux xen host and passthrough pci devices.
I'm i asking too much mikrotik developers? :)

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 3:32 am
by HellMind
I got centos runming on routeros xen,
But I can't configure the interface for lan

I created the static virtual interface but I don't know what I need to do in centos
I tried with ifconfig on the virbr0 but I get no reply of pings

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:05 am
by janisk
in centos virtual interfaces should show up as simple eth0 interface, if no other interfaces are present. And as far as i have looked - linux autoconfiguration will find that nic and configure it.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:27 pm
by HellMind
in centos virtual interfaces should show up as simple eth0 interface, if no other interfaces are present. And as far as i have looked - linux autoconfiguration will find that nic and configure it.
it doesn't detect eth0 :(

Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up interface eth0: ne2k-pci device eth0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization. [FAILED]

[root@centos ~]# ifup eth0
ne2k-pci device eth0 does not seem to be present, delaying initialization.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:42 pm
by HellMind
I still need assistance on this :(
Any success history is welcome

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:51 am
by HellMind
maybe is better not to choose router os as a vm host (yet)

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:12 am
by martini
13 Virtual mikrotik routers running on mikrotik host.
uptime: 3w1d20h53m2s

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:00 pm
by jsuter
13 Virtual mikrotik routers running on mikrotik host.
uptime: 3w1d20h53m2s
Do queues work on the dom0 (host)?
Do queues work on the domU (guests)?

I tried messing with xen under 3.14, but it appeared to kill the ability to do bandwidth limits on the host machine...

Do dom0 RouterOS instances require separate licenses?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:37 pm
by janisk
virtual host uses license level of the host.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:08 pm
by martini
2 jsuter - Host Router is only HOST for other routers.

Guest routers have all type of queue (pcq, simple..), vlan aggregaion, firewall, dedicated client router..

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:48 am
by HellMind
Why having routeroses on the same routeros host?

Anyone tried it with centos or some nix?

I just need a file server, (I think the Store pkg isn't ready for that yet)

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:18 pm
by Mplsguy
Of course this has been tried, see
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualiz ... _5.1_Image
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualiz ... CentOS_5.1

It even has link to ready made CentOS image. When network interface is configured for guest, CentOS quest finds (should find) it automatically (just like it finds any other new/changed hardware). Note that network interface type is not NE2000 or anything like that - you must have Xen frontend network driver.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:50 am
by HellMind
Of course this has been tried, see
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualiz ... _5.1_Image
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Virtualiz ... CentOS_5.1

It even has link to ready made CentOS image. When network interface is configured for guest, CentOS quest finds (should find) it automatically (just like it finds any other new/changed hardware). Note that network interface type is not NE2000 or anything like that - you must have Xen frontend network driver.
My centos is working, but I can't enable the interface, where is the "how to" for that.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:59 am
by Mplsguy
HellMInd,

Provided that you have properly configured host part of interface (configured host in a way that guest should have network interface - this is described step-by-step in wiki virtualization page), you should look for solution in CentOS (make sure it detects new device/loads appropriate driver). Mikrotik does not provide CentOS configuration support. CentOS image available in wiki page does detect virtual network interfaces fine.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:31 am
by beny30
I tried to Virtualize RouterOS but had problems to access it, I have 3 LAN Interfaces and I could not have them in Mikrotik guest? I could not get connected with winbox or telnet.
I tried to do configuration like in the viki manual but I could not configure. Than I had problems to make most of the thing running, queues , firewall rules, mangle, webproxy...

I need to install squid to cache more files like youtube videos because with mikrotik web-proxy I can not cache youtube vidoes and I have asked through forum in they will do in in the future to add ability to cache youtube videos but no answere. Reason why I insist in cache of youtube videos is that bandwidth is to expensive here, so it will help me a llot.

I tried to install Clark ISO and other files as described but I could not do it, I don't know if

In which VM I can istall squid and get running.

And if I do this than I have problems with queues because they does not work with xen,

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:58 pm
by jp
I'd suggest starting with a good host if you want to get familiar with virtualization. Novell's been doing it longer than most linux vendors and it's getting fairly polished. Here it is in OpenSuSE 11.0.

Installation options:

Image

Virtual machines running and MT console:

Image

Modifying a virtual machine:

Image

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 12:56 pm
by beny30
I have one question Can I have the interfaces that I have in host? I have three interfaces:

WAN and LAN(bridge of LAN1 and LAN2) hot to configure them in order to configure the same like masquerade, and other ruls?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:12 pm
by HellMind
HellMInd,

Provided that you have properly configured host part of interface (configured host in a way that guest should have network interface - this is described step-by-step in wiki virtualization page), you should look for solution in CentOS (make sure it detects new device/loads appropriate driver). Mikrotik does not provide CentOS configuration support. CentOS image available in wiki page does detect virtual network interfaces fine.
Whe I'm using the centos image available in wiki page, and does not detec the any interface
I see one bridge interface but isn't working correctly

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:23 pm
by beny30
I can make Router OS but after I can not connect to it, I would like to have the same interfaces line in Router Host, also in Router Guest in order to copy my current configuration in Guest, and to run. I also plan to install a linux system and than put squid on it to make it web proxy for my clients but till I will have any help how to configure interfaces I must wait!!!!!!!!

And one question for jp if the virtual mashines run but itself if power goes off and on and came back, or will need to start them like in VMware Workstation?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:39 am
by jp
I can make Router OS but after I can not connect to it, I would like to have the same interfaces line in Router Host, also in Router Guest in order to copy my current configuration in Guest, and to run. I also plan to install a linux system and than put squid on it to make it web proxy for my clients but till I will have any help how to configure interfaces I must wait!!!!!!!!

And one question for jp if the virtual mashines run but itself if power goes off and on and came back, or will need to start them like in VMware Workstation?
Depends on whether you have the XEN manager enabled for the runlevel 5. I'm not worried about power going out. We have UPSs, diesel gen, and good power at my datacenter building. I've got some old machines with >1000 day uptime.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:49 am
by HellMind
It works, but it didn't convince me.

Now I'm trying to run the xen routeros img on a Ubuntu host
Isn't there any routeros premade xen image to use with any xen linux host?
How I should create the img for routeros? (swap data?) (xen-tools.conf)

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:26 pm
by hilton
The way I understand things is that XEN is simply the equivalent of VMWare or Virtual Server. So all you have to do is create a new virtual machine on the host server and then capture the appropriate ISO image. So download the latest x86 image from Mikrotik.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 3:27 pm
by jp
I specify the disks used to be the x86 installation ISO, then the second disk is to create a 250MB file for a virtual disk. After installation, you can remove the ISO from the configuration. For upgrades, ftp the new file to the virtual machine like any other MT. To move it to another host, move the virtual disk file and the two files in /etc/xen/vm to the new hypervisor machine.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:47 pm
by HellMind
I want to do that way but I can't.
I don't got any linux desktop to create the image and install the routeros
Xen isn't available for windows xp
So I must do everything remote from a shell

Would be cool having a standard routeros instalation image to start with.

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:59 am
by HellMind
I specify the disks used to be the x86 installation ISO, then the second disk is to create a 250MB file for a virtual disk. After installation, you can remove the ISO from the configuration. For upgrades, ftp the new file to the virtual machine like any other MT. To move it to another host, move the virtual disk file and the two files in /etc/xen/vm to the new hypervisor machine.
Jp can you post your xen routeros config file?

Re: Virtualization RouterOs

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:55 am
by HellMind
If I use an image made with routeros
I get
ERROR: Your disk file system is corrupted!

If i use an image from vmware converted to raw with qemu
I get

Demo license expired!
Please reinstall the router.

connect failed (errno=2)

Is my cfg ok?

kernel = "/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-21-xen"
ramdisk = "/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-21-xen"
name = "Jenny"
memory = "128"
disk = [ 'tap:aio:/xen/domains/Jenny/disk.img,xvda,w', ]
vif = [ 'bridge=xenbr0', ]
vcpus=1
on_reboot = 'destroy'
on_crash = 'destroy'
root = "/dev/xvda1 ro"