Hello,

I am trying very hard to not botch an upgrade from version 6 to version 7 this weekend. In viewing the old V6 vs. new V7 and some of the new syntax, I am confused about the relationship between the BGP connection and the template.

-Since my BGP peering is static, I am not sure if I even need to create and use a template. I would love an answer to this one.

-If I do choose to use template (if possible, depending to the answer above), there are many redundant fields in both connection and template. I am assuming that fields such as AS, hold time, keepalive time, use BFD, routing table, no client to client reflection, output redistributable and input/output filter fields in the connection all override the data in the template if used. Is this a correct understanding?

-If I choose to use template and populate the fields common to all connections and the connections load said template, then I would assume that the template fields are in effect for and populate to their respective connections.

I hope I am being clear on my questions. Thanks for any feedback!

Regards!

Template is not mandatory, you can find all your answers in the documentation:
https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ ... figuration

Yes, Templates can be used to provide default values to a larger number of Connections.
What you set in the Template you do not need to set in the Connection.
(unfortunately, for some values RouterOS does not keep the value in the Connection "blank" but instead copies the value from the Template which then becomes a parameter of the Connection - probably a bug)

When you migrate BGP config from v6 to v7 using the automatic upgrade, some things tend not to go well.
I have encountered several problems doing this, and I would strongly urge you not to do the upgrade remotely when your access to the remote router depends on BGP working correctly.
Some things that were possible in v6 are no longer available in v7, and you will need to work around that.

You could post the bgp part of your config here and I'll have a look to see if there are obvious problems.

RouterOS does not copy values from template to connection config. Winbox is doing that if you open connection and apply config.

Thanks for the clarification. I understand!

RouterOS does not copy values from template to connection config. Winbox is doing that if you open connection and apply config.

Ok, consider that a bug and put it on your list for fixing... Winbox should not apply parameters that the user does not enter.

(in fact, I have seen other forum posts where people noticed this and complained about it. e.g. it makes the log entry that is now made for config changes much too long)

I agree...