Good morning everyone. Recently, our company have set RouterBoard 600 as a central ap bridge (link antennas on 5.8GHZ). Other stations are connecting to it.

Past few days we are experiencing some problems with it. Often, very often, watchdog is resetting the routerboard and the last night, I had to come physically and unplug and again plug it into the power and network revived again.

It is very serious problem since whenever that happens, my whole network and around 1000 users can't be on internet, due to the fact that our main board shuts down.

I was trying to find why is it happening and where is the failure in The Dude, but only thing it says in events is that it had a shut down.

Routerboard is brand new (used for 2 months or so) as long as the cards in it.
Watchdog is pinging my routerboard 1100 which is online and functional 100% of the time (located in my office).

Please help.

Hi,

RB600 has been EOL for quite some time now. Are you sure that you have a new unit?
If so, to solve a similar problem, we upgraded our RB600 only to V3.30. Also, we made sure to upgrade the firmware. Since two/three years, we have had no unscheduled downtime.

ADD - you can also change logging to disk instead on echo/memory so that you can maybe get some more info with which to debug.

Rgds,
Mark.

Currently we are using RouterOS 4.17 and I haven't done anything with the Firmware at all. Where do I download the latest version of it and in which way and how should I upgrade it ?

Sorry for not knowing that but where do I change logging to disk instead on echo/memory ?

And the most important question. If I downgrade to version 3.3, will I be able to do a backup on the board I made on version 4.13 ? Or Is it possible to downgrade without loosing current configuration ?


Thanks in advance,
Alex

Hi,

1) Firmware is included in the v4.17 ROS already. To upgrade firmware from the command line -

[admin@test] > /sys routerboard print

If the current and upgrade firmware are not the same

[admin@test] > /sys routerboard upgrade

And press 'y' to continue

2) From winbox, go System > Logging. Go to the Rules tab and choose 'critical'. When the Log rule window opens change action from 'echo' to 'disk' and select ok

3) I have never downgraded from version 4.16 to 3.30 so I can't help much you on this. However, if you export the config and then try to re-import it after the downgrade, some commands which are in V4 but not in V3 shall not work.

To export config -

[admin@test] > export file=YOUR_FILE_NAME

To import config -

[admin@test] > import YOUR_FILE_NAME

Rgds,
Mark

Thanks a lot man. I have just upgraded firmware at 16 locations, version were different which might be the problem too. Also, we are using different OS versions at many stations which can be the problem too.

Do you suggest upgrading all the stations to latest version ?

Best wishes,
Alex

v4.17 and latest firmware is always the best way to go.

If I upgrade to 4.17, will my configuration stay there ? If I simply use terminal and upgrade it there, my configuration won't be lost ?

Hi,

Yes, configuration should remain there. I always perform a backup and a full export before I upgrade and I recommend you do too

I usually upgrade by uploading the ROS package to the 'Files' tab via Winbox and then reboot from inside winbox too.

Rgds,
Mark.

It's working. Just like you said, I made a backup just in case something went bad, but all good. Uploading files via winbox and updating the stations, working alright so far.

Thanks a lot !
Alex

Hi,

1) Firmware is included in the v4.17 ROS already. To upgrade firmware from the command line -

[admin@test] > /sys routerboard print

If the current and upgrade firmware are not the same

[admin@test] > /sys routerboard upgrade

And press 'y' to continue

2) From winbox, go System > Logging. Go to the Rules tab and choose 'critical'. When the Log rule window opens change action from 'echo' to 'disk' and select ok

3) I have never downgraded from version 4.16 to 3.30 so I can't help much you on this. However, if you export the config and then try to re-import it after the downgrade, some commands which are in V4 but not in V3 shall not work.

To export config -

[admin@test] > export file=YOUR_FILE_NAME

To import config -

[admin@test] > import YOUR_FILE_NAME

Rgds,
Mark

I have a few questions about this?....
I have an RB-153 (running ver 3.30 firmware). I am trying to backup the configuration in-case something happens and i have to load the configuration on a backup RB-153 which I have in stock.

When I go to the [Files] menu in winbox.... Winbox doesnt show the root directory??? odd? All the files list shows is a folder called "hotspot"
In the Fileslist window, there is a button called backup... I am thinking that this button is just to backup the hotspot webpages and files.
Yet, I want to backup the entire configuration of the routerboard.

I am wondering if your export command would do what I am wanting done???
If so, do I have to go into the Logging menu and change "critical" from echo to disk in order to run the export to a backup file like I want?

Also, If anyone is familiar with the hotspot system on mikrotik, I am wondering how I can backup the hotspot users login and profiles information so I can load it on a new/backup RB153 incase it crashes on me at some point in time?

Hi,

If you press the backup button in the Files dialog box, this should create a file that you shoul then be able to drag to a folder on your PC.

Do note that this creates a binary backup file and is ONLY good to restore on the SAME device it was created from - the EXACT same device ONLY.

To get as close as possible a backup that MAY be usable on a board of the same model, use the export command which shall also create a file in the Files dialog box. This is a text file and you could either use the import command or try to paste is via the command line to restore the config.

The logging has nothing to do with backups - it was only in response to another query.

Sorry but I do not use the hotspot feature an cannot help you out on that.

Rgds,
Mark.

Thanks for your response... Your information has been very helpful.... If I had some karma left, I would give you some...
Thanks again... Eric

I want to upgrade my RB1100 to latest OS version. Do I download the file from Series 1000 ? Since I can't find the package for 1100 ?

Also, I have some stations with OS version 3 or lower and I want to buy version 4 license for them. What do I do ? I just send the ID of the mikrotik installed on it to the shop and they send me keys for it I guess.

Thanks in advance,
Alex.

I want to upgrade my RB1100 to latest OS version. Do I download the file from Series 1000 ? Since I can't find the package for 1100 ?

Yes, use the 1000 series. Same processor family = same software, they're both PPCs.

Also, I have some stations with OS version 3 or lower and I want to buy version 4 license for them. What do I do ? I just send the ID of the mikrotik installed on it to the shop and they send me keys for it I guess.

You're confusing software version with license level. Everything that runs RouterOS 3.x is eligible for an upgrade to 4.x, and I'm not even aware of anything still sold today that can't go to 5.x for free.
RouterOS also comes with a license level that imposes restrictions in functionality: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:License_levels. As long as you're not going to another license level upgrading the software version and staying on the same license level is free. Check the output of "/system license print" to have your devices tell you what software version they can upgrade to.

Thanks for your great answer and comment.
Thing about my 3 stations is kinda suspicious. Since all my stations except those 3 are Routerboards, only those 3 are PC's and when I do the license print thingy it says:

upgradable-until: jan/01/2008

That's why I have ordered 3 new licenses since it seams, I can't upgrade those and they are 2.9 version, probably installed 5 years ago.

Also, our RouterBoards, all 13 are recently bought and can be upgraded to any version, those 3 computers are kinda suspicious to me, since I came to this company 6 months ago and I have no idea where did they get those version or licenses, since they might be cracked or something... Anyway, to make sure everything is legal, I have ordered 3 licenses at
http://www.mikrotik-routeros.net/ by entering ID's of those 3 computers.

Again, thanks for a great support and clarifying everything.
Best wishes,
Alex