Cloud Hosted Router

Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:56 pm

We are releasing a test version of an exciting new feature - Cloud Hosted Router (CHR).

It is a Virtual Machine image of RouterOS that has full functionality of RouterOS without any kind of conventional RouterOS license, with the limitation of 1Mbit per interface, in future, we will offer unlimited speed with a paid subscription. This allows you to use RouterOS in training classes, for testing, for experimentation or any other purpose, without the need for 24h trial or Demo license.

We provide a generic (RAW) format IMG, VMDK file for VMWare, VDI for VirtualBox and VHDX for Hyper-V. These are ready to use virtual disk images (add as a virtual hard drive to your VM). These are NOT templates for importing.

qemu commands for converting images (if you need to convert to another format)

RAW to VMware:

qemu-img convert -f raw -O vmdk chr-6.31rc9.img chr-6.31rc9.vmdk

RAW to VirtualBox:

qemu-img convert -f raw -O vdi chr-6.31rc9.img chr-6.31rc9.vdi

See below for steps how to run this new system.

If you need a bigger virtual hdd (currently 128Mb), resize the image before first run

qemu-img resize -f raw chr-6.31rc9.img +1G

This will increase the disk by 1GB

Downloads:
http://www.mikrotik.com/download

VMware Player (Free): https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#d ... player/7_0
VirtualBox (Free): https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Instructions for VMware:

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Instructions for VirtualBox:

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IMPORTANT STEP, change CPU setting to KVM:

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ALEJANDROgordon · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:08 pm

excellent

djdrastic · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:14 pm

Pretty cool.I can drop a proposed OSPF/BGP site for the boss man on his laptop for little/no charge

Is there any virtualizing software that you can pass frames over 1500 bytes for MPLS labs/testing ? I think last time I tested them VBox and VMWare Workstation were still a no go zone.

Cha0s · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:21 pm

Is there any difference (besides licensing) compared to the standard Mikrotik x86 releases which already work on VMware?

Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:22 pm

This will have Fastpath and 64bit support, also custom drivers and other optimisations.

deem · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:23 pm

Can't connect with winbox.

Cha0s · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:23 pm

Nice!

Is vmxnet3 (10gbit) supported?

Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:38 pm

Can't connect with winbox.

That is most likely a VM software config issue. Depends on how you set up your virtual NIC and how it is connected to the host PC.

VirtualBox has NAT by default, configure it to use Bridge or reconfigure your network accordingly

djdrastic · Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:57 pm

Normis could you confirm as per Chaos's question whether this will support VMXNet3 or not ?

Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:10 pm

Why call it "Cloud Hosted"? Is there the ability to actually have a custom RouterOS installation hosted on a general hosting provider (NOT a specialized provider that would let you run custom VMs...)?

Have you guys (at MikroTik) considered maybe offering such a service (preferably one which, just like this VM, has full functionality, but with rate limits). If you do, I for one would certainly end up using it, as right now, to test my API client, I need to set up a VM on my PC, and no 3rd party CI service allows me to do the same with their infrastructure.

As it currently stands, this "Cloud Hosted Router" is really more like "RouterOS VM Edition".

Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:21 pm

As it currently stands, this "Cloud Hosted Router" is really more like "RouterOS VM Edition".

Well yes, for now

Support for Amazon or other services is planned.

Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:37 pm

Nice!

Is vmxnet3 (10gbit) supported?

Not in this image, but planned

deem · Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:50 pm

Can't connect with winbox.

That is most likely a VM software config issue. Depends on how you set up your virtual NIC and how it is connected to the host PC.

VirtualBox has NAT by default, configure it to use Bridge or reconfigure your network accordingly

Nope, it seems that you actually provide a broken .vdi image, .vmdk image on the same configuration works well.

One more difference between .vdi and .vmdk:
.vdi — simply starts
.vmdk — self installs, generates keys then starts

Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:55 pm

OK, thanks, will investigate.

Everybody else - VirtualBox can actually use the VMDK file as well

tomaskir · Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:57 pm

So, the vmdk is already a 64bit build.

Cant run it using i386, only runs on a x64 VM.

Very nice!

tomaskir · Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:02 pm

Integrated it in my GNS3 instead of my current images, completely smooth and works very nicely.
Getting MikroTik working in GNS3 is now a 3-click process.

I am EXTREMELY happy with this, very nice job MikroTik, major props for this!

b1863515 · Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:53 pm

Can't connect with winbox.

That is most likely a VM software config issue. Depends on how you set up your virtual NIC and how it is connected to the host PC.

VirtualBox has NAT by default, configure it to use Bridge or reconfigure your network accordingly
Nope, it seems that you actually provide a broken .vdi image, .vmdk image on the same configuration works well.

One more difference between .vdi and .vmdk:
.vdi — simply starts
.vmdk — self installs, generates keys then starts

VirtualBox with .vdi works for me.

Try

interface ethernet reset-mac-address

It should get the mac address your virtualbox ethernet card has.

ip dhcp-client renew

I also had to renew my IP address after reseting the MAC address.

Hammy · Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:37 pm

Great stuff, MIKROTIK!

Might I recommend a template based approach rather than a raw disk? Maybe in addition to?

An OVA\OVF for vSphere, whatever VB wants, whatever Proxmox\KVM\OpenVZ wants, etc. That way Mikrotik can exert more QA\QC over the deployment. The right virtual harwardware is used for optimal performance.

IntrusDave · Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:00 pm

Outstanding! Thank you! This will allow me to develop scripts without having to test them on real boxes.

bommi · Mon Jul 27, 2015 9:53 pm

Please integrate virtio drivers.

zyflex · Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:27 pm

Anyone else with network problems on Hyper-V? I can't communicate with the router (ping, mac ping, winbox)
IP is manually assigned. Hyper-V guest is 1 generation with legacy network adapter.

Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:35 am

I am in disbelief, my emails to your sales department didn't fall on deaf ears after all

This is a definite move in the right direction. Great work Mikrotik!

Hopefully this is licensed per RouterOS VM, per month. This will make it easy for cloud providers to spool up Routers for new clients without having to worry about committing to an entire years licence fee. It will also make it easy for short term contracts where you just need a router for 3 months, or for Proof of Concepts. And it will deliver a recurring revenue stream to Mikrotik to pay for new features !

wenasong · Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:51 am

I have been hosting cloud hosted ROS since 2010. Paid for the licenses L4&L5 but, is it possible to upgrade to CHR?

Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:41 am

I have been hosting cloud hosted ROS since 2010. Paid for the licenses L4&L5 but, is it possible to upgrade to CHR?

Currently we only offer the 1Mbit limited version, if you don't need higher sped, just use this image. In future we will offer subscriptions, but I don't think there will be any migration between old license and new.

tiernano · Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:04 am

Will Hyper-V be properly supported? Both Client and Server versions would be handy...

fposavec · Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:24 pm

is possible to install user-manager package?

Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:27 pm

It's a RouterOS device, just virtual. Install any package you want

rufee · Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:34 pm

Will there be a one time purchase option or will this just be a subscription based model ?

Yey for custom drivers though

Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:35 pm

We are planning a one time payment option as well.

wcsnet · Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:50 pm

Such good news this!!!

miharoot · Tue Jul 28, 2015 4:53 pm

VirtIO drivers (http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Virtio) not supported? big omission.

Tue Jul 28, 2015 4:56 pm

Like I already said, VIRTIO is coming

miharoot · Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:29 pm

VirtIO disk driver absent, but VirtIO network driver works at first sight.
bravo! very comfortable in this environment to do the lab\test network.

kangndo · Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:49 pm

Great!

masteras · Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:23 pm

Perfect!!!

apteixeira · Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:59 am

Hello,

This is great! Nice idea!

When I try to upgrade to most recent version (6.30.2) it resets the free license to a 24 hours license. Here are some screenshots.

Are we going to be able to upgrade this RouterOS VMs?

Before:

After:

Best regards.

Cha0s · Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:11 am

Apparently v6.30.2 does not have the new code to support the new licensing for the CHR.

I believe upgrades will work just fine after 6.31 is released.

Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:49 am

6.30.x is older than 6.31

6.30.x only includes fixes, not new features, such as this

fposavec · Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:31 am

Screenshot from 2015-07-29 09-30-21.png

I try to upgrade to 6.31.rc10 and error was: license does not permit to upgrade routeros.x86-6.31.rc10

I was upgrading via system/packages/upgrade

apteixeira · Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:52 pm

6.30.x is older than 6.31

6.30.x only includes fixes, not new features, such as this

Hello Normis,

You are right. I choose current version from the upgrade menu.

However, if you try to upgrade to the release candidate, then the actual license won’t let you.

Best regards.

Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:55 pm

Yes, it is a bug, current CHR release doesn't allow upgrades. Well, it is a test after all, we will make a fixed image soon.

gerakon · Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:44 pm

Will this work on XenServer 6.5? I imported the vmdk, gave it 512Mb RAM and got the following error while booting.

Booting Kernel Failed: Invalid argument

Is there something special I need to do?

XenROSCHR.jpg

Cha0s · Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:02 pm

I have the same problem with v6.x on XenServer, regardless of version.
v5.26 works just fine on XenServer.

Apparently XenServer support was broken in v6.x and is still broken to this day

fposavec · Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:06 pm

On XEN server 6.5 (free edition) I installed ROS 6.29.1 without any problems.

shortcircuitonline · Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:43 pm

+1

XEN server 6.5 (free edition) works much better and faster
xen have alot to offer and free

On I installed ROS 6.29.1 without any problems.

Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:44 pm

but did anyone from you try the CHR image on Xen ?

shortcircuitonline · Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:10 pm

pls add a link to ( CHR image on Xen )

but did anyone from you try the?

gerakon · Wed Jul 29, 2015 5:53 pm

XenServer 6.5 can import the VMDK image of CHR that Normis posted. But I got the kernel failed error above.

I installed the x86 6.30.1 on XenServer but got high cpu usage whenever there was 10Mb of ethernet traffic. You can see here http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=98882
You have to set veridian=false on the Xenserver to make it work. Info here http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=698862

I also tried setting veridian=false on the CHR VM that I setup, but the result was the same.

jp · Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:11 pm

Very nice.

I already use routerOS x86 on a virtual machine with kvm/virtualmin.
Virtual routerOS is a good firewall/router for virtual machines.

omega-00 · Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:40 am

Will there be optional CHR-only packages available for this flavor of RouterOS? For example, you've mentioned driver support for different virtualisation systems interfaces will be added, but would it be worthwhile that these be additional packages to be installed only as needed, as well as things like VM-tools etc.. ?

Furthermore, does MT have any plans to work with providers like VMware and Amazon to allow MikroTik routers to be a click-to-deploy option for new users? IE: Putting CHR in the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace

Hammy · Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:56 am

VMTools (or whatever that platform has) would be nice\required

apteixeira · Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:20 pm

Will there be optional CHR-only packages available for this flavor of RouterOS? For example, you've mentioned driver support for different virtualisation systems interfaces will be added, but would it be worthwhile that these be additional packages to be installed only as needed, as well as things like VM-tools etc.. ?

Furthermore, does MT have any plans to work with providers like VMware and Amazon to allow MikroTik routers to be a click-to-deploy option for new users? IE: Putting CHR in the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace

Hello,

Allowing to use RouterOS con AWS will be so nice and very usefull.

I hope you consider this.

Best regards.

kdas · Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:59 pm

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..

jaxx · Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:29 pm

This will have Fastpath and 64bit support, also custom drivers and other optimisations.

Oh Wait ! To this and if you add cpu HW AES into IPSEC and bring that upstrem to the x86 version, I'd give you a kiss on the spot !

marrold · Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:15 pm

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..

I use Virtio network interfaces with RouterOS, virtualise inside Linux KVM. I've not tried Virtio storage, but I suspect it will work.

apteixeira · Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:29 am

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..
I use Virtio network interfaces with RouterOS, virtualise inside Linux KVM. I've not tried Virtio storage, but I suspect it will work.

Hello,

It does not support VirtIO storage or PVSCSI. I just test it.

I hope it can be used in the future. Will be?

Regards.

kangndo · Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:34 am

Very nice!
Waiting for subscriptions version.

Mon Aug 03, 2015 8:21 am

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..

network is supported, disk is coming later

Hammy · Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:02 pm

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..
network is supported, disk is coming later

How many times can you say the same thing in the same thread?

Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:16 pm

As many times as somebody asks it

Peple don't like reading older posts, apparently.

pietroscherer · Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:54 pm

Hello,

When I run the CHR-vm, I get the following error:

Demo License expired!
Please reinstall...

And the CHR-vm goes down. Any fix?

Thanks

wpeople · Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:26 pm

i think until Mikrotik releases proper drivers, all this virtualisation thing is good for:
- demonstration
- testing
- dude
- user manager
and other low network usage things.

If you go for higher thruput/pps than you have to use direct access to NIC or specific drivers.
What i don't really understand, why Mikrotik not includes PV-HVM stock kernel drivers.
A standard linux installed to HVM, can nicely push ~900mbps traffic with low cpu usage, while RouterOS tops at ~150mbps with high CPU usage.

Hammy · Tue Aug 04, 2015 8:32 pm

i think until Mikrotik releases proper drivers, all this virtualisation thing is good for:
- demonstration
- testing
- dude
- user manager
and other low network usage things.

If you go for higher thruput/pps than you have to use direct access to NIC or specific drivers.
What i don't really understand, why Mikrotik not includes PV-HVM stock kernel drivers.
A standard linux installed to HVM, can nicely push ~900mbps traffic with low cpu usage, while RouterOS tops at ~150mbps with high CPU usage.

They've said what they are working on, so leave them to it. No need for 15 people to ask for Virtio storage drivers when they've already said it. They've said they're working on 10G VMXnet3.

Sooo.... move to feedback other than drivers as it's already been received.

wpeople · Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:39 pm

They've said what they are working on, so leave them to it. No need for 15 people to ask for Virtio storage drivers when they've already said it. They've said they're working on 10G VMXnet3.

Have i said, that those PV-HVM drivers already exist and working ?
So they just have to include that driver

I know, that solution is for Xen and not for VmWare. Maybe other (like proxmox, etc) virtualisation also use that.

kobuki · Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:49 pm

Great Idea. I'm already using several instances of ROS on virtualised platforms for live virtual systems and for testing. When a polished final product, I'm sure it will be a success.

Please consider adding the recognition of extra virtual disks to the appliance. Additional virtual storage space would be very useful for larger web caches, FTP or Samba servers as a simple and easy alternative to other storage appliaces with no fancy requirements.

OTOH, I don't really get why people want Virtio storage so much -- yes, it's the standard nowadays for KVM, but unless one has demanding performance requirements for storage I/O, it won't bring any benefit. And if they do, ROS is not the correct choice, IMO. It's first and foremost a router appliance. Virtio network is already working, and that's indeed a must.

bommi · Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:41 am

6.31rc13 changelog says:

*) chr - added support for virtio disks
*) chr - added support for HyperV fast ethernet

But where can we find the new images for download?

janisk · Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:37 pm

it is now on the download page. Later builds will include VMXNET3

[admin@MikroTik] > interface print 
Flags: D - dynamic, X - disabled, R - running, S - slave 
 #     NAME                                TYPE       ACTUAL-MTU L2MTU  MAX-L2MTU MAC-ADDRESS      
 0  R  ether1                              ether            1500                  00:0C:29:B1:BB:47
 1  R  ether2                              ether            1500                  00:0C:29:B1:BB:3D
[admin@MikroTik] > sy resource pci print 
 # DEVICE   VENDOR                                                NAME                                                       IRQ
 0 03:00.0  VMware                                                VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev: 1)                        11
 1 02:00.0  Intel Corporation                                     82545EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (re...         11

Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:41 pm

Thanks Mikrotik.

At this rate we won't have anything to complain about by mid next year and will need to find a new hobby

Keep up the great work.

janisk · Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:46 pm

forgot the link to the rc13 image http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc13.img

Cha0s · Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:54 pm

Will VMXNET3 be included on the standard x86 builds as well or only on the CHR images?

janisk · Wed Aug 05, 2015 2:30 pm

CHR only. And most probably will not change in the future.

janisk · Wed Aug 05, 2015 2:40 pm

Hello,

When I run the CHR-vm, I get the following error:

Demo License expired!
Please reinstall...

And the CHR-vm goes down. Any fix?

Thanks

you have to make sure that your virtual machine management system exposes virtualization bit to the guest os.

kobuki · Wed Aug 05, 2015 5:30 pm

Please consider adding the recognition of extra virtual disks to the appliance. Additional virtual storage space would be very useful for larger web caches, FTP or Samba servers as a simple and easy alternative to other storage appliaces with no fancy requirements.

Will this be possible in the final image?

Sob · Wed Aug 05, 2015 6:13 pm

So, is this mainly about new way of licensing (specifically copy protection)?

Standard RouterOS was already working in virtualized environments (at least some of them) and it was only missing few drivers to get better performance (or supports for others). And, from MikroTik's point of view, something preventing one user buying the licence, leaking disk image and whole world riding for free. Instead of adding those drivers to standard RouterOS, there's now special edition and standard RouterOS "most probably will not change". So what's it gonna be? Some kind of activation servers? Just out of curiosity, I swear I don't run a network of pirated RouterOS clones.

janisk · Thu Aug 06, 2015 10:48 am

we will check what can be done to allow additional storage for guest CHR.

There are 2 main goals here:
* make it easier to use RouterOS in virtual environment - deploying, configuring etc
* make it reasonable for customers that want virtual router up and running on demand. (licensing)

edit: rc14 with VMXNET3 support.

Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:19 am

Hi Janis.

Those are great goals.

It would be good if it worked like Microsoft SPLA. We spin up a new Windows VM from a template, it registers with a local KMS(licence server) that connects to Microsoft. Each month they invoice us for the number of Windows licences that have been active on our KMS.
This allows us to register licence without the VM being able to direct connect to the net, allows a grace period (evaluation period) and has worked flawlessly for us.

One of the UTM vendors has a similar system that works equally as well.

wpeople · Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:34 pm

Will VMXNET3 be included on the standard x86 builds as well or only on the CHR images?

I will be very interested if it's possible to mount a CHR image and copy the kernel module to std x86 image.
Hopefully Mikrotik not want to maintain 2 different kernel trees

wpeople · Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:34 pm

Janisk: would you include Xen PV-HVM drivers as well, please?
- KVM works now
- HyperV works now
- VmWare works now
- Xen still not :-*

Thu Aug 06, 2015 5:09 pm

Hi Janis.

Those are great goals.

It would be good if it worked like Microsoft SPLA. We spin up a new Windows VM from a template, it registers with a local KMS(licence server) that connects to Microsoft. Each month they invoice us for the number of Windows licences that have been active on our KMS.
This allows us to register licence without the VM being able to direct connect to the net, allows a grace period (evaluation period) and has worked flawlessly for us.

One of the UTM vendors has a similar system that works equally as well.

This is exactly how we plan to do it. Boot up the image, it will run in nag-screen mode until you log into your mikrotik account and "register" the new running machine. All details are not yet final, we are still making the plans. Internet will not be required all the time.

Thu Aug 06, 2015 6:19 pm

I have a somewhat weird but related to this feature request...

Any chance for a Docker base image?

(Travis-CI support once told me they plan to eventually allow users to spawn Docker containers...)

Hammy · Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:12 pm

Hi Janis.

Those are great goals.

It would be good if it worked like Microsoft SPLA. We spin up a new Windows VM from a template, it registers with a local KMS(licence server) that connects to Microsoft. Each month they invoice us for the number of Windows licences that have been active on our KMS.
This allows us to register licence without the VM being able to direct connect to the net, allows a grace period (evaluation period) and has worked flawlessly for us.

One of the UTM vendors has a similar system that works equally as well.
This is exactly how we plan to do it. Boot up the image, it will run in nag-screen mode until you log into your mikrotik account and "register" the new running machine. All details are not yet final, we are still making the plans. Internet will not be required all the time.

What about situations where you create/destroy VMs regularly, sometimes within the same month?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

janisk · Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:11 am

Hammy, nothing is set in stone yet and could change in the future. However, CHR is made with exactly this usage pattern in mind. You need some virtual router - it is easy to get it up, configuration checked and licensed if required. Or you could have virtual router prepared and when you need it active, license it. Granularity is not yet known.

janisk · Fri Aug 07, 2015 12:32 pm

Janisk: would you include Xen PV-HVM drivers as well, please?
- KVM works now
- HyperV works now
- VmWare works now
- Xen still not :-*

I am told that CHR will not have its PV-HVM drivers added for XEN, use non-para virtualized environment instead.

Hammy · Fri Aug 07, 2015 2:52 pm

Hammy, nothing is set in stone yet and could change in the future. However, CHR is made with exactly this usage pattern in mind. You need some virtual router - it is easy to get it up, configuration checked and licensed if required. Or you could have virtual router prepared and when you need it active, license it. Granularity is not yet known.

It's really exciting to see this much attention from Mikrotik to licensing, new platform support, etc. "We make Routerboards" was the mantra for too long. Maybe we'll even see paid software support soon! <ducking>

janisk · Fri Aug 07, 2015 4:14 pm

I have a somewhat weird but related to this feature request...

Any chance for a Docker base image?

(Travis-CI support once told me they plan to eventually allow users to spawn Docker containers...)

Docker base image will not be possible.

StubArea51 · Fri Aug 07, 2015 4:55 pm

Just catching up on this thread and the ESXi hosts in our lab are already doing cartwheels

This is an excellent addition to MikroTik portfolio of goodies. Will be spinning up some of these this morning. Some people have fishtanks in their office....we watch performance graphs in VSphere on all of our liitle pet VMs

tssge · Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:21 pm

Looks like they have improved tamper protection also. NPK packages are now checksummed and the format has changed.

tssge · Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:39 pm

Seems like the following new drivers (modules) are in the release RC 14:
vmxnet3
xen-netfront
xt_policy
sch_rate

Not sure what xt_policy and sch_rate does, but xt_policy is a netfilter module. sch_rate might be a proprietary MikroTik module. Looking forward to seeing new drivers, such as igbvf support for Intel Virtual Functions. SR-IOV would improve performance by a large magnitude probably.

Cha0s · Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:13 am

Looks like they have improved tamper protection also. NPK packages are now checksummed and the format has changed.

I believe that checksums for the NPK packages appeared in the late versions of v3.

Before that there were various packages created by users that allowed you to install other software (mainly quagga to replace the -then- buggy BGP implementation of Mikrotik)

tssge · Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:30 am

Looks like they have improved tamper protection also. NPK packages are now checksummed and the format has changed.
I believe that checksums for the NPK packages appeared in the late versions of v3.

Before that there were various packages created by users that allowed you to install other software (mainly quagga to replace the -then- buggy BGP implementation of Mikrotik)

At least normal x86 releases (version 6.3) did not seem to have checksumming, as packages could be changed at will and the NPK files themselves didn't contain checksums.

I wish I could load my own kernel modules with RouterOS so I'd get igbvf working, but it does not seem to be possible. Hopeyfully this cloud release will include the driver.

Cha0s · Sun Aug 09, 2015 5:35 pm

Unfortunately it has been a few years since I last checked, but I recall that on version <=3.20 you could use custom made NPK packages.

After v3.21 there was some package verification in place that did not allow to install those custom packages.

We used to use these in AWMN to be able to have Quagga, BIND DNS and traceroute/tracepath/mtr utilities on Mikrotik.
Mostly on x86 but I can see that there were also packages for MIPSBE.

You might be right about the checksums since the package verification I mentioned could be bypassed with a specific downgrade/upgrade procedure.
But there was definitely a package verification introduced back in v3.21.

Here's the original thread about it https://www.awmn.net/showthread.php?t=3 ... mikrolinux (It's in Greek so google translate is your friend

)

wpeople · Mon Aug 10, 2015 3:18 pm

Janisk: would you include Xen PV-HVM drivers as well, please?
- KVM works now
- HyperV works now
- VmWare works now
- Xen still not :-*
I am told that CHR will not have its PV-HVM drivers added for XEN, use non-para virtualized environment instead.

Janisk,
as i mentioned RouterOS was tested in HVM (hardware virtual machine) environment (that is NOT para-virtualised)
Booting (~2.6.38 or newer) linux in HVM mode automaticall detects the virtualised network, and start using built-in PV-HVM drivers.
http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/PV_on_HVM

This technique allows Hardware Virtualised Machine to use ParaVirtualised driver (for example windows GPLPV) to use high performace io paravirtualised devices instead of hardware emulation (what is much much slower).

janisk · Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:57 pm

latest image: http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc15.img

marrold · Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:05 pm

latest image: http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc15.img

Any change log or info on this release?

polokus · Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:14 pm

No instruction to run under QEMU? Is it possible? Already try on my FreeBSD boxes, no success.

Cha0s · Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:52 pm

No instruction to run under QEMU? Is it possible? Already try on my FreeBSD boxes, no success.

I run it the other day under QEMU on Windows via GNS3.

It works just fine!

Clbh · Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:28 pm

No instruction to run under QEMU? Is it possible? Already try on my FreeBSD boxes, no success.

qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -hda chr_6_31rc14.img

Is a very quick and dirty minimal configuration that should get you up and running. This will expose a single default emulated Intel NIC with guest-only networking and NAT.

If that works, you can then start by replacing the default NIC with a proper set of network devices configured with -net nic or -netdev/-device pairs.

"man qemu" will also give you all the info you need, obviously

Ideally you should be managing the complexity of the command-line configuration (which can very quickly get huge and unwieldy) via an abstraction tool such as libvirt.

abjornson · Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:21 pm

This is very cool! Great job Mikrotik for releasing this!

Has anyone tried running this on an AWS virtual machine? Are the kernel virtualization options required within this image?

Cha0s · Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:59 pm

It seems there is a bug with x64 enabled, bridges and dhcp server.

http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=99314
http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php ... 54#p494554

janisk · Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:09 pm

new image availabe http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc16.img

Hyper-V and Vmware SCSI disk support for extended storage.

edit: keep the bug reports and discussions here in this topic.
edit2: also state what virtual environment you are using with what settings.

Cha0s · Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:26 pm

Problem with bridges and dhcp-server on x64 mode still persists on rc16.

Tested on ESXi 5.5 with E1000 and VMXNET3 interfaces.

Tue Aug 11, 2015 4:43 pm

new image availabe http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc16.img

Hyper-V and Vmware SCSI disk support for extended storage.

What about KVM ?

tssge · Tue Aug 11, 2015 7:53 pm

Could you add igbvf driver to the release in order to use SR-IOV?

janisk · Wed Aug 12, 2015 1:01 pm

Could you add igbvf driver to the release in order to use SR-IOV?

we are planning to add that. Have to get proper hardware etc.

What about KVM ?

just add additional storage as a device use VIRTIO

tssge · Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:34 pm

Could you add igbvf driver to the release in order to use SR-IOV?
we are planning to add that. Have to get proper hardware etc.

Thank you! Looking forward to it.

regis · Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:22 pm

Hi everyone

I wanted to test the addition of a second Vmware scsi drive on CHR 6.31rc16

My CHR is installed on ESXi 5.5u2, i've added a new virtual disk drive (scsi, dependant, thin provisionned) but the command /disk print answers nothing.

How do we add a new virtual disk on CHR ?

Thanks for your help

Cha0s · Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:32 pm

Would it be possible to add/remove vNICs from CHR while running?

Other guest OSes (Windows, Linux) do support this feature and allow you to add remove virtual hardware without rebooting the VM.

Is that something you would be able to support on CHR? It would be really useful

regis · Wed Aug 12, 2015 5:42 pm

Hi everyone

I wanted to test the addition of a second Vmware scsi drive on CHR 6.31rc16

My CHR is installed on ESXi 5.5u2, i've added a new virtual disk drive (scsi, dependant, thin provisionned) but the command /disk print answers nothing.

How do we add a new virtual disk on CHR ?

Thanks for your help

I'm answering to myself: i've reconfigured the new disk as IDE and it is now detected by RouterOS.

but the changelog says "chr - added support for VMware SCSI virtual disks"

why is that ?

Sob · Wed Aug 12, 2015 6:49 pm

I'm testing it on VMware Player and not only SCSI disks work, they can be even added/removed without turning the VM off. I have scsi0.virtualDev="pvscsi" in .vmx (did not test others). CHR 6.31rc16.

janisk · Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:52 am

Hi everyone

I wanted to test the addition of a second Vmware scsi drive on CHR 6.31rc16

My CHR is installed on ESXi 5.5u2, i've added a new virtual disk drive (scsi, dependant, thin provisionned) but the command /disk print answers nothing.

How do we add a new virtual disk on CHR ?

Thanks for your help
I'm answering to myself: i've reconfigured the new disk as IDE and it is now detected by RouterOS.

but the changelog says "chr - added support for VMware SCSI virtual disks"

why is that ?

platform for testing Vmware virtualization is ESXi 6.0

scsi configuration for the test:

scsi0.virtualDev = "pvscsi"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
scsi0:0.fileName = "test_2.vmdk"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.redo = ""
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "192"
scsi0.sasWWID = "50 05 05 6e f4 ee b7 a0"

also, add scsi drives in order (starting with 0) jumping over may yield strange results.

m4rk0 · Thu Aug 13, 2015 5:46 pm

I've just started VmWare image successfully on my Proxmox machine! Good job MikroTik!

regis · Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:59 pm

platform for testing Vmware virtualization is ESXi 6.0

scsi configuration for the test:
Code: Select all
scsi0.virtualDev = "pvscsi"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
scsi0:0.fileName = "test_2.vmdk"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.redo = ""
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "192"
scsi0.sasWWID = "50 05 05 6e f4 ee b7 a0"
also, add scsi drives in order (starting with 0) jumping over may yield strange results.

Thanks for your answer Janisk

For my first attempt, I used the template "Other Linux 64bit" and it defaulted with LSI Logic SCSI controller and E1000 network adapter.

I created a new virtual machine with the template "Other Linux 3.x 64bit" and the machine is now created with VMware paravirtual controller and VMXnet3 network adapters.

But I was still unable to boot the VM with disk in SCSI mode (works fine with IDE), I had to "import" the vmdk with the following command executed on the ESXi console :

vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/Datastore_local_x3300/CHR2/chr-6.31.vmdk /vmfs/volumes/Datastore_local_x3300/CHR2/chr-6.31import.vmdk

My CHR VM is now booting in full SCSI paravirtual mode on ESXI 5.5u2

janisk · Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:40 am

we will look into other virtual SCSI devices for vmware. Cannot promise that they will be able to boot them. There are 2 other "controllers" that might get support.

marrold · Fri Aug 14, 2015 2:32 pm

Any idea when bridges will be fixed?

apteixeira · Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:09 am

Hello,

Where can I find the last CHR vmdk disk?. Do I need to convert the img file to a vmdk?

Regards

class889 · Sat Aug 15, 2015 7:36 am

Hello,

Where can I find the last CHR vmdk disk?. Do I need to convert the img file to a vmdk?

Regards

You can download the .img file and using "StarWind V2V Converter" you can convert it to anything you'd like (its free).
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31rc16.img

Regarding Fast Path:
Does anyone able to get fastTrack to work with it? I assume since it suppose to work with FastPath it has support for FastTrack as well?

NetTraptor · Sat Aug 15, 2015 8:10 am

Is 6.31 Img going to be available through the download page ?

marrold · Sat Aug 15, 2015 12:10 pm

Is 6.31 Img going to be available through the download page ?

I couldn't find it either. I downloaded the RC, upgraded it, reset the configuration to completely blank, and made a new copy of the img.

janisk · Mon Aug 17, 2015 9:09 am

Is 6.31 Img going to be available through the download page ?
I couldn't find it either. I downloaded the RC, upgraded it, reset the configuration to completely blank, and made a new copy of the img.

sorry, did not upload them on time.

http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_31.vmdk

pietroscherer · Mon Aug 17, 2015 5:46 pm

Hello,

When I run the CHR-vm, I get the following error:

Demo License expired!
Please reinstall...

And the CHR-vm goes down. Any fix?

Thanks
you have to make sure that your virtual machine management system exposes virtualization bit to the guest os.

Hello Janisk,

I updated my Vbox version to 5.2 and now I can choose the virtualization option (like KVM, Hyper-V, Legacy, etc...) and now, works perfectly.

Thank you very much.

planetcoop · Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:52 pm

I have also tried the online update method which seemed to work fine. +

I have tried several versions in an attempt at the VMWare 10gbps interfaces which work but i have not been able to trial the speed test successfully yet.

Do we know when speed test and licensing will work? I currently have the ccr1036 with two tengb sfp+ and would like to see the cost models for the CHR.

infused · Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:42 am

All depends on the pricing. Right now vedges are free to me as part of vmwares bundle. However, they are quite limited. Would be nice to replace them.

I think you need to price on the vedge model where you can select to deploy:

compact
normal
max

compact is basically 1 core, 512mb memory
normal 2 cores 1gb memory

etc etc.

Don't make it painful to switch.

gogusrl · Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:05 pm

I'm interested if there will be a "home use" licensing option ? Something with similar restrictions to the regular Mikrotik licenses and no speed limits.

I run RouterOS in a vm for gigabit since you still don't have a consumer device that can handle gigabit routing (*serious finger shaking*).

Chupaka · Tue Aug 18, 2015 8:25 pm

Huh... I disabled 'Allow x86-64' in System -> Resources -> Hardware, and now CHR on ESXi sees only 1 CPU core and no Ethernet (VMXNET3). How can I enable 'Allow x86-64' from console?

zucllinux · Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:04 am

I found that we could not use sstp server . sstp client 's log imply that it's terminated by remote peer. But when i checked the server side, i found it's the chr not responded.
And i found that the chr is not very productive. it went down sometimes,making me to rebuild again.

class889 · Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:00 am

Huh... I disabled 'Allow x86-64' in System -> Resources -> Hardware, and now CHR on ESXi sees only 1 CPU core and no Ethernet (VMXNET3). How can I enable 'Allow x86-64' from console?

just change the interface to E1000 and then you'll have access.
then add the x86-64 option and then change the interface to VMXNET3 again.

Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:18 am

See our article about CHR: http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php ... 60#p495560

skipcube · Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:35 am

hi Mikrotik, Can we get an idea about pricing and subscriptions? Technically this looks nice, but would like to know if it make financial sense for us to put in development work. Will there be an outright purchase option like today's License levels?

janisk · Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:51 am

for CHR do not change away from x86_64. That will be the default and only option on CHR. For non-CHR x86 deployments, there will be only 1 option (as it was through ou 6.x branch) only x86 option.

So CHR will have a 64bit kernel. The other x86 will have a 32bit kernel.

So, enjoy that switch while it is there as in the future it will be removed.

edit: sorry, currently cannot give any details regarding licensing.

Chupaka · Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:01 pm

So, enjoy that switch while it is there as in the future it will be removed.

so, it's WinBox-only switch? I cannot change it via CLI?

janisk · Thu Aug 20, 2015 8:55 am

No, the switch will not be there at all, not in the winbox nor in the CLI. CHR will use exclusively x86_64 kernel and standard RouterOS will use the usual X86 kernel as it was till now. At this time you could still change the flavor of kernel used.

Chupaka · Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:39 am

At this time you could still change the flavor of kernel used.

how can I do that now, without network access to the router? I have only CLI

Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:43 am

Chupaka. Once more. Ignore this bug.

Anshul · Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:34 pm

i'm using mikrotik rb2011uas-rm router.. There i configured some basic radius and hotspot configs...when i did my login i found that i'm unable to access some websites...plzz let me why its happening.....

Chupaka · Thu Aug 20, 2015 8:42 pm

Chupaka. Once more. Ignore this bug.

thanks, reinstalled to solve

I hoped there was easy way...

Rudios · Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:20 pm

I don't know whether it is already mentioned by somebody but I did not read it yet.
I have tried the latest available version (6.31) on Hyper-V (Running on windows 10, if it matters) and it seems to work.
Only thing I noticed is that only legacy network interfaces are available on the RouterOS installation. Normal network interfaces won't show up in the OS

syadnom · Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:40 am

I can't find a 6.31rc9 user-manager package. the full 6.31 package wont install, nor will a 6.30 package. any help here? want to get into testing

Rudios · Fri Aug 21, 2015 8:05 am

Another possible bug I found is that when I assign more than 1 virtual processor, the interface I configured won't get an IP address from my DHCP server (running on a real routerboard).
The routerboard does offer an IP, but it keeps in status offered and the DHCP client on the CHR keeps searching.

delphi · Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:15 am

Hello. I have read this topic and it seems that mikrotik users here are looking for bugs in CHR and talk about it to developers. I think it is not good. The real good thing is the developers should help us to move the CHR or simply the VM image of router OS to current cloud hosted servers such as Azure. I make some actions and see that current situation is bad. Nor CHR nor VM image of routerOS have no ability to be successfull working in Azure. The current network infastructure not capable to work from the box with network infrastructure of Azure. The lack of VMagent leave no chance to deploy the RouterOS images in Azure. I really want to do that and pay for x86 license.

Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:19 am

CHR is in early test stage. It has only been posted on forum, so this is like Beta1. There is no Azure support because it is too early. We will have Amazon and Azure later, just be patient. If you are not comfortable with Beta1 test level, just ignore this thread for a while.

marrold · Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:31 am

I'm unsure of why there is some negativity - I've been using CHR inside GNS3 / QEMU and it works perfectly as a test platform. I dont think it was ever Mikrotik's intention to release a full blown router aimed at virtualisation from day 1. As Normis said, this should be considered a 'BETA', and so far, I think it's great.

delphi · Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:54 am

I have a success with VMware and KVM using the RouterOS. But my goal is to move the server with routerOS to Azure. Please. could you anounce the date of first beta image of CHR able to start in Azure? Could you please sign me to letters about the success at such imprtant part or working on CHR.

delphi · Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:02 am

Only thing I advice to the Mikrotik leading members - you are to late with CHR. The market is ready for about 2 years. Now the migration to cloud is at the end. If you create a VM images able to working in Amazon and Azure you should do that very fast.

delphi · Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:06 am

When you will do the CHR version for Amazon and Azure please notice that there is not support of remote display and console. The only way to make it accessable is to introduce to network infrastruture and create a real working profile for current routerOS such as Home AP and etc.

janisk · Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:56 am

I don't know whether it is already mentioned by somebody but I did not read it yet.
I have tried the latest available version (6.31) on Hyper-V (Running on windows 10, if it matters) and it seems to work.
Only thing I noticed is that only legacy network interfaces are available on the RouterOS installation. Normal network interfaces won't show up in the OS

yes, this is confirmed bug. we will work to get that normal-network-interface of Hyper-V working again.

Buster2 · Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:13 pm

Janisk: would you include Xen PV-HVM drivers as well, please?
- KVM works now
- HyperV works now
- VmWare works now
- Xen still not :-*
I am told that CHR will not have its PV-HVM drivers added for XEN, use non-para virtualized environment instead.

That would make it useless for XenServer setups. XenServer/XenCenter won't allow live migration of HVM machines until XenTools are installed. XenTools (or open-vm-tools) are not available to install on RouterOS. My last post on testing live migration with RouterOS (x86) on XenServer is still valid for RouterOS 6.30.1 and XenServer 6.5.

I tried to proof me being wrong, but i don't get CHR image to work. [edit]I tried to import vmdk with xencenter.[/edit]

but did anyone from you try the CHR image on Xen ?

I'm getting boot error "kernel failed: invalid argument" with chr image on XenServer 6.5.
I did set platform:viridian=false as described earlier in this thread and in that thread.

Rudios · Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:41 am

I don't know whether it is already mentioned by somebody but I did not read it yet.
I have tried the latest available version (6.31) on Hyper-V (Running on windows 10, if it matters) and it seems to work.
Only thing I noticed is that only legacy network interfaces are available on the RouterOS installation. Normal network interfaces won't show up in the OS
yes, this is confirmed bug. we will work to get that normal-network-interface of Hyper-V working again.

And what about my other finding?

Another possible bug I found is that when I assign more than 1 virtual processor, the interface I configured won't get an IP address from my DHCP server (running on a real routerboard).
The routerboard does offer an IP, but it keeps in status offered and the DHCP client on the CHR keeps searching.

janisk · Tue Aug 25, 2015 9:14 am

CHR running on XEN

[admin@xen] > sy resource pci print 
 # DEVICE   VENDOR                     NAME                                                       IRQ
 0 00:03.0  Cirrus Logic                    GD 5446 (rev: 0)                                             0
 1 00:02.0  XenSource, Inc.             Xen Platform Device (rev: 1)                                11
 2 00:01.3  Intel Corporation            82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev: 3)                           10
 3 00:01.1  Intel Corporation            82371SB PIIX3 IDE [Natoma/Triton II] (rev: 0)                0
 4 00:01.0  Intel Corporation            82371SB PIIX3 ISA [Natoma/Triton II] (rev: 0)                0
 5 00:00.0  Intel Corporation            440FX - 82441FX PMC [Natoma] (rev: 2)                        0
[admin@xen] > ip ad p
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic 
 #   ADDRESS            NETWORK         INTERFACE                                                                               
 0 D 192.168.88.2/24      192.168.88.0      bridge1                                                                                 
[admin@xen] > ip dhcp-client print 
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid 
 #   INTERFACE      USE-PEER-DNS ADD-DEFAULT-ROUTE STATUS        ADDRESS            
 0   bridge1                                                     yes          yes               bound         192.168.88.2/24     
[admin@xen] > sy hardware print 
  multi-cpu: yes
  [admin@xen] > sy resource print 
                   uptime: 3m13s
                  version: 6.32rc5
               build-time: Aug/24/2015 16:16:22
              free-memory: 88.5MiB
             total-memory: 105.8MiB
                      cpu: Intel(R)
                cpu-count: 2
            cpu-frequency: 3491MHz
                 cpu-load: 0%
           free-hdd-space: 30.1MiB
          total-hdd-space: 63.5MiB
  write-sect-since-reboot: 1120
         write-sect-total: 1121
        architecture-name: x86_64
               board-name: x86
                 platform: MikroTik

aliffers · Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:33 pm

we will check what can be done to allow additional storage for guest CHR.

There are 2 main goals here:
* make it easier to use RouterOS in virtual environment - deploying, configuring etc
* make it reasonable for customers that want virtual router up and running on demand. (licensing)

edit: rc14 with VMXNET3 support.

That second point is what's tweaked my interest, or rather have it running all the time as a hot-standby using VRRP with an actual physical router. Use CHR to deploy upgrades first, fail over to check everything remains functional, upgrade the physical router and fail back, or just as a backup in case of complete failure and waiting for a new router to get freighted across the country. I just got this image (6.31) fired up in Hyper-V right away, so now it's just a matter of testing throughput.

HaPe · Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:52 pm

There should be a tool to prepare images with own start config and config applied after reset. Useful for providers.

janisk · Wed Aug 26, 2015 12:00 pm

All the details of the licensing scheme are not yet known or cannot be disclosed. For now, you have limitations of Free tier - that is 1MBps of throughput.

gerakon · Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:34 pm

CHR running on XEN

So is this a fix in 6.32rc5? I didn't find a place to download 6.32rc5. I tried
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32rc5.vmdk

but just got sent back to http://www.mikrotik.com/

planetcoop · Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:11 pm

All the details of the licensing scheme are not yet known or cannot be disclosed. For now, you have limitations of Free tier - that is 1MBps of throughput.

I tested the latest CHR 6.32rc5 and have found that the bandwidth test tools do work now. Interestingly i was able to push gigabit speeds in the test. is the 1Mb/s a routing or inspection throughput limit?

Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:24 pm

Interestingly i was able to push gigabit speeds in the test. is the 1Mb/s a routing or inspection throughput limit?

It is expected to be a per-interface limit. Either this limit does not apply to the bandwidth test tool, or you have encountered a build where this limit is (accidentally?) turned off.

Sob · Fri Aug 28, 2015 3:35 am

It's outgoing limit. So if you try bandwidth test CHR->other it's capped at 1Mbit, while other->CHR is unlimited.

-

On completely unrelated topic, Tools->Profile seems to be broken. It does not show anything under VMware (tested with Player and ESXi).

janisk · Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:56 am

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk

Hyper-V normal interface is fixed.

StubArea51 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:48 pm

Great! will try these ASAP. Really like the direction the CHR is going

dw5304 · Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:31 pm

confirm synthetic links work in hyper-v server 2012r2 and server 2016 tp2
any eta on when licensing info might be made available?

ArthurZz1 · Fri Sep 04, 2015 4:18 pm

Thank you for giving Hyper-V some well deserved attention

Looking forward to do some performance testing once the 1Mbps limit is lifted.

leemans · Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:00 pm

Dear,
Can the Cloud Hosted Router itself be a Virtual Router with KVM?
I suppose this will depend in the future on the hosted provider.
Thanks,
Patrick

mavink · Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:03 pm

Dear,
Can the Cloud Hosted Router itself be a Virtual Router with KVM?
I suppose this will depend in the future on the hosted provider.
Thanks,
Patrick

I'm wondering about the same thing. I'd like to deploy a couple of RouterOS instances on the Vultr cloud (https://www.vultr.com) that uses KVM, but they require you to install from an ISO file. The default x86 ISO that Mikrotik provides doesn't have virtio drivers and thus doesn't see a hard disk to install to.

mavink · Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:23 pm

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..
network is supported, disk is coming later

Can you add both virtio disk and network support to the x86 installer ISO as well? That would be a great addition!

marrold · Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:12 pm

Dear,
Can the Cloud Hosted Router itself be a Virtual Router with KVM?
I suppose this will depend in the future on the hosted provider.
Thanks,
Patrick

Yes it can. I'm using it in both KVM and QEMU.

mavink · Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:05 pm

Very nice!

Problems I've met are unsupported virtio (disk and network both) and cloud-init to be possible to load on AWS, Openstack, etc..
network is supported, disk is coming later
Can you add both virtio disk and network support to the x86 installer ISO as well? That would be a great addition!

I just received this info from Vultr's support desk:

We do get a number of requests for that particular OS, but enabling IDE has a significant processing overhead.

So apparently there is more interest in running RouterOS in this way, the only thing that's needed to get this working is virtio disk support in the x86 installer-ISO. If Mikrotik needs testers for this just let me know.

Cha0s · Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:08 pm

We do get a number of requests for that particular OS, but enabling IDE has a significant processing overhead.
So apparently there is more interest in running RouterOS in this way, the only thing that's needed to get this working is virtio disk support in the x86 installer-ISO. If Mikrotik needs testers for this just let me know.

I don't think they really know Mikrotik RouterOS. If they did they wouldn't say that there will be a significant processing overhead because of IDE.
Once Mikrotik boots it pretty much writes almost nothing to the disk. So there is no disk IO to cause any load

mavink · Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:13 pm

I don't think they really know Mikrotik RouterOS. If they did they wouldn't say that there will be a significant processing overhead because of IDE.
Once Mikrotik boots it pretty much writes almost nothing to the disk. So there is no disk IO to cause any load

That was my exact response

faisalreza · Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:40 am

Wow, routerOS is going to the Cloud

if based on linux package, please add qemu-guest-agent and open-vm-tools to the routeros kernel. it would be very nice to have hypervisor driver on the vm

www.imxpert.co

THG · Wed Sep 09, 2015 9:59 pm

it is now on the download page. Later builds will include VMXNET3

[admin@MikroTik] > interface print 
Flags: D - dynamic, X - disabled, R - running, S - slave 
 #     NAME                                TYPE       ACTUAL-MTU L2MTU  MAX-L2MTU MAC-ADDRESS      
 0  R  ether1                              ether            1500                  00:0C:29:B1:BB:47
 1  R  ether2                              ether            1500                  00:0C:29:B1:BB:3D
[admin@MikroTik] > sy resource pci print 
 # DEVICE   VENDOR                                                NAME                                                       IRQ
 0 03:00.0  VMware                                                VMXNET3 Ethernet Controller (rev: 1)                        11
 1 02:00.0  Intel Corporation                                     82545EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper) (re...         11

The L2 MTU field is empty. Is this going to change in future releases of the CHR?

hugleo · Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:53 pm

Troubles using CHR version:

1) Mikrotik create a dhcp client on ether1. Even if I disable dhcp client or reset the configuration mikrotik always create a dhcp client on ether1 and a get stuck with a automatic default gateway...
2) Is hard to search for neighbours on winbox. Sometimes winbox show but most of time no. Btw I'm running winbox on linux...

I have no such problems using the PC x86 version...

janisk · Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:22 pm

Troubles using CHR version:

1) Mikrotik create a dhcp client on ether1. Even if I disable dhcp client or reset the configuration mikrotik always create a dhcp client on ether1 and a get stuck with a automatic default gateway...
2) Is hard to search for neighbours on winbox. Sometimes winbox show but most of time no. Btw I'm running winbox on linux...

I have no such problems using the PC x86 version...

on what virtual machine you are running your guest? And yes, that is one of the things for better EC2 integration. We might think of an option to disable that automatic DHCP addition to the interface.

Also, using ISO installation you will not be able to install CHR. For now it is deemed as an image that will install on itself at the first boot.

hugleo · Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:26 pm

Troubles using CHR version:

1) Mikrotik create a dhcp client on ether1. Even if I disable dhcp client or reset the configuration mikrotik always create a dhcp client on ether1 and a get stuck with a automatic default gateway...
2) Is hard to search for neighbours on winbox. Sometimes winbox show but most of time no. Btw I'm running winbox on linux...

I have no such problems using the PC x86 version...
on what virtual machine you are running your guest? And yes, that is one of the things for better EC2 integration. We might think of an option to disable that automatic DHCP addition to the interface.

Also, using ISO installation you will not be able to install CHR. For now it is deemed as an image that will install on itself at the first boot.

Ok..

Virtual box

Rudios · Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:36 am

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk

Hyper-V normal interface is fixed.

I don't know what is wrong, but in my case it just keeps rebooting on Hyper-V (Running on Windows 10)

[edit]
I also have tried to start from scratch.
Picked the 6.31 IMG file, converted it for Hyper-V. It runs ok.
Via the system -> packages I checked for updates and update 6.32.1 is available.
Upgrading to this version causes continuous reboots.

[edit2]
'Upgrading' to 6.30.4 causes no interfaces in Hyper-V and also gives me the 24hour limit like I have installed it from the x86 iso image.

[edit3]
Upgrading to the RC branch (6.33rc4) causes the reboot loop.

dw5304 · Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:33 pm

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk

Hyper-V normal interface is fixed.
I don't know what is wrong, but in my case it just keeps rebooting on Hyper-V (Running on Windows 10)

[edit]
I also have tried to start from scratch.
Picked the 6.31 IMG file, converted it for Hyper-V. It runs ok.
Via the system -> packages I checked for updates and update 6.32.1 is available.
Upgrading to this version causes continuous reboots.

[edit2]
'Upgrading' to 6.30.4 causes no interfaces in Hyper-V and also gives me the 24hour limit like I have installed it from the x86 iso image.

[edit3]
Upgrading to the RC branch (6.33rc4) causes the reboot loop.

their are known issues with hyper-v and some builds of windows 10. is this the insider preview build of windows 10?

Rudios · Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:52 pm

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk

Hyper-V normal interface is fixed.
I don't know what is wrong, but in my case it just keeps rebooting on Hyper-V (Running on Windows 10)

[edit]
I also have tried to start from scratch.
Picked the 6.31 IMG file, converted it for Hyper-V. It runs ok.
Via the system -> packages I checked for updates and update 6.32.1 is available.
Upgrading to this version causes continuous reboots.

[edit2]
'Upgrading' to 6.30.4 causes no interfaces in Hyper-V and also gives me the 24hour limit like I have installed it from the x86 iso image.

[edit3]
Upgrading to the RC branch (6.33rc4) causes the reboot loop.
their are known issues with hyper-v and some builds of windows 10. is this the insider preview build of windows 10?

I didn't read about these as known issues. And I'm running an official version of Windows 10, upgraded from 7, for that matter.
I will try to test it on other versions of windows hyper-v but that will take time....
Hopefully MikroTik will be able to solve this in the meantime.

janisk · Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:01 pm

you have issues only on Windows 10? Can someone chime in with other versions of windows?

Buster2 · Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:11 am

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk

Any news for XenServer users? The following is still valid for 6.32 on XenServer6.5:

Will this work on XenServer 6.5? I imported the vmdk, gave it 512Mb RAM and got the following error while booting.

Booting Kernel Failed: Invalid argument

Is there something special I need to do?

Janisk: would you include Xen PV-HVM drivers as well, please?
- KVM works now
- HyperV works now
- VmWare works now
- Xen still not :-*
I am told that CHR will not have its PV-HVM drivers added for XEN, use non-para virtualized environment instead.
That would make it useless for XenServer setups. XenServer/XenCenter won't allow live migration of HVM machines until XenTools are installed. XenTools (or open-vm-tools) are not available to install on RouterOS.

Jetrider · Tue Sep 15, 2015 11:31 am

Maybe I did read this all too quickly and missed something, but can anyone explain me, how this VM is different from any x86 MikroTik I can setup on, say, VMWare ? Okay, this has 1Mbit limit per interface, anything else ?

Tue Sep 15, 2015 1:59 pm

A. Has more modern supported devices
B. Is more virtualization friendly
C. Free version is limited to 1Mb per interface
D. Limitations will be removed when you pay monthly fee - cost and start date not decided yet

Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:01 pm

64bit, all the latest drivers and VM tools

dw5304 · Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:01 pm

normis, any word on when we might be able to get a trial license w.o the 1mb restriction?
would like to see how mikrotik handles 56gbe and 100gbe interfaces.

thanks.

also side note windows 10 hyper-v works fine with chr on the current insider preview build (10532)

marrold · Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:27 pm

normis, any word on when we might be able to get a trial license w.o the 1mb restriction?
would like to see how mikrotik handles 56gbe and 100gbe interfaces.

Mikrotik answered this 3 weeks ago -

All the details of the licensing scheme are not yet known or cannot be disclosed. For now, you have limitations of Free tier - that is 1MBps of throughput.

Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:32 pm

We are still discussing how this will work on the server and in the RouterOS interface. Managing lots of such subscriptions is not easy. Let's say you have 30 paid subscriptions and 50 trials for 100Mbit and 20 1mbit free ones, and now want to upgrade 10 to 1Gbit and cancel 20 subscriptions

wpeople · Tue Sep 15, 2015 4:49 pm

new images for CHR
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.img
http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/chr_6_32.vmdk
Any news for XenServer users? The following is still valid for 6.32 on XenServer6.5:

Will this work on XenServer 6.5? I imported the vmdk, gave it 512Mb RAM and got the following error while booting.

Booting Kernel Failed: Invalid argument

Is there something special I need to do?

Exactly the same for me.
I've tried under Debian with Xen4.0 and Xen4.1, HVM mode
what is strange, it would like to start linux, but if i press [tab] it says "system"

dw5304 · Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:37 pm

We are still discussing how this will work on the server and in the RouterOS interface. Managing lots of such subscriptions is not easy. Let's say you have 30 paid subscriptions and 50 trials for 100Mbit and 20 1mbit free ones, and now want to upgrade 10 to 1Gbit and cancel 20 subscriptions

makes sense and well aware of the fact it was "answered" i was asking if their was any new updates to it....
subscriptions will be hard to do but in terms of full copies witch im interested in it shouldn't be much different than what is currently used correct?

janisk · Wed Sep 16, 2015 12:55 pm

xen update - in our tests we are running XEN 4.4.1 and there is problem that if you give image file directly guest will not boot up. There is a workaround - you have to run the image for example, in KVM ($kvm chr-6.33rc10.img) and then stop when KVm reboots. After that you will be able to boot this same image as a XEN DOMU

hegars · Thu Sep 17, 2015 9:19 am

So excited about this! can't wait to run it on my AWS deployment

Installed and works like a dream on KVM on linode.com as well

TAKE MY MONEY!!!

onfonte · Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:22 am

Hi,

Great that Mikrotik likes to sold Virtual Appliances of they impressive RouterOS. However, the current version of RouterOS CHR lacks the "open-vm-tools". Without this package (I suggest to deploy it as a "package" if someone don't likes to install it) it's impossible to use this vApp in a production environment. The connection between the Hypervisor and the guest VM is a must have for shutdown the vApp. Please, add it in the next version (in the core or as package).

Thank you!
O.

onfonte · Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:28 am

We are releasing a test version of an exciting new feature - Cloud Hosted Router (CHR).

Those are not installers, but ready disk images.

Please, don't post screenshots of wokstation virtual hypervisors, I suggest to post: "config values" for create the Virtual Machine. For example:

* Create VM for ESXi:

- CPU: 1 core
- GuestOS: Other 64bit
- RAM: 256MB (can be less?)
- HD: Connect as IDE (or SCSI) the VMDK image
- NIC1: e1000 (for management only)
- NIC2: VMXNET3 (ether1, first real port "WAN")
- NIC3: VMXNET3 (ether2, second real port "LAN")
- NIC4: VMXNET3 (ether3, third real port "DMZ")
- NIC5: VMXNET3 (ether4, four real port "OPT")
- No USB
- No Audio
...

So this is more clear and easy to use.
Regards.
O.

Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:30 am

We are releasing a test version of an exciting new feature - Cloud Hosted Router (CHR).

Those are not installers, but ready disk images.
Please, don't post screenshots of wokstation virtual hypervisors, I suggest to post: "config values" for create the Virtual Machine. For example:

* Create VM for ESXi:

- CPU: 1 core
- GuestOS: Other 64bit
- RAM: 256MB (can be less?)
- HD: Connect as IDE (or SCSI) the VMDK image
- NIC1: e1000 (for management only)
- NIC2: VMXNET3 (ether1, first real port "WAN")
- NIC3: VMXNET3 (ether2, second real port "LAN")
- NIC4: VMXNET3 (ether3, third real port "DMZ")
- NIC5: VMXNET3 (ether4, four real port "OPT")
- No USB
- No Audio
...

So this is more clear and easy to use.
Regards.
O.

Just like some people prefer Winbox over CLI, some people have no idea how to use the values you posted. Advanced users don't need instructions at all.

aTan · Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:08 pm

Any plans to add fake/dummy wlan interface? I'd like to use chr for script testing and I need to read/write wlan properties.

xezen · Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:18 pm

does anyone get image to run on esxi 6.0.0 as my image keeps telling me full

daras · Sat Sep 19, 2015 12:16 pm

Hi, everybody i cannot make it to work.

When i am trying to connect to the console of the router i am getting the following error

127.0.0.1:2001 network error:connection refused

Am i missing something ?

atcsecure · Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:53 pm

what about support for AWS? having the ability to leverage routeros in the cloud is a great step forward as more and more companies embrace the cloud and "infrastructure as code", routeros is a perfect solution.

I would expect to see an unlimited "version" just like there is for x86 or ppc devices

Thanks

Dan Metcalf

onfonte · Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:55 am

Just like some people prefer Winbox over CLI, some people have no idea how to use the values you posted. Advanced users don't need instructions at all.

Ok! But, please, remember to include "open-vm-tools" in next release!

robertEIT · Mon Sep 21, 2015 11:49 pm

Hi,
Can someone help me figure out why my VirtualBox just shuts down the VM all of a sudden? I can barely reach the login prompt.

Vbox 4.3.30 on OpenSUSE 13.1

I did all the steps in the first post using the .vmdk image, except for setting up Acceleration to KVM, there is no such option in my Vbox.

zizobaddy · Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:12 am

Can't connect with winbox.

That is most likely a VM software config issue. Depends on how you set up your virtual NIC and how it is connected to the host PC.

VirtualBox has NAT by default, configure it to use Bridge or reconfigure your network accordingly

Set an IP and login via IP v4 or v6

use
either as dhcp-client or set an ip manually

Mac didn't work for me too

janisk · Tue Sep 22, 2015 11:28 am

what about support for AWS?

coming. (XEN HVM)

wpeople · Tue Sep 22, 2015 3:52 pm

xen update - in our tests we are running XEN 4.4.1 and there is problem that if you give image file directly guest will not boot up. There is a workaround - you have to run the image for example, in KVM ($kvm chr-6.33rc10.img) and then stop when KVm reboots. After that you will be able to boot this same image as a XEN DOMU

Hm. If we use Xen, we don't use KVM - what is a different hypervisor.
Also, i copy the content of the image file into (LVM)partition, and not start the file itself (but that's not important, i'm pretty sure)

robertEIT · Tue Sep 22, 2015 4:57 pm

Hi,
Can someone help me figure out why my VirtualBox just shuts down the VM all of a sudden? I can barely reach the login prompt.

Vbox 4.3.30 on OpenSUSE 13.1

I did all the steps in the first post using the .vmdk image, except for setting up Acceleration to KVM, there is no such option in my Vbox.

I just updated Vbox to 5.x version from the official linux repo. I now, have the "KVM" option under "Acceleration" tab and it works, VM starts and run.

I still have some issue with the VM going to "black screen" and the RouterOS shutting down though, happens randomly.

janisk · Wed Sep 23, 2015 11:41 am

if CHR stops right after the boot - you have to make sure that you have exposed virtualization bit to the CHR. Without it it will just shutdown. And in logs you will see that it is proper shutdown and nothing is wrong with the guest itself.