Hello everyone I have a question what is the best way for doing backup and loading onto other mikrotik. I used export and loaded it onto the other mikrotik but Do I need to change mac addresses and what other changes do I need to make and what about the binary one if i load binary onto the other mikrotik if both are different models is that gonna cause any problem .
Whats the best possible way? Where I need exactly the same thing on same or different mikrotik ?
Thanks

I havent been very lucky at transferring whole backups between routers of the same ilk or different ilk.
I tend to copy configs over parts at a time.
Once I am done I put both copies into notepad plus plus and use their add on tool to do a file to file comparison.
The comparison highlights every slight difference between the two configs.
So my answer is.. I do it the hard way.

Binary backups should only be restored on the very same unit. The reason mostky being MAC addresses. Other than that it would be fine to restore them on different unit but same model.

ASCII exports are more versatile (MAC addresses might still be an issue) and could be replayed on different models, but lack some vital data: usernames and passwords, certificates and key files ... and possibly some more ...

The replay on different model will likely fail at some point as well, it can't survive a missing interface or different config syntax due to different peripherals or something else ... but at least you'll see the failure while failing binary restore leaves device in non-working condition.

Transfer of configuration from one router to another (both to continue service after hardware failure and to serve as template for a new router) is a function that certainly needs improvement in RouterOS.

There should be functions like "restore but ignore MAC addresses" and "continue after minor errors/mismatches".

As it is now, it is a lot of work to get it right.

Thanks to all of you guys

Hi,

I would use binary backup only for the same device and not for transfering configuration to other Mikrotik device. Especially not if there are different models. I experienced very weird stuff after I restored the binary backup to another device.

Always use export and import for transfering configuration to different device. I personally copy parts of the configuration from notepad and paste to the new device and at the same time check if any error happens and correct the commands. Same as anav suggested I always use the same version of RouterOS as the source because Mikrotik can change some commands. If you use the import option always check the last line of the configuration if it was applyed to the new device. That way you know if the configuration was sucessfully applyed.

About the MAC addresses just for the info you can use the command /interface ethernet reset-mac-address to reset the MAC address to the original MAC address of the ethernet port.

Andrej