MTCRE Preparation: MikroTik RouterOS v6&7 with Hands-On Labs

Explore routing fundamentals in MikroTik RouterOS v6&7 with hands-on labs, by comparing data packet movement to mailing a letter and routing between networks.

Explain the routing process: how a router uses a routing table to forward a packet via a directly connected interface, remote networks, or a default route.

Explore static and dynamic routing, from small home networks to large topologies, and how protocols like OSPF and BGP guide best paths.

Explore routing tables, the router's database of routing information that lists the best paths and shortest routes for sending data packets to different destinations.

Configure static routing on Mikrotik routers by defining destination networks, subnet masks, and next-hop gateways, and verify connectivity with ping between networks.

Rank routes by administrative distance, a router metric; the lowest value is preferred, so static or dynamic routes from protocols like OSPF, BGP, or RIP determine the best path.

Learn to configure distance-based failover on MikroTik RouterOS by setting static routes with different distance values, creating secondary links, and validating automatic failover when the primary path drops.

Configure failover with icmp-based equal-cost multipath across two gateways to reach 192.168.2.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24, enabling load balancing and redundancy.

Configure load balancing with Mikrotik mangle by marking connections for two LAN groups and routing them through two gateways to achieve 50/50 traffic distribution.

Configure static routing in RouterOS v7 across two routers. Create a lan bridge, assign ip addresses, and add ip route entries with destinations and next hops, then verify with ping.

Learn to configure failover in RouterOS v7 using distance by setting up bridging, IP addresses, and static routes on two routers (R1 and R2), plus a backup ethernet three link.

Configure load balancing on a RouterOS v7 router by splitting the network into 192.168.1.0/24 and 192.168.1.128/25, and using IP firewall mangle to mark routing for each group through separate gateways.

Introduce OSPF, the Open Shortest Path First dynamic routing protocol for large networks, which determines the best path for a data packet using the shortest route and a backup path.

Explore how OSPF divides large networks into areas, with a backbone area (area zero) and area border routers that summarize routes to improve performance, scalability, and security.

Learn how to configure OSPF on MikroTik RouterOS with hands-on labs, including setting up two routers, assigning LAN IPs, and enabling dynamic routing across 172.16.1.0/24 and 192.168.1.0/24.

Configure multi-area OSPF with a backbone area zero and area one, set up area border router interfaces, assign networks, and verify reachability across routers and LANs.

Configure OSPF virtual links to connect area two to the backbone, declare networks and areas, set router IDs, and verify reachability across R1-R4 in MikroTik RouterOS.

Learn to configure a stub area in OSPF for remote locations by setting the area type to stub on the FDR router and the area one router, then apply changes.

Learn to apply OSPF filters using in for incoming routes and out for outgoing routes, and configure routing filter to discard a network by setting a prefix and discard action.

Configure dynamic OSPF in RouterOS v7 across two bridged routers, create bridge interfaces, assign IP addresses, set up OSPF instance and areas, and verify connectivity with ping.

This lecture demonstrates configuring BGP in RouterOS v7 on a two-router lab, including setting identities, creating bridge interfaces, assigning IP addresses, building BGP templates, and applying address-list filters.

Learn how a virtual private network provides secure, encrypted communication over the internet through a virtual tunnel, including remote access and site to site VPN.

Configure a point-to-point vpn on MikroTik RouterOS v6/7, enabling vpn services and setting up a ppp client/server. Create an ip pool, profile, and secret, then test the connection.

Explore setting up an L2TP VPN on MikroTik RouterOS, including creating an IP pool, PPP profile, and user, then enabling the L2TP server with optional IPsec for secure client connections.

Learn to configure SSTP VPN, which encapsulates point-to-point traffic over https or tls for secure remote access between two routers or a client and server.

Learn to set up a PPO server and client on a Mikrotik router by configuring the server, creating an IP pool and profile with bandwidth limits, and testing the connection.

Create and sign server and client certificates on MikroTik RouterOS v7 (also v6). Export certificates and configure ovpn for client connections to enable secure VPN access.

Learn to configure OpenVPN server and client on MikroTik RouterOS v6/v7 by creating certificates, exporting them, and setting up the VPN profile and client connection.

Configure a Mikrotik wireguard vpn server and client by creating a wireguard interface, assigning 192.168.200.1/24, exchanging public keys, and setting endpoints and allowed IPs.

Learn to configure IKEv2 IPsec VPN on MikroTik RouterOS v7 from scratch using certificate-based authentication, including server and client templates, cert export, and IPsec policy setup.

Configure an eoip ip tunnel between corporate and branch routers to deliver dhcp from head office, assign ip addresses, create a bridge, and complete dhcp server setup.

Configure a MikroTik ipip tunnel between two routers from scratch, assign ip addresses, create static routes, and verify connectivity with tunnel and host pings.

Understand the exam format, open-book policy, and 60% passing score for 25 questions in one hour, then practice with Mikrotik wiki questions on routing and VPN.

This final lesson of the MTC course covers routing and VPN topics, including static routing, OSPF, site-to-site VPN, and client-server VPN, with Mikrotik certified trainer guidance for vendor certification prep.