MikroTik RouterOS V2.4 Ethernet Interfaces

Document revision 05-Oct-2001
This document applies to the MikroTik RouterOS V2.4

Overview

MikroTik RouterOS supports the following types of Ethernet Network Interface Cards:

Most NE2000 compatible ISA and PCI cards
3com 3c509 ISA cards
Intel Pro Gigabit PCI cards

The complete list of supported Ethernet NICs can be found in the Device Driver Management Manual.

Contents of the Manual

The following topics are covered in this manual:

Ethernet Adapter Hardware and Software Installation
Ethernet Interface Configuration

Ethernet Adapter Hardware and Software Installation

Software Packages

The drivers for Ethernet NICs are included in the 'system' package. No installation of other packages is needed.

Software License

The license for Ethernet NICs is included in the Basic License. No additional license is needed.

System Resource Usage

Before installing the Ethernet adapter, please check the availability of free IRQ's and I/O base addresses:

[MikroTik] > system resource irq print                                         
 IRQ USED OWNER                                                                 
 1   yes  keyboard                                                              
 2   yes  APIC                                                                  
 3   no                                                                         
 4   yes  serial port                                                           
 5   yes  PCMCIA service                                                        
 6   no                                                                         
 7   no                                                                         
 8   no                                                                         
 9   no                                                                         
 10  yes  [e1000]                                                               
 11  yes  ether3                                                                
 12  yes  ether1                                                                
 13  yes  FPU                                                                   
 14  yes  IDE 1                                                                 
[MikroTik] > system resource io print                                          
 PORT-RANGE            OWNER                                                    
 20-3F                 APIC                                                     
 40-5F                 timer                                                    
 60-6F                 keyboard                                                 
 80-8F                 DMA                                                      
 A0-BF                 APIC                                                     
 C0-DF                 DMA                                                      
 F0-FF                 FPU                                                      
 1F0-1F7               IDE 1                                                    
 2F8-2FF               serial port                                              
 3C0-3DF               VGA                                                      
 3F6-3F6               IDE 1                                                    
 3F8-3FF               serial port                                              
 9400-94FF             ether1                                                   
 F000-F007             IDE 1                                                    
 F008-F00F             IDE 2                                                    
[MikroTik] >

Loading the Driver

PCI adapters do not require a 'manual' driver loading, since they are recognized automatically by the system and the driver is loaded at the system startup.

ISA adapters require the driver to be loaded by issuing the following command:

[MikroTik] driver> add name=ne2k-isa io=0x300                                       
[MikroTik] driver> print                                                       
Flags: I - invalid, D - dynamic 
  #   DRIVER                            IRQ IO         MEMORY     ISDN-PROTOCOL
  0 D RealTek RTL8129/8139                                                     
  1 D NationalSemiconductors 83820                                             
  2 D Intel PRO 1000 Server Adaper                                             
  3   ISA NE2000                            0x300
[MikroTik] driver>

There can be several reasons for a failure to load the driver:

The driver cannot be loaded because other device uses the requested IRQ.
Try to free up the required IRQ, or get a different card.
The requested I/O base address cannot be used on your motherboard.
Get another motherboard.

Ethernet Interface Configuration

If the driver has been loaded successfully (no error messages), then the Ethernet interface should appear under the interfaces list with the name etherX, where X is 1,2,... You can change the interface name to a more descriptive one using the 'set' command. To enable the interface, use the 'enable' command:

[MikroTik] interface > print
Flags: X - disabled, D - dynamic 
  #   NAME                 MTU   TYPE                                          
  0 X ether1               1500  ether                                         
  1   ether2               1500  ether                                         
  2 X ether3               1500  ether                                         
[MikroTik] interface> enable 0                                                  
[MikroTik] interface> enable ether3                                             
[MikroTik] interface> print                                                    
Flags: X - disabled, D - dynamic 
  #   NAME                 MTU   TYPE                                          
  0   ether1               1500  ether                                         
  1   ether2               1500  ether                                         
  2   ether3               1500  ether                                         
[MikroTik] interface>

You can monitor the traffic passing through any interface using the /interface monitor command:

[MikroTik] interface> monitor-traffic ether2                                   
    received-packets-per-second: 271       
      received-bytes-per-second: 148.4kbps 
        sent-packets-per-second: 600       
          sent-bytes-per-second: 6.72Mbps  

[MikroTik] interface>

For some Ethernet NICs it is possible to blink the LEDs for 10s. Type /interface ethernet blink ether1 and watch the NICs to see the one which has blinking LED.

For some Ethernet NICs it is possible to monitor the Ethernet status:

[MikroTik] interface ethernet> monitor ether3
              status: no-link  
    auto-negotiation: disabled 
                rate: 100Mbit  
          fullduplex: yes      

[MikroTik] interface ethernet> monitor ether1                                  
              status: no-link    
    auto-negotiation: incomplete 

[MikroTik] interface ethernet> monitor ether2                                  
              status: unknown 

[MikroTik] interface ethernet>

Please see the IP Address manual on how to add IP addresses to the interfaces.