There are Quickstart directions here: https://manual.mikrotik.com/hardware/crs304-4xg-in/
- I connected the switch to my PC via an Ethernet cable
- I gave the switch power
- I configured my Ethernet interface http://192.168.88.2/24
- I opened http://192.168.88.1 in Firefox and the switch interface came right up. I found the password on the bottom of the switch and logged in. It dropped me straight into a screen to create a new admin password—smart.
- However, I’m creating a new user then deactivating the original admin user.
- I adjusted the Inactivity Timeout to 30 minutes…which may prove to be too short…but easy enough to change.
- Before I deactivate the admin account, I’m testing my new account so I don’t lock myself out in case it didn’t take for some reason. I’m also going to test logging into the Winbox application.
- My new account failed to log in with the MAC address but was successful using the IP address. Then I logged out of Winbox. I also logged out of the browser session and logged back in with the new account. Excellent!
- I deactivated the default admin user
- Now it’s time to update the device
- The “update available” button is clear at the top and the current version is on the bottom in the status bar. A quick glance through System settings menus and I couldn’t find any menu items related to updates…perhaps I need to keep looking and get a better lay of the land.
Let’s check the docs to see if there’s anything I need to know before clicking that green button. I have an option to do a manual update.
For a manual update of the device, visit mikrotik.com, select your model, and locate the required packages in the “Downloads” section; Upload downloaded packages to the WebFig or WinBox “Files” menu and reboot the device; By upgrading your RouterOS software to the latest version, you can ensure optimal performance, stability, and security updates;
- More importantly, I first need to give the switch access to the Internet.
- Let’s create a static IP address on my lab’s 172 network.
- I added a DHCP entry for the switch in the router. Now I’ve got to change the IP address on the switch. Then shut it down, disconnect it from my computer, plug it into my router, and fire it up again.
- From the left-hand menu, I clicked IP then opened “Addresses”. I clicked “New” and added the static IP address that I added to the DHCP server and it’s configured as a bridge interface.
- I shut down the switch, disconnected it, and connected it to the router. Turned it on and went back to the computer. The cool thing is that I was able to plug in the switch to a 2.5GB port on the router because I changed the default WAN interface just a couple days ago. It’s not 10GB like the switch but 2.5x theoretically than 1GB standard Ethernet!
- Let’s see if I can find the device now. Uh oh. It doesn’t appear like it’s on the network
It’s not showing up on the client list
The physical connection is intact. Maybe it doesn’t like the 2.5G port. Let’s try another one.
- I moved the cable to port 3 and confirmed the connection on the switch side. It’s fully in there and the LED is on.
- I opened Winbox again and it looks like
- I logged in no problem. That may have been the fastest troubleshooting ever for a context I’m not super familiar with. But starting with the hardware/layer 1 stuff seemed sensible.
- Now we should have Internet because the device has an IP address.
- From the left-hand menu, I opened Tools > Ping. Then I pinged one of Cloudflare’s DNS servers: 1.1.1.2
- That seems like an appropriate joke. Couldn’t ping a DNS server because it doesn’t know how to find it…Now let’s figure out how to give this thing a DNS server…though I thought I already did in the DHCP reservation. Let’s check.
- The DHCP reservation does contain a DNS entry…but it’s not working. Perhaps I need to set it somewhere on the Mikrotik device. Before checking that, let’s make sure I can ping the default gateway from the switch. It’s not because I don’t believe it has an IP address; I’m able to access it on the LAN. I’m curious if this Ping tool works differently than I think it does.
- It works the way I think it does. It’s something else.
I opened IP > DNS and we’ve got some DNS settings. Let’s try this again. Can I use Cloudflare’s DNS straightaway or do I need to point it to the router to use the router’s DNS server? Or something else. Let’s try Cloudflare first.
Cloudflare did not work. However, according to the DHCP server page on the router:
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a protocol for the automatic configuration used on IP networks. The DHCP server can assign each client an IP address and informs the client of the of DNS server IP and default gateway IP. ZenWiFi AX supports up to 253 IP addresses for your local network.
- It appears like the switch should be able to know about the DNS server IP…Rather than a Ping, let’s see if a Traceroute does anything different. I went to Tools > Traceroute. Nope didn’t work.
- I looked back at the router’s LAN configuration options and I’ve got another DNS setting to try. I can direct specific network clients to use a particular DNS server—though it looks like it should by default pick up one of the three DNS servers I put in. I suspect it will NOT work.
It’s time to review some documentation. To be continued…
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