MikroTik MTCRE lab 14 of 14
Capstone: a regional ISP core
Build Fernvale's new core from blank routers: point-to-point addressing, multi-area OSPF with an NSSA at a point of presence, a dual-ISP edge with recursive fail-over that originates the default route, a VRRP gateway pair for customers, and a branch joined by OSPF over a GRE tunnel.
Run this lab
It needs Standard: its 10 nodes are set to 10 vCPU and 4,096 MB in total.
In your workspace: Shared, then MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs, then 14 - Capstone - a regional ISP core
- Level
- Advanced
- Time
- About 150 minutes
- Nodes need
- 10 vCPU, 4,096 MB
- Smallest plan
- Standard
The scenario
Fernvale is replacing its regional network. Six of the new routers are blank apart from their names and passwords: the Internet Edge, two Core routers, two POP routers that serve a customer LAN, and a remote Branch. The two upstream providers (ISP-A, ISP-B) are ready and must not be changed. Build the network to the requirements below, test each stage, and keep notes of anything you'd do differently in production.
Addressing
| Link | Side 1 | Side 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Edge e1 – ISP-A | 203.0.113.2/30 | 203.0.113.1 |
| Edge e2 – ISP-B | 198.51.100.2/30 | 198.51.100.1 |
| Branch e1 – ISP-B | 198.51.100.6/30 | 198.51.100.5 |
| Edge e3 – Core1 e1 | 10.255.0.1/32, network 10.255.0.2 | 10.255.0.2/32, network 10.255.0.1 |
| Edge e4 – Core2 e1 | 10.255.0.5/32, network .6 | 10.255.0.6/32, network .5 |
| Core1 e2 – Core2 e2 | 10.255.0.9/32, network .10 | 10.255.0.10/32, network .9 |
| Core1 e3 – POP1 e1 | 10.255.0.13/32, network .14 | 10.255.0.14/32, network .13 |
| Core2 e3 – POP2 e1 | 10.255.0.17/32, network .18 | 10.255.0.18/32, network .17 |
| Customer LAN | POP1 192.168.50.2/24, POP2 .3, virtual gateway .1 | PC-Cust .10 |
| GRE Edge – Branch | 172.16.0.1/30 | 172.16.0.2/30 |
| Branch LAN | 192.168.20.1/24 | PC-Branch .10 |
| Loopbacks (router IDs) | Edge 10.255.255.1 · Core1 .2 · Core2 .3 · POP1 .4 · POP2 .5 · Branch .6 |
Requirements
| # | Requirement |
|---|---|
| R1 | Core links use /32 point-to-point addressing as in the table. Every router has a loopback (an empty bridge loopback) with its router ID. |
| R2 | OSPF: area 0 on Edge, Core1, Core2 and the POPs' core links and loopbacks (all core links ptp). Area 10 (NSSA) is the customer LAN, on POP1 and POP2 (they become neighbours there). Area 20 is the GRE tunnel and the Branch. |
| R3 | Edge has a recursive default route via ISP-A (probe 192.0.2.1, pinned to ISP-A) and a backup via ISP-B (probe 192.0.2.2, pinned to ISP-B), both with check-gateway=ping, probes protected by blackholes. Edge masquerades out of both WANs and originates the default route into OSPF only while it has one. |
| R4 | VRRP on the customer LAN: VRID 50, virtual 192.168.50.1, POP1 master (priority 200), POP2 backup (100). |
| R5 | POP1 advertises its business customers 172.20.50.0/24 (connected) into the NSSA, and nothing else, using a routing filter. |
| R6 | GRE tunnel Edge (198.51.100.2) – Branch (198.51.100.6) with keepalive 10s,3, OSPF ptp over it in area 20. The tunnel must always ride ISP-B: pin each end's route to the other end's WAN network through ISP-B. Branch gets its default route from OSPF. |
| R7 | PC-Cust and PC-Branch reach the Internet host 198.18.0.10 and each other. |
What you’ll practise
- Design and build a routed network from a requirements list
- Combine point-to-point addressing, OSPF areas, NSSA, filters, recursive static routes, VRRP and GRE
- Pin tunnel endpoints so a tunnel never routes over itself
- Verify every requirement end to end
The tasks
- Addresses and loopbacks (R1)
- OSPF area 0 (R2)
- Customer LAN, NSSA and VRRP (R2, R4, R5)
- The dual-ISP edge (R3)
- The branch over GRE (R2, R6)
The Lab Tasks pane has the scenario, these tasks, the checks to run, hints and the full solution.
Topology and devices
The network as it opens in EVE-NG, drawn from the lab’s own canvas, and the image each node runs.
Every link, as text
- ISP-A
ether1to Edgeether1 - ISP-B
ether1to Edgeether2 - ISP-B
ether2to Branchether1 - Edge
ether3to Core1ether1 - Edge
ether4to Core2ether1 - Core1
ether2to Core2ether2 - Core1
ether3to POP1ether1 - Core2
ether3to POP2ether1 - POP1
ether2to Customer-LAN (network) - POP2
ether2to Customer-LAN (network) - PC-Cust
eth0to Customer-LAN (network) - Branch
ether2to PC-Brancheth0
| Node | Device | Image in Add Node | Set to |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISP-A | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| ISP-B | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| Edge | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| Core1 | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| Core2 | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| POP1 | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| POP2 | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| Branch | MikroTik RouterOS | mikrotik-7.14.2 | 1 vCPU, 256 MB |
| PC-Cust | VPCS host | Built in to EVE-NG | Counted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB |
| PC-Branch | VPCS host | Built in to EVE-NG | Counted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB |
How to open this lab
Sign in to your workspace at
lab.cloudlabbox.com.In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder
MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs.Open
14 - Capstone - a regional ISP coreand start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the scenario and the steps.
The lab is read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change it, rebuild it in your own folder.
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CloudLabBox is independent of MikroTik. The lab follows exam topics and isn’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.