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MikroTik MTCRE lab 1 of 14

Static routing in depth: specific routes, ECMP, check-gateway and distance

Engineer traffic across two parallel paths with nothing but static routes: steer one subnet with a more specific route, balance with ECMP, force a gateway through a named interface, detect dead next hops with check-gateway, keep a floating backup, and stop routing loops with a blackhole aggregate.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 6 nodes are set to 6 vCPU and 3,072 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs, then 01 - Static routing in depth - specific routes ECMP check-gateway and distance

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Level
Intermediate
Time
About 60 minutes
Nodes need
6 vCPU, 3,072 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Fernvale's head office (R1) reaches a large customer site (R4) over two leased lines: path A through R2 and path B through R3. Site 4 has a LAN, a server network and a CCTV network that sends a lot of video. The transit routers R2 and R3 and the site router R4 are already done; you design R1's routing so that:

  • the CCTV network always uses path B (it would swamp path A),
  • everything else to site 4 uses path A, falling back to B,
  • the site 4 LAN uses both paths at once,
  • a dead next hop is noticed even when the link light stays on.
Routerether1ether2ether3 / other
R110.0.12.1/30 → R210.0.13.1/30 → R3192.168.1.1/24 (PC1 .10)
R210.0.12.2/30 → R110.0.24.1/30 → R4–
R310.0.13.2/30 → R110.0.34.1/30 → R4–
R410.0.24.2/30 → R210.0.34.2/30 → R3192.168.4.1/24 (PC2 .10); 10.40.1.1/24, 10.40.5.1/24

What you’ll practise

  • Use more specific routes to steer part of an aggregate over another path
  • Configure ECMP routes and explain how RouterOS 7 hashes flows
  • Read gateway, immediate-gw, and force a gateway over an interface with gateway%interface
  • Use check-gateway=ping with floating routes for fail-over
  • Add a blackhole route for an aggregate and explain why

The tasks

  1. Steer one subnet with a more specific route
  2. Balance the LAN over both paths with ECMP
  3. Gateways, immediate gateways and %interface
  4. Detect a dead next hop and fall back
  5. Stop loops with a blackhole aggregate on R4

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.

Topology of Static routing in depth - specific routes ECMP check-gateway and distance6 nodes, 6 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.R1R2R3R4PC1PC2ether3eth0ether3eth0ether1ether1ether2ether1ether2ether1ether2ether2
6 nodes, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • R1 ether1 to R2 ether1
  • R1 ether2 to R3 ether1
  • R2 ether2 to R4 ether1
  • R3 ether2 to R4 ether2
  • R1 ether3 to PC1 eth0
  • R4 ether3 to PC2 eth0
Nodes in Static routing in depth: specific routes, ECMP, check-gateway and distance, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
R1MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
R2MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
R3MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
R4MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
PC1VPCS hostBuilt in to EVE-NGCounted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB
PC2VPCS hostBuilt in to EVE-NGCounted as 1 vCPU, 1,024 MB

How to open this lab

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder MikroTik MTCRE RouterOS v7 guided labs.

  3. Open 01 - Static routing in depth - specific routes ECMP check-gateway and distance and 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.