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MikroTik MTCTCE lab 1 of 8

Packet flow, connection tracking and mangle marks

Before Fernvale's Riverside office can shape anything, its router has to recognise the traffic. Trace real packets through the RouterOS packet flow with counting rules, read the connection-tracking table, classify web, bulk and ping traffic with connection and packet marks, and set DSCP so the next hop knows what the traffic is.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 3 nodes are set to 3 vCPU and 768 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then MikroTik MTCTCE RouterOS v7 guided labs, then 01 - Packet flow connection tracking and mangle marks

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Level
Intermediate
Time
About 60 minutes
Nodes need
3 vCPU, 768 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Fernvale's Riverside office router will soon shape traffic by type: web browsing, bulk transfers and small interactive packets. Shaping by type needs marks, and marks need you to know where in the router a packet is when a rule sees it. In this lab you trace packets through the RouterOS packet flow, read the connection-tracking table, and build the marks that later labs use.

DeviceAddressRole
NET192.0.2.1/30the Internet: a web server (WebFig on port 80) and a bandwidth-test server
RIVERSIDEether1 192.0.2.2/30 · ether2 192.168.50.1/24the office router
PC1192.168.50.11/24a RouterOS router playing a staff PC

What you’ll practise

  • Name the chains a packet passes through when it goes to, through and from the router
  • Prove the path with passthrough counter rules
  • Read connection states and timeouts in the connection-tracking table
  • Mark connections once, then mark their packets cheaply, and explain passthrough
  • Change DSCP at the edge and see it at the next router

The tasks

  1. Put counters in every chain
  2. Trace three pings
  3. Read the connection-tracking table
  4. Mark connections, then packets
  5. Tell the next hop with DSCP

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 Packet flow connection tracking and mangle marks3 nodes, 2 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.NETRIVERSIDEPC1ether1ether1ether2ether1
3 nodes, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • NET ether1 to RIVERSIDE ether1
  • RIVERSIDE ether2 to PC1 ether1
Nodes in Packet flow, connection tracking and mangle marks, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
NETMikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
RIVERSIDEMikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 MB
PC1MikroTik RouterOSmikrotik-7.14.21 vCPU, 256 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 MTCTCE RouterOS v7 guided labs.

  3. Open 01 - Packet flow connection tracking and mangle marks 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.

More MikroTik MTCTCE labs

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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.