Setting up Mikrotik for Smart Home

In an effort to choose the best router for a smart home that has VPN client functionality, we suggested using Mikrotik . Let's now look at how exactly to configure a Mikrotik router for a smart home.

Don't be afraid to experiment with the settings! If you suddenly made a mistake somewhere, all you need to do is reset the settings to return to the starting point. To do this, press the Reset button. Then connect the power cable. Wait for the ACT LED to blink. And release the Reset button. The router is reset to factory settings.

Let's say you just got the router out of the box and need to configure it. Turn on the router and open your laptop (or phone) to search for a new WiFi network that will have the name Mikrotik in its name. Find it and connect to it. No password required.

Now we open the browser and specify the router address, by default it will be 192.168.88.1 . First of all, we are asked to set a password, which is reasonable. We come up with a password for the router. Click Change Now .

Now we are in the Quick Set panel, that is, quick settings. There are several typical configurations here, we are interested in the Home AP option.

Let's start with WiFi settings. Come up with a network name. Now, specify its password.

That's it. Now, connect to the Internet. Your provider should provide you with this information. We will use the automatic option. Just connect the cable to the first port. Note, to the first one. There is an inscription Internet or WAN .

As soon as the cable is connected, the provider's network data appears. Let's continue further and set up the local network. The IP address of the router itself is indicated here. The first two digits 192 and 168 are standard for the local network, but the third can be specified by you. You can leave it as it is set by default - 88 . However, for this example, I will change it to 77 . The fourth digit is the device number in the network. It is quite logical to count starting from the first device, which is usually the router itself. That is why it has the number 1 . Next, it remains to pay attention that if you decide to change the network number, then here, in the list of numbers for future devices, you must also make changes. Change the network number to 77 . Next, the number from which the numbering of network devices will begin. Let it remain at ten. Next, comes the end of the range. Here we also change the network number to 77 . Let's also reduce the automatic issuance of device numbers to one hundred. That's all. Click the Apply Configuration button.

The router starts rebooting. Open the list of WiFi networks on the computer again and connect to the new network, this time with a password. As you remember, we changed the router network address, so now in the address bar I enter the new router address 192.168.77.1 .

Done. Specify the password to the router. If everything was done correctly, then you should already have Internet working on your computer through the new router.

This completes the basic setup of your router!

Useful! By purchasing a new functional Mikrotik router, you get additional means to increase the stability of operation. Therefore, pay attention to other useful settings that we recommend to perform!

First of all, it would be a good idea to download the WinBox program in order to get convenient access to the router, or you can continue configuring the router as before, through WebFig web interface.

The main task of a smart home router is the ability to withstand failures. For example, if the computer freezes, it is rebooted manually. But since you may be far from the router, it is necessary for the automation that is inside it to do this. This is called Watchdog (left menu System -> Watchdog).

Here you need to specify the IP address of any server on the Internet; if you lose connection with it, the router will automatically reboot. Usually, the reference address of a well-known DNS server is used – 8.8.8.8 . In addition, the time from the moment of switching on, after which Watchdog is activated, is specified, for example, 20 minutes.

Another NetWatch function (left menu Tools-> Watchdog) will also be useful. For example, if you use Mikrotik 951 series in a pair with a USB modem, then it happens that you need to reboot the modem itself. In this case, you need to create two rules. For example, the first rule is to check the same DNS server (four eights), every 5 minutes, and with a waiting time of one second. When the connection is lost (Down tab), then we give the following command:

/system routerboard usb power-reset duration=5s.

It is needed to forcibly turn off the modem's power for 5 seconds.

It would be nice if we added a second check here. This is the IP address of the modem itself. And completely similar settings.

But that's not all. As practice has shown, although extremely rare, there are also such failures when the router works, but unstable. Therefore, it is recommended to reboot it once a day in your free time. For this, use Sheduler section (left menu System -> Sheduler).

Here we add the AutoReboot task. Starting from today at eight o'clock. The interval is every day. And, of course, the reboot command itself: /system reboot .

It remains to mention another very useful function of backup of all settings: section Files , operation Backup . With its help, you can save the current configuration. This is useful if for some reason, for example, setting up new functions, a failure occurs. Then you can quickly and easily restore the current settings.