Manual:Packet Flow

MikroTik RouterOS is designed to be easy to operate in various aspects of network configuration. Therefore creating limitation for individual IP or natting internal clients to a public address or Hotspot configuration can be done without the knowledge about how the packets are processed in the router - you just go to corresponding menu and create necessary configuration.

However more complicated tasks, such as traffic prioritization, routing policies, where it is necessary to utilize more than one RouterOS facility, requires knowledge: How these facilities work together? What happens when and why?

To address these questions we created a packet flow diagram.

Diagram

As it was impossible to get everything in one diagram, Packet flow diagram for Mikrotik RouterOS v3.x was created in 2 parts:

Bridging or Layer-2 (MAC) where Routing part is simplified to one "Layer-3" box
Routing or Layer-3 (IP) where Bridging part is simplified to one "Bridging" box

Analysis

Basic Concepts

- starting point in packets way thought the router facilities. It does not matter what interface (physical or virtual) packet is received it will start its way from here.

- last point in packets way thought the router facilities. Just before the packet is actually sent out.

- last point in packets way to router itself, after this packet is discarded

- starting point for packets generated by router itself

Configurable Facilities

Each and every facilities in this section corresponds with one particular menu in RouterOS. Users are able to access those menu and configure these facilities directly

- /ip firewall connection tracking