Transparently Bridge two Networks

Remote networks can be easily bridged using WDS feature of MikroTik RouterOS™. We will show it for the case when the networks are connected through Atheros wireless interface. Using EoIP, the can be extended to any other type of interfaces, like PPTP, CISCO/Aironet, Prism. WDS works only on Prism and Atheros based cards.

Let us assume the following network setup:

File:Bridge.jpg

Follow the steps below to create transparent bridge using WDS:

1. Make sure you have communication between MikroTik routers, i.e., one router is configured as server (AP), the other one as client (station). Configure wireless interface wlan1 on AP:

[admin@AP]> interface wireless set wlan1 ssid=mikrotik frequency=5805 \
\... mode=bridge wds-mode=dynamic disabled=no

Do the same configuration on Client wireless interface (wlan1)

[admin@Station] interface wireless> set wlan1 mode=station-wds ssid=mikrotik \
\... disabled=no

2. Check whether the WDS link is established:

[admin@AP] interface wireless wds> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running, D - dynamic
0  RD name="wds1" mtu=1500 mac-address=00:0B:6B:31:02:4B arp=enabled
      disable-running-check=yes master-interface=wlan1
      wds-address=00:0B:6B:31:08:22
wds[admin@AP] interface wireless wds>

3. Create a bridge interface on AP and add ether1 interface to the bridge. The WDS interface will be added automatically to the bridge if you specify wds-default-bridge parameter:

[admin@AP]> interface bridge add name=wds-bridge
[admin@AP]> interface bridge port add interface=ether1 bridge=wds-bridge
[admin@AP]> interface wireless set wlan1 wds-default-bridge=wds-bridge

Do the same on the Client, and add ether1, wlan1 interfaces to the bridge

[admin@Client]> interface bridge add name=wds-bridge
[admin@Client]> interface bridge port add ether1 bridge=wds-bridge
[admin@Client]> interface bridge port add wlan1 bridge=wds-bridge

4. Add IP address on AP:

[admin@AP]> ip address add address=10.1.0.215/24 interface=wds-bridge

And on Client:

[admin@Client]> ip address add address=10.1.0.216/24 interface=wds-bridge

5. Test the bridge by pinging from 10.0.0.215 to 10.0.0.216. Note, that the bridge needs 10...30s to learn addresses and start passing through traffic.