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Introduction
MikroTik routers require a different installation process than most other routers: they pull
software from servers on a network, rather than you uploading the software to the device.
This requires you to set up the required servers up before you can install Commotion on your
MikroTik device. The three servers you will need to set up are:
1. A Netboot server that can assign an IP to the router with DHCP or BootP
2. A TFTP server that provides the router the first set of firmware files
3. A Web server that provides the router with the second set of firmware files
This guide installs and configures the following two server packages:
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Using Linux
This guide is written for computers running Debian Linux or a variant such as Ubuntu or Mint.
It may be possible to set up the same server packages using Windows or Mac OSX, but
those are not documented here.
If you do not have access to a Linux computer, you may be able to set up an instance of
Linux using a virtual machine on another platform, but that is beyond the scope of this guide.
Install and Configure dnsmasq
First, disconnect your computer from any network you are attached to. The dnsmasq server
can assign IP addresses to any computer on your network once it is configured, which can
cause strange behavior. For this reason, you should be very careful to turn the server on
only when you are using it to install Commotion. All other times your computer is running, the
dnsmasq service should be turned off. We will cover that below.
Next, open a terminal window and type:
Wait for your system to install the package, then stop the service if it is running:
You should see a message stating that the server has been shut off.
Also, you should disable dnsmasq from starting when you boot up your computer:
# Our server only has one ethernet port. Check yours to ensure
you're enabling the right port
interface=eth0
#bind-interfaces
dhcp-leasefile=/var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.lease
# For each device you want to TFTP boot, you need a dhcp-host
entry with the MAC address and the IP to give that client.
# You'll need to look up the MAC address of the device and
add a line here for it to be recognized.
dhcp-host=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx,192.168.10.101
You can download the file here and use the following steps to move it into place. (Right click
and select "Save link as...")
You will first need to edit the dnsmasq.conf file to provide the Ethernet MAC address of your
MikroTik device. In the file example above, the line reads:
dhcp-host=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx,192.168.10.101
The section xx.xx.xx.xx.xx.xx signifies the MAC address of your router. You will need to
change this to the proper MAC address for your MikroTik device. The number will look
something more like a6:9b:45:23:ab:f2, and should have been provided in the box with the
router, either on a sticker or slip of paper. Keep this attached to the router or saved in a file
for later, in case you need to run this install process again.
You can use your favorite text editor to edit the file provided before you copy it with the
command below. For example, to run the editor gedit on the configuration file, type:
gedit ~/location_of_file/Commotion_dnsmasq.conf
Make a backup of the existing dnsmasq.conf file before copying anything over it.
Wait for your system to install the package, then stop the service if it is running:
You should see a message stating that the server has been shut off.
Also, you should disable lighttpd from starting when you boot up your computer:
Lighttpd's default web pages and files are hosted at /var/www. You will copy the installation
files into /var/www with the commands:
sudo cp ~/location_of_file/openwrt-ar71xx-nand-vmlinux-lzma.elf /var/www/
sudo cp ~/location_of_file/openwrt-ar71xx-nand-rootfs.tar.gz /var/www/
IP Address: 192.168.10.254
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Dnsmasq should now be providing DHCP leases to routers connected to your computer
(whether directly or through an Ethernet switch) and for devices in the configuration file that
are identified by the dhcp-host line you edited before (dhcp-
host=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx,192.168.10.101), dnsmasq will provide a Commotion firmware file for
network boot. To confirm dnsmasq is running, you can connect the Ethernet port specified in
your configuration to a switch, and then connect a PC or laptop to that same switch. The PC
should get a DHCP lease from the server.
Lighttpd should also be running now at this point. It will be serving web pages to any
computer that can connect to it, and will provide the Commotion software files to the routers
attached to the switch mentioned above. To confirm lighttpd is running, open a web browser
and type http://localhost in the URL bar. You should see the default web page - something
similar to Placeholder page.
At this point, you can return to the Install on a MikroTik Router guide.