HowTo: Building to Building PTP links using MikroTik Wireless Product... https://blog.linitx.com/howto-building-building-ptp-links-mikrotik-wirele...

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We are often asked how to make building to building or ‘point to point’ wireless links. As the Training Ubiquiti
MikroTik interface does not change between models this ‘How To’ can apply to any MikroTik Ubuntu UniFI USB3 VPN
Wireless based device. For this How To I will be using a pair of the new MikroTik SXT AC’s, to
create a L2 transparent wireless bridge in a simple point to point mode (PtP). This How To can
Wifi Wireless
also apply to point to multi point scenarios (PtMP). One SXT will be set up in ‘Bridge’ mode WISP
(effectively an AP) and the other as ‘Station Bridge’ (i.e. the ‘client’), to ensure best
performance the link will be created and secured using the Mikrotik NV2 TDMA based protocol.

Step 1 – The first port of call for configuring any Mikrotik device is to manually change your
systems IP address in order to communicate with the Mikrotik equipment effectively, in this
How To I will be using 192.168.88.2 as my system IP initially and then swapping back to DHCP
once the link is established. (note that Mikrotik devices are configured on 192.168.88.1 for Free simple online booking
system
Ether 1 from the manufacturer by default).

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Step 2 – Once a static IP has been set on your computer you will be able to log in and
configure the Mikrotik Wireless device using the free Winbox tool provided by Mikrotik HERE,
there is also a web gui tool (WebFig) but we will not be using that for this How To. Once
Winbox is downloaded and launched you will be able to see your first Mikrotik Wireless device
under the neighbours tab (only plug in one device directly into your system at a time for initial
configuration). If the device does not immediately appear, press the ‘Refresh’ button.

Step 3 – Connect to the first wireless device using its default IP of 192.168.88.1 default
username will be admin with no password set. Once connected a new window will appear with
many options, see image below for reference.

Step 4 – Now that we are logged into the Mikrotik we can begin configuring it for use in our
PTP link, the first one we are going to configure is the access point which might be plugged
directly into a switch in the main office, or a broadband router at home. To enable us to
transparently bridge Layer 2 traffic across the link, we are going to bridge the ethernet and the
wireless interfaces together. Doing this will also allow a DHCP server to assign the Mikrotik a
unique Network IP which will allow for easy configuration in the future on your internal network,
which may not be on the same 192.168.88.0/24 network. To create a bridge simply select
bridge from the left menu, a new window will appear within Winbox. Select the + symbol to
create a new bridge and give it a meaning full name e.g. “Wireless bridge”.

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Step 5 – Now that we have a bridge we have to assign the interfaces to it, on a Mikrotik SXT or
Netmetal you normally have 2 interfaces, namely wlan1 and Ether1-local. An OmniTik for
example will have more ethernet interfaces. To assign interfaces to the bridge simply select the
ports tab under the ‘Bridge’ window and use the + to add the required interfaces, for this SXT
I have assigned both ‘ether1-local’ and ‘wlan1’ to the new bridge.

Step 6 – Now that we have a working bridge we need to instruct that bridge to receive an IP
address from the DHCP server/router, to do this select ‘IP’ from the left hand menu followed by
DHCP Client then + to add a new client interface, next select the bridge interface that we
created earlier. Nothing will happen at this stage providing the Mikrotik is directly connected to
your system. (Once we’re finished, we will remove the static IP currently on ether1-local).

Step 7 – Now its time to configure the Wireless interface on our Mikrotik to broadcast a secure
wireless signal for our station side to connect to. This can be done by selecting Wireless from
the left hand menu followed by double clicking ‘wlan1-gateway’ from the interface list (normally
only 1 Wlan interface is listed but it’s actual name may change depending on the type of
MikroTik RouterBoard). This will bring up a new window with many options, select the wireless
tab within the new window and then click on ‘Advanced mode’. More options will now appear
but don’t panic! First thing we should configure is the frequency mode which will automatically
bring the Mikrotik into Compliance with local regulatory guidelines (set by Ofcom in the UK),
ensure that Frequency Mode is set to ‘regulatory-domain’ and the county is set to the country
that the Mikrotik will be operating in. In this case, I have selected United Kingdom. Once this is
done ‘simple mode’ can be re-selected or you can continue to work in Advanced mode.

Step 8 – Still in the wireless tab under the wireless interface configuration window change the
Mode to ‘ap bridge’ and the SSID to something appropriate, I used ‘Mikrotik PTP’. If the SXT
only has a Level 3 license, then the mode ‘ap bridge’ is not available, so select ‘bridge’ instead.
For a point to point system, there is no difference between ‘ap bridge’ and ‘bridge’ wireless
modes. For point to multi-point, you will need a MikroTik RouterBoard wireless product with a

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Level 4 license. Wireless protocol should now be changed to ‘nv2’, by doing this simple change
we have added a substantial layer of reliability to the wireless signal we are producing
compared to using 802.11 WiFi mode. No conventional wireless client such as laptop or phone
can communicate on the NV2 protocol as they don’t understand it only Mikrotik devices can
use NV2. (Note that there are also no device drivers available for Windows, Linux or Mac OSX
as the NV2 mode is a proprietary TDMA based system).

Step 9 – To add a significant amount of extra security to the link we are creating, navigate to
the NV2 tab under the wireless interface configuration window, tick the security box and enter
in a Preshared key of your choosing, click apply when done. NV2 will then switch to encrypting
the wireless data using AES.

Step 10 – The first Mikrotik is now ready and can be plugged in to the main network (it’s wise
to delay actually mounting this unit, until the second unit is connected and tested). Plug in the
second Mikrotik direct to your computer (this will be the Station device for the remote end we
are connecting to) and repeat steps 1-7 on this second device.

Step 11 – The mode for this Mikrotik shoudl be set to ‘station bridge’ with all other settings
remaining the same as last time with the SSID set to the same as before and Wireless protocol
set to nv2. Select the NV2 tab and enter the same AES preshared key as you did on the last
device, Select apply.

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Step 12 (Testing) – If everything has gone to plan with the previous steps we should now have
a wireless link between the 2 Mikrotik devices, therefore we will now test this link. Ensure that
the AP end configured earlier is plugged into your main network and leave the station end
device plugged into your computer. Do not connect the station client end into the same network
as your AP device, otherwise when the wireless connects, it will create a broadcast storm! To
see if the devices have connected open a winbox connection to the device you have plugged in
and select Wireless from the left hand menu, select the ‘Registration’ table and you will see the
connection in this window, if nothing is displayed please go over the previous steps.

Next remove the static IPs set on each of the two devices’ ether1 interfaces and also the fixed
IP on your computer (see step 1). Your computer should now be served an IP address over the
wireless link from your own DHCP server. Providing the AP is connected to your main network
which also serves the internet you will now have full internet access subject to any network
access restrictions and policies already in affect. Both Mikrotik devices will also have received
an IP address from the DHCP Server with means that you will be able to winbox to either
device once they connected to the same network and the wireless link is connected.

Step 13 – Mount both devices in the respective locations and angle them towards each other
ensuring full radio line of site (remember – just because YOU can see the other end with your
eyes, does not mean the same thing as the radios being able to ‘see’ each other. Read up on
Fresnel Zone!) For the best connection, there are LEDs on the rear of Mikrotik PTP devices
with can aid in precise positioning by indicating signal strength.

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Categories: HowTo, News | Tags: MikroTik, Networks, POE, RouterOS, Wireless, WISP |
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1 Comment

sam says:
May 26, 2017 at 13:36

very good

only mikortik !!! is power router

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