MikroTik Policy-Based Routing: Routing Different Traffic Through Different Gateways
Learn how to configure MikroTik RouterOS 7 policy-based routing with routing rules or mangle marks, separate routing tables, NAT, verification, and troubleshooting.
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MikroTik DHCP Relay: Centralized IP Management Across VLANs
Applies to: RouterOS v6 and v7 (IPv4). Behaviour differences between releases are called out where they matter. Contents Why relay exists: the broadcast domain problem How RouterOS relay works: giaddr is the whole mechanism Architecture: where the relay sits in a VLAN design Configuring relay for multiple VLANs Server-side configuration: the relay= property Option 82:…
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MikroTik User Management: Groups, Policies, and Role-Based Access Control
Applies to: RouterOS v6 and v7. Policy availability varies by release; verify against your version’s CLI reference before rolling out. Contents How RouterOS authorisation actually works The policy reference Why the built-in groups are a poor RBAC baseline Policy negation: add versus set Designing a least-privilege role model Hardening the accounts themselves Centralised RBAC with…
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How to Upgrade and Downgrade MikroTik RouterOS Safely
A practical MikroTik RouterOS maintenance guide covering safe upgrades, backups, release channels, verification, exact-version downgrades, and RouterOS v6/v7 migration risks.
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MikroTik DNS Cache and Web Proxy: Optimizing Internet Access
MikroTik DNS Cache and Web Proxy: Optimizing Internet Access MikroTik RouterOS includes two built-in caching mechanisms that are often confused but serve very different purposes: the DNS cache and the web proxy cache. Used correctly, they reduce latency, lower upstream bandwidth consumption, and improve the browsing experience for LAN clients. Used incorrectly, they can waste…
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5 Best Free Hard Drive Health Check Tools for Linux (HDDs and SSDs)
The best free Linux tools for checking hard drive and SSD health are smartmontools (smartctl and smartd), nvme-cli, GSmartControl, Scrutiny, and badblocks. Together they read S.M.A.R.T. data and NVMe health logs, run drive self-tests, track health over time, and scan for unreadable blocks. This guide explains what each tool does, gives the exact commands, and…
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How to Check SSD Health in Windows 11 Without Installing Software (2027)
An SSD can develop errors or wear out without obvious warning signs. Windows 11 includes built-in tools that can help you inspect available drive-health information, retrieve reliability counters, and check for file-system errors without installing additional software. Quick answer: Open PowerShell as an administrator and run Get-PhysicalDisk | Format-Table FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus, OperationalStatus -AutoSize. For…
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5 Best Free Hard Drive Health Check Software Tools for HDDs and SSDs (2027)
Hard drives and solid-state drives can develop problems long before they stop working completely. Mechanical hard drives may develop unreadable sectors, while SSDs can experience flash memory wear, controller errors, or other hardware problems. Fortunately, several free Windows utilities can help identify potential storage issues by reading S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic data, monitoring temperatures, examining error logs,…
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Running MikroTik CHR on Proxmox: A Step-by-Step Virtualization Guide
CHR runs on almost any hypervisor, but Proxmox is where most self-hosted labs and small ISPs actually put it — free, KVM-based, and scriptable through the qm command line. Get two specific settings wrong, though, and you end up with a VM that boots to a black screen or a disk that silently never writes….
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Tailscale vs ZeroTier on MikroTik: Which Mesh VPN Should You Use?
Both Tailscale and ZeroTier promise the same thing: a flat, encrypted mesh network connecting your devices without port forwarding, static IPs, or a traditional site-to-site VPN tunnel to babysit. On most platforms, picking between them comes down to preference. On MikroTik specifically, it does not — one of them is a native, first-party RouterOS package,…
