So I'm trying to set up OpenWrt on this Mikrotik router (I'm aware the new releases have dropped support, but I'm having problems wrapping my head around RouterOS, so I'm willing to live with slightly outdated software until I have the time to figure this out properly). Problem is, I'm following this guide here, and seemingly can't get the router to netboot. I have dnsmasq running from the script, and the router is set to try booting from ethernet once, then proceed to NAND. What happens, is that the router gets to showing "ether boot" on it's built-in display, and then, after a while, proceeds to boot RouterOS. Since the loader.sh script from the guide launches dnsmasq with --log-dhcp flag, I expected I'd see requests logged in /var/log/syslog, but nothing from dnsmasq seems to appear there.
What (possibly blatantly obvious) mistake am I making here?
Have you tried bootp ?
/system routerboard settings set boot-device=try-ethernet-once-then-nand
/system routerboard settings set boot-protocol=bootp
/system reboot
Is your client firewall 'loose' enough for the dnsmasq server to accept incoming requests? You're connected to the WAN port on your MikroTik?
Ye, that's what I'm doing, just through Winbox, instead of CLI.
@Borromini Good question, I'm just using whatever settings are default with Debian 10 (for clarity - for purposes of setting up, I am using a spare laptop connected directly to this router. Nothing else is connected). Might just be the case, will check tomorrow.
I had also forgotten to give the laptop a static IP (192.168.1.3). Same result with that fixed, though.
Ok, maybe related for your information if it is not firewall related
with the jailbreak of the RB5009 ardon reported issue, only after a fresh NetInstall of Mikrotik OS would it correctly boot the jailbreak initramfs image
I didn't need to reinstall RouterOS on my RB5009UG. It took a lot of trial and error to get it to work though. Somehow, for me it only worked when I set dnsmasq to listen on 192.168.88.1, then the RB5009UG booted the OpenWrt TFTP image at the first attempt...
I also had odd RB5009 issues, did not need netinstall, but eventually worked
Got somewhat stumped - where does dnsmasq log the received DHCP requests? /var/log/syslog/? Also got a bit confused about configuring the firewall, will look into it again. Also, is there a chance I might have better luck if I updated RouterOS to 7.1 before installing OpenWrt?
If you call dnsmasq as per the wiki instructions you should see it being rather verbose about incoming DHCP requests / outgoing offers / acknowledgements etc. If you're not seeing anything, that probably means your firewall is up. What helped me was setting the IP to 192.168.88.1 (the subnet MikroTik seems to use by default).
What I tend to do (it's a bit crude but if you're behind a router it shouldn't be too worrying) is to accept all incoming requests temporarily in your iptables rules:
-A INPUT -j ACCEPT
Then reload iptables (# iptables-restore /path/to/rules), run dnsmasq, and once you get the MikroTik on OpenWrt, reinstate your default firewall rules.
Ok, so far got some response out of it. Haven't tried changing the addresses to 88 subnet yet, but that's probably the next attempt. Don't remember what exactly did I change, but judging by this output from dnsmasq, the router connects, gets assigned 192.168.1.112, and receives the boot file:
dnsmasq: compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt DBus i18n IDN DHCP DHCPv6 no-Lua TFTP conntrack ipset auth DNSSEC loop-detect inotify dumpfile
dnsmasq-dhcp: DHCP, IP range 192.168.1.100 -- 192.168.1.200, lease time 1h
dnsmasq-tftp: TFTP root is /srv/tftp
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 available DHCP range: 192.168.1.100 -- 192.168.1.200
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 vendor class: Mips_boot
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 tags: bootp, enp9s0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 BOOTP(enp9s0) 192.168.1.112 64:d1:54:65:f0:f2
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 bootfile name: openwrt.elf
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 next server: 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 sent size: 4 option: 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 sent size: 4 option: 28 broadcast 192.168.1.255
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1873858460 sent size: 4 option: 3 router 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftp/openwrt.elf to 192.168.1.112
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 available DHCP range: 192.168.1.100 -- 192.168.1.200
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 vendor class: udhcp 1.30.1
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 client provides name: OpenWrt
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 DHCPDISCOVER(enp9s0) 64:d1:54:65:f0:f2
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 tags: enp9s0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 DHCPOFFER(enp9s0) 192.168.1.112 64:d1:54:65:f0:f2
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 1:netmask, 3:router, 6:dns-server, 12:hostname,
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 15:domain-name, 28:broadcast, 42:ntp-server,
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 121:classless-static-route
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 bootfile name: openwrt.elf
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 next server: 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 1 option: 53 message-type 2
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 54 server-identifier 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 51 lease-time 1h
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 58 T1 30m
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 59 T2 52m30s
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 28 broadcast 192.168.1.255
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 3 router 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 available DHCP range: 192.168.1.100 -- 192.168.1.200
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 vendor class: udhcp 1.30.1
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 client provides name: OpenWrt
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 DHCPREQUEST(enp9s0) 192.168.1.112 64:d1:54:65:f0:f2
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 tags: enp9s0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 DHCPACK(enp9s0) 192.168.1.112 64:d1:54:65:f0:f2 OpenWrt
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 1:netmask, 3:router, 6:dns-server, 12:hostname,
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 15:domain-name, 28:broadcast, 42:ntp-server,
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 requested options: 121:classless-static-route
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 bootfile name: openwrt.elf
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 next server: 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 1 option: 53 message-type 5
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 54 server-identifier 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 51 lease-time 1h
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 58 T1 30m
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 59 T2 52m30s
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 1 netmask 255.255.255.0
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 28 broadcast 192.168.1.255
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 4 option: 3 router 192.168.1.10
dnsmasq-dhcp: 1171637180 sent size: 7 option: 12 hostname OpenWrt
After this, the router permanently sits on the etherboot screen, and there's no web interface to be found on 192.168.1.112. Can't ping it either.
Edit: ye, I renamed the bootfile to openwrt.elf, as there are no other openwrt related files in there, and a shorter filename is easier to manage.
dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftp/openwrt.elf to 192.168.1.112
So progress, all in all. And it looks like the ELF file got served and accepted. You're switching to a LAN port on your MikroTik, right? Right after you see the line I quoted, you should kill dnsmasq, and connect your client to one of your router's LAN ports.
I think the 192.168.88.x range helps in preventing conflicts, since OpenWrt (like any other router) won't like getting a DHCP IP on the WAN port that's in the same range as the subnet it's handing out on its LAN ports. I'm pretty sure that's part of the issue.
Ah, thank you! I indeed forgot to switch to a LAN port. Will get back on it as soon as possible.