Ethernet Interfaces

Document revision 1.7 (21-May-2003)
This document applies to the MikroTik RouterOS V2.7

Table of Contents
Summary
Specifications
Related Documents
Ethernet Interface Configuration
Monitoring the Interface Status
- Example
Notes
Additional Resources

Summary

MikroTik RouterOS supports the following types of Ethernet Network Interface Cards:

most NE2000 compatible ISA and PCI cards

3com 3c509 ISA cards

DEC/Intel Tulip chip based cards

Intel Pro Gigabit PCI cards
The complete list of supported Ethernet NICs can be found in the Device Driver Management Manual.

Packages required : None
License required : Any
Home menu level : /interface ethernet
Standards and Technologies : IEEE 802.3 (grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/3/)
Hardware usage : not significant

Ethernet Interface Configuration

Submenu level : /interface ethernet

Property Description

name (name; default: etherN) - assigned interface name
arp (disabled | enabled | proxy-arp | replay-only; default: enabled) - Address Resolution Protocol
mtu (integer; default: 1500) - Maximum Transmission Unit
disable-running-check (yes | no; default: yes) - disable running check. For 'broken' ethernet cards it is good to disable running status checking (as default)
mac-address (read-only: MAC address) - Media Access Control address of the card
auto-negotiation (yes | no; default: yes) - when enabled, the interface "advertises" its maximum capabilities to achieve the best connection possible
full-duplex (yes | no; default: yes) - defines whether the transmission of data appears in two directions simultaneously
long-cable (no | yes; default: no) - changes the cable length setting (only applicable to NS DP83815/6 cards)
speed (1000Mbps | 100Mbps | 10Mbps) - sets the data transmission speed of the interface

Notes

For some Ethernet NICs it is possible to blink the LEDs for 10s. Type /interface ethernet blink ether1 and watch the NICs to see the one which has blinking LEDs.

Examples

[admin@MikroTik] > interface print
Flags: X - disabled, D - dynamic, R - running
  #    NAME                 TYPE             MTU
  0 X  ether1               ether            1500

[admin@MikroTik] > interface enable ether1
[admin@MikroTik] > interface print
Flags: X - disabled, D - dynamic, R - running
  #    NAME                 TYPE             MTU
  0  R ether1               ether            1500

[admin@MikroTik] > interface ethernet
[admin@MikroTik] interface ethernet> print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
  #    NAME                 MTU   MAC-ADDRESS       ARP
  0  R ether1               1500  00:50:08:00:00:F5 enabled

[admin@MikroTik] interface ethernet> print detail
Flags: X - disabled, R - running
  0  R name="ether1" mtu=1500 mac-address=00:50:08:00:00:F5 arp=enabled
       disable-running-check=yes

[admin@MikroTik] interface ethernet>

Monitoring the Interface Status

To monitor ethernet interface status, you can issue the /interface ethernet monitor command.

The output includes following statistics parameters:
status (link-ok | no-link | unknown) - status of the interface, one of the:

link-ok - the card has connected to the network

no-link - the card has not connected to the network

unknown - the connection is not recognized
data-rate (10 Mbps | 100 Mbps | 1000Mbps) - the actual data rate of the connection
auto-negotiation (done | incomplete)- fast link pulses (FLP) to the adjacent link station to negotiate the SPEED and MODE of the link.

done - negotiation done

incomplete - negotiation failed
full-duplex (yes | no) - whether transmission of data occurs in two directions simultaneously

Example

[admin@MikroTik] interface ethernet> monitor ether2
              status: link-ok
    auto-negotiation: done
                rate: 100Mbps
         full-duplex: yes

Notes

See the IP Addresses and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) section of the manual for information how to add IP addresses to the interfaces.

Additional Resources

http://infocomp.csuchico.edu/metis/internet/topology/topo3_ethernet.htm
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~liddellj/nct/ethernet_protocol.html Ethernet Information Site