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MikroTik Netinstall on Linux.
Author: SM Wahiduzzaman
Mobile: +8801823 555 556
Skype: live:.cid.8b4a930feae477f8
Telegram: https://t.me/codeinsidepro
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Warranty/Guarantee: No
Last Update: 25-mar-2024

I’m writing this because the MikroTik official docs are thin on details for this use case.

NetInstall needs to force I/O through a single network path under all conditions in order to do what it does. This might seem like an easy thing to accomplish, but then realize that NetInstall operates at a very low level, and there are multiple stages to the conversation, each of which may have different rules applied by the OS’s network stack.

This recommendation holds even for those running Linux natively on the host system. While you can run netinstall-cli directly in that case.

The only key configuration choice is bridging the virtual network adapter to the one-and-only host-side Ethernet adapter that netinstall-cli will communicate over. Success lies in avoiding cleverness like NAT, “shared” networking, automatic switching between Ethernet and WiFi, etc.

Here is the documents what worked for me with Fedora Linux 39. Almost same for for other Linux distro.

Firewall

The key server-side change is that many Linux OSes ship with a firewall enabled which will block the ports netinstall-cli needs when communicating with the router.

The tricky bit is, the minimum set of ports isn’t documented anywhere, that I can see.

Red Hat OS use firewalld these days, where the commands to unblock the required ports are below.

sudo firewall-cmd --add-port bootps/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port tftp/udp
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port 5000/udp

Other Linuxes use other firewall systems. Some still use raw iptables or nft commands, ufw is popular on Ubuntu, etc.

Alternatively you can stop Firewall during installation.

Disable tftp and port udp/69

You may get error message bind tftp general failed: Address in use indicates that the TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) port is already in use by another process on your system. TFTP typically operates on UDP port 69.

To resolve this issue, you'll need to identify the process that is currently using the TFTP port and either stop that process or configure it to use a different port.

Find out which process is using the TFTP port

sudo netstat -tuln | grep :69

Output:

udp6       0      0 :::69                   :::*

This command will show you the process ID (PID) of the process using port 69.

Once you have identified the PID, you can use the following command to find out more details about the process.

sudo lsof -i UDP:69

Output:

COMMAND PID USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
systemd   1 root  303u  IPv6    795      0t0  UDP *:tftp

This will give you information about the process and its associated files. Once you know which process is using the TFTP port, you can decide how to proceed. If the process is not necessary or can be stopped temporarily, you can stop it using:

sudo systemctl stop <process-name>

If you get systemd is using the TFTP port (UDP port 69). systemd is a system and service manager for Linux operating systems. To resolve the port conflict, you have a couple of options

Or You can also stop the systemd TFTP service temporarily to free up the port. Use the following command:

sudo systemctl stop tftp

Output:

Stopping 'tftp.service', but its triggering units are still active:
tftp.socket

Check tftp status

sudo systemctl status tftp

Download netinstall

The Linux version is a command line tool, which offers nearly the same parameters as the Windows counterpart.

Download and save MikroTik ROS package *.npk and netinstall-cli in same directory in your Linux machine, Make sure both *.npk and netinstall-cli files are same version.

I don’t know how critical it is to use the matching version of netinstall-cli when changing RouterOS versions, but while you’re downloading fresh *.npk , you might as well update netinstall-cli version as well.

Download the tool from our download page (links not literal)

wget https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/[VERSION]/netinstall-[VERSION].tar.gz

Extract it

tar -xzf netinstall-[VERSION].tar.gz

Networking

Change your Linux machine/Netinstall server’s IP address to static IP, use the 192.168.88.1/24, Gateway is not require in our case.

Linux Client machine: 192.168.88.1/24

Only one Ethernet port on your router will participate in an EtherBoot conversation. It might be marked BOOT on your Router, but if not, it’s generally the one that comes up as ether1 in the default configuration.

The first two required ports aren’t much of a surprise given the mention of “BOOTP” in the official docs, but I had to do a packet capture to work out that the last one was required. Without it, you’ll get stuck at the “sendFile” step. It's better to disable your WiFi.

NetInstall will get stuck in the “Waiting for RouterBOARD...” step if you have the Ethernet cable plugged into the wrong port.

Check Linux machine/Netinstall server interface.

ip a | grep enp

Output:

2: enp4s0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN group default qlen 1000

Or, Check Linux machine/Netinstall server interface.

ifconfig | grep enp

Output:

enp4s0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500

The enp4s0 value will vary by OS and virtual hardware configuration. On modern Linux OS, say “ip link” to get a list of possible names. For a VM, there are likely only two; pick the one that isn’t the lo interface.

Physical connection

  • Use a UTP/STP cable to physically connect between the Linux Client machine and Router

  • Connect the router Ether Port(Eth1/BOOT) directly to the Netinstall server’s/Linux Machine's copper Ethernet port; there merely needs to be an unimpeded L2 path between the two devices.

Netinstall Server Configuration(Linux machine)

You can follow below syntax to run command.

netinstall-cli command syntax.

Version: 7.13.1(2024-01-05 14:35:24)
Usage: ./netinstall-cli [-r] [-e] [-b] [-k <keyfile>] [-s <userscript>] {-i <interface> | -a <client-ip>} [PACKAGE]+
	-r  apply default configuration
	-e  apply empty configuration
	    -r and -e are mutually exclusive
	    by default existing configuration will be kept
	-b  remove branding

Now you can start the netinstall-cliserver:

Put all files netinstall-cli and *.npk in same directory.

List all files

ls -lha

Open the directory where you saved netinstall-cli> Click right button> Open in Terminal> Now run below command.

sudo chmod +x ./netinstall-cli

Run below command to install arm package

sudo ./netinstall-cli -r -i enp4s0 -a 192.168.88.2 routeros-7.13.1-arm.npk

Output:

routeros-7.13.1-arm.npk 
Version: 7.13.1(2024-01-05 14:35:24)
Will reset to default config
Using Interface: enp4s0
Wait for Link-UP on 'enp4s0'. OK
Using Client IP: 192.168.88.2
Using Server IP: 192.168.88.1
Starting PXE server
Waiting for RouterBOARD...
client: 74:4D:28:7B:7D:93
Detected client architecture: arm
Sending and starting Netinstall boot image ... 
Installed branding package detected
Discovered RouterBOARD...
Formatting...
Sending package routeros-7.13.1-arm.npk ...
Ready for reboot...
Sent reboot command

Or Run below command to install tile package

sudo ./netinstall-cli -r -i enp4s0 -a 192.168.88.2 routeros-tile-6.49.10.npk

Output:

Version: 7.14.1(2024-03-08 13:35:10)
Will reset to default config
Using Interface: enp4s0
Wait for Link-UP on 'enp4s0'............ OK
Using Client IP: 192.168.88.2
Using Server IP: 192.168.88.1
Starting PXE server
Waiting for RouterBOARD...
client: 08:55:31:B4:3D:1F
Detected client architecture: tile
Sending and starting Netinstall boot image ... 
Installed branding package detected
Discovered RouterBOARD...
Formatting...
Sending package routeros-tile-6.49.10.npk ...
Ready for reboot...
Sent reboot command
wahid@wahid-lenovo:/run/media/wahid/DATA/OFFICIAL DATA/MyCloud Offline/MikroTik/Router/ROS/Long-Term 6.49.10/netinstall-7.14.1$

Now the important part you have to do:

  • Remove power cord of your Router, Then press reset button in your Router, in the mean time plugin power cord again, Wait for approximately 30 sec, release reset button. You will see above output in command line. If you see above output that means RouterOS installation done successfully!!!

  • For routers with wired interfaces only, the base routeros-*.npk package is all you require, but for WiFi based routers, if you fail to at least include the appropriate wireless package, the default configuration is likely to come up improperly. Anything else you add syntax to this is purely optional.

  • If you get the Key was rejected message, hit Ctrl-C to break out of netinstall-cli, then Up-Arrow and Enter to quickly restart it. I’ve seen this bypass the symptom when using a CentOS 8 Stream VM as the server.

Note: I highly recommend running a packet sniffer like Wireshark or tcpdump when you’re doing this, to identify any configuration errors.