Maybe this is the wrong place for this. If so I apologize in advance. I'm new here and don't want to step out of line, but I'm also running into lots of brick walls and am hoping to break through a couple but need some help.
1. I have a Mikrotik ac3 router. I bought it a few months back but hadn't gotten around to the next step.
2. I am primarily a Mac user. But I have a ton of Raspberry Pis of various levels I can use for this project. I do have a Surface Pro, but I have no desire to risk messing things up with it, I only use it for very special purposes. I also would prefer not to mess up a Mac while trying to get deep into stuff.
3. I am not a command line novice but I am a novice with a lot of these networking protocols (PXE, TFTP, etc).
The problem: the Mikrotik requires a PXE server to do the firmware update. I have spent hours scouring the internet. It seems every single setup guide I can find is oriented toward making a server to network boot PCs or RPIs. When I look at them I can see steps which seem to be oriented toward things I have no need or desire to do (setting up directories, installing files for booting said computers). I would love to find a guide that could get me through install or more particularly configuring PXE and I guess TFTP so that I can get the Mikrotik to get it's firmware. The guides for that on here seem fairly straightforward (assuming I get pass the server portion).
Thank you for your patience and assistance.
Chip - N1MIE
FN41bn
1. I have a Mikrotik ac3 router. I bought it a few months back but hadn't gotten around to the next step.
2. I am primarily a Mac user. But I have a ton of Raspberry Pis of various levels I can use for this project. I do have a Surface Pro, but I have no desire to risk messing things up with it, I only use it for very special purposes. I also would prefer not to mess up a Mac while trying to get deep into stuff.
3. I am not a command line novice but I am a novice with a lot of these networking protocols (PXE, TFTP, etc).
The problem: the Mikrotik requires a PXE server to do the firmware update. I have spent hours scouring the internet. It seems every single setup guide I can find is oriented toward making a server to network boot PCs or RPIs. When I look at them I can see steps which seem to be oriented toward things I have no need or desire to do (setting up directories, installing files for booting said computers). I would love to find a guide that could get me through install or more particularly configuring PXE and I guess TFTP so that I can get the Mikrotik to get it's firmware. The guides for that on here seem fairly straightforward (assuming I get pass the server portion).
Thank you for your patience and assistance.
Chip - N1MIE
FN41bn
You mentioned 'brick walls', but never identified one.
You mentioned that you have a 'Mac' and some Raspberry Pis...good you are familiar with Unix and Linux.
I am baffled as to why you mentioned " I do have a Surface Pro, but I have no desire to risk messing things up with it,"
and " I also would prefer not to mess up a Mac while trying to get deep into stuff."
I have no clue what this indicates.
Then you mention "The problem: the Mikrotik requires a PXE server to do the firmware update. I have spent hours scouring the internet."
Please, I beg of you...stop scouring the internet...99% of what you need is in the documentation on this (arednmesh.org) web site.
"I have no need or desire to do (setting up directories, installing files for booting...)"
You will need to create/edit directories and install files for booting a Mikrotik hAP ac3.
" I would love to find a guide that could get me through install or more particularly configuring PXE and I guess TFTP so that I can get the Mikrotik to get it's firmware."
Start here:
https://docs.arednmesh.org/en/latest/arednGettingStarted/installing_firm...
73, Chuck
I mention the Mac and the Surface Pro for completeness of the story. But I prefer not to monkey with new (to me) server technology that might have an unanticipated side effect on primary machines. The Raspberry Pi's are easily reflashed and will have minimal downside if they get hacked or otherwise screwed up.
From what I could see on the PC/RPi boot tutorials, there is some configuration to this, not just creating a directory. I would need the directory with the files (simple to do) and then there are one (or more) config files that would need to be edited. I can see that from the tutorials. But it's hard to distinguish what is required to install/setup to boot a PC and what might be different for booting a router.
Yes, but it's that 1% that is critical for success and I'd love some help with that piece. It's lack of inclusion in the documentation here suggests either (a) it is so simple that describing it is unnecessary or (b) that it varies widely depending on the operating system flavor and version. If it's the former then I feel like a dunce. If it's the latter than a little help in finding a source of aid would be greatly appreciated.
I see another reply. I will devour that next.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. Conversation helps move me in the right direction.
I remember seeing dnsmasq mentioned in some of the tutorials I found online. I see you provided the same link as the other reply. Unfortunately that is the documentation I've already read and re-read. It clearly states I need a PXE server. I searched my RPi. I don't see any evidence that a PXE server or TFTP server is present. It may be but looking for man files and using locate to search didn't give me the sense either was present. When I use the graphical interface I can see options to install PXE and TFTP servers. But I'm not comfortable that they will be adequately configured for what I need. One of my fears here is that I could brick the router if I don't do this correctly. All this lack of direction is making me wonder if I'm overthinking the problem and should just connect the router to the Pi and see what happens. Of course I still need to figure out where to place the file. So many questions are left unanswered and quite ambiguous by the help file on the AREDN site. I understand that we are technicians and that we should be capable of doing some things without being spoon fed, but I feel like and important piece (or 2) is missing.
This kinda reminds me of getting started on DSTAR years ago. A huge learning curve at first. Of course once you got past the initial culture/language shock things got a bit simpler.
Orv W6BI
73,
Matthew KN9U
FWIW the PXE server that we all use Tiny PXE Server is so simple that if you're not ok with 99% comfort you won't ever use it. The Tiny PXE Server is just a tiny self executable program that doesn't even install into a registry ... about the lowest complication level possible. You click the ***.exe and run it (yes paranoid Windows will ask if you mean to run it but that's because no one paid Bill Gates to bless it).
Thousands of people are flashing devices all the time. Like Nike used to say, JUST DO IT.
My 3 cents,
Ed
Here is my first complaint. Everyone says just do what it says. But there are two disparate procedures listed in the documentation here online. There is a checklist and there is procedure in the Mikrotik first time section. And they are not the same.
The Mikrotik First Install Checklist second step says "verify your computer has a working PXE server program" ... no idea how to do this (which why I was scouring in the first message. Given the comment earlier in the thread about the dnsmasq command I decided to ignore the PXE part of the step and just do the rename. The sixth step of the checklist is to start the PXE server, again no help. The seventh step is to verify the file has been sent, still no clue how. Gave up here and shifted gears.
The PXE Boot: Linux Procedure is a little easier to follow and appears to be what the earlier messages allude to performing. Everything went well until step 4. The only message I got on the screen was something about DHCP not being able to get an address within range. I suspect this may be because I had the Wifi interface still running in spite of following the directions and hooking up to ethernet, giving ethernet a static address in the 192.168.1.x block, and connecting the Mikrotik to the switch. So I turned off the router and turned off the wifi and tried again. No matter how long I wait I get no response. I tried rebooting (wifi still off) and several other variations. I noticed that when I give the dnsmasq command I get two messages about lease time, one is for 10.10.10.150-200 and the other is for the 192.168.1.100-200 that I gave it in the command. But the file never seems to get transferred since I get no response from it. And I do the procedure with the wifi enabled I get a "no address range available for dhcp request via wlan0" (which is wifi). My understanding of the -i switch is that it should only use that interface. So why is it going to wifi.
So despite hours of trial and error I've gotten nowhere.
I had a similar issue with the file not transferring to an ac3 just last week. As the procedure points out, if that happens, go into RouterOS and change NAND Before Ethernet to Try Ethernet once then nand.
It's documented here: https://docs.arednmesh.org/en/latest/arednGettingStarted/installing_firm...
Hope that helps.
Orv W6BI
Thanks all for the help. I'm almost there.