Gerhard Potgieter

During the past few weeks I have received numerous requests about users asking me to help them set up a PPTP VPN tunnel between two Mikrotik devices to share internet, so I thought it couldn’t do any harm in writing a nice little how to.

We are going to start with the Mikrotik router providing the internet, please make sure that the router is already internet enabled and that you can ping internet sites from it.

Log in to the router using Winbox, and click on the PPP link to open up the PPP settings page. First we enable the PPTP server on the router by clicking settings button and ticking enabled and then apply.

After enabling the PPTP Server we need to create a login for the router wanting the internet. Go to the secrets tab, click the +, a screen will open up where you will fill in all the details. Name is the username, Password the password, profile choose default-encryption. Now for the most important part, the IP’s. Local Address is the IP the dialing router will have in the router providing Internet, and Remote Address the IP the dialing router will have in its own side. The remote address is important cause we will use it to masquerade the internet. Click apply and you should now have a login setup.

Now we must set up the Masquerade rule, so that the dialing router will be able to surf the web. On the main menu go to IP -> Firewall. Click the NAT tab and then the +. In chain select srcnat, src address is the remote address we used in the login setup above. You can either just use the ip or you can use a whole range if you have more than 1 router dialing.

Now click on the Action tab and for Action select masquerade. Click apply and then you are done setting up the server side of the PPTP VPN.

Next we log into the Mikrotik router dialing to the router providing the internet. Log in using Winbox, go to PPP menu. Click the + and select PPTP Client. Go to the Dial Out tab and in the Connect To box enter the IP of the router providing the internet, User and Passowrd will be the username and password set up on the server side. Under Profile select default-encryption, tick Add Default Route and then Apply.

That it you should now have a fully working VPN link to the router providing the internet and should now have internet. Just remember that DNS settings could perhaps not be set up and thus your internet could not be working.

Please take not that this tutorial was written for Mikrotik routers on the CTWUG network but should also work for other networks. If you have any questions or queries please leave comments and I’ll respond.

Mikrotik announced the release of the RB433 early this week. The RB433 is a high performance AP (Access Point) with a 300mhz Atheros CPU. With the announcement of the RB433 came the EOL (End of line) announcement of the RB333 a performance AP that was based on the PowerPC CPU.

The RB433 is the replacement for the RB333, which is weird cause the RB333 hasn’t been in production for that long. Mikrotik probably used the RB333 to test the PowerPC CPU in their devices. We at CTWUG have a RB333 on one of our highsites and it perform very well.

Back to the RB433, it is kinda a exact replica of the RB333 with exception to its hardware specs and price. The RB344 boasts a Atheros AR7130 300MHz CPU, 64MB Memmory, 3 x 10/100 Ethernet ports with one POE (Power over ethernet) enabled, 3 miniPCI slots for wireless radios, 12~28V DC power jack aswell as POE, and the great RouterOS level4. One thing that it doesn’t support is remote voltage monitoring, something that is expected in a later hardware release.

I spoke to william at Scoop Distribution earlier today and they expect stock arrival by the end of May. The best thing about the RB433 is the price, it will be sold for just under R800 here in SA as apposed to the RB333 that is currently going for R1300 exlc vat. Scoop also told me that they will be selling the RB333 for R1150 as they are trying to clear our the RB333 in expectation of the new RB433.

All and all I’m looking forward to this new High Performance AP from Mikrotik and know they won’t dissapoint as always. Im sure CTWUG will be stoking up on on the RB433 for new highsites and even relay nodes as soon as these babies goes on sale.

So this is the NanoStation2, it gets described as “The Ultimate CPE for the Global WISP Community” but lets see what makes its manufacturers think that this device is so leet. Firstly this is the NanoStation2, where the hell was the NanoStation1? Me being part of CTWUG I have all my doubt in this little device as all devices I know that really packs a punch in the wireless industry is Mikrotik Routerboards. So lets have a look at the NanoStation2 specs as given by the Ubiquiti website.

• Processor Specs: Atheros AR2316 SOC, MIPS 4KC, 180MHz
• Memory Information: 16MB SDRAM, 4MB Flash
• Networking Interface: 1 X 10/100 BASE-TX (Cat. 5, RJ-45) Ethernet Interface
• Wireless Approvals: FCC Part 15.247, IC RS210
• RoHS Compliance: Yes
• TX Power: 26dBm, +/-2dB
• RX Sensitivity: -97dBm +/-2dB
• Antenna: Integrated 10dBi Dual Pol + External SMA
• Outdoor Range: over 15km
• TCP/IP Throughput: 25Mbps+
• Max Power Consumption: 5 Watts
• Power Supply: 12V, 1A (12 Watts). Supply and injector included
• Power Method: Passive Power over Ethernet (pairs 4,5+; 7,8 return)
• Operating Temperature: -20C to +70C (System PCB optimized for hi-temp)
• Operating Humidity: 5 to 95% Condensing
• Shock and Vibration: ETSI300-019-1.4
• Weight: 0.4 kg

Out of personal experience with wifi networking I dont think this devices comes close to the Mikrotik Routerboard 133c, and just to mention the 133c is not being produced anymore as its being replaced with the RB411 that packs a powerful 300Mhz Atheros Networking processor. And the lack of a high gain antenna puts me off, as 10dbi is not worth it for a CPE. The throughput listed there is hard for me to believe, maybe in a lab at a distance of 5m but still then i have my doubts as a 175Mhz Atheros cpu maxes out at about 14mbps. Sure it has a kinda powerful radio, but that anway illegal in South Africa. If I must take a guess the NanoStation would retail at about R700 - R900 here in South Africa and for that price I would rather buy a custom Routerboard CPE from scoop. All in all the NanoStation looks good from the outside but with the multitude of CPE enclosures you get nowadays there is better designs out there.

Just to sum it up, I dont forsee this device competing with any Mikrotik produk in the near future as Mikrotik has a good OS on their devices and has allot of power behind their devices that overtakes the NanoStation by far.