MikroTik

Introduction

Using MikroTik routers for more than five years has given me extensive experience in creating highly customized network configurations. Throughout this section, I share practical guides, tips, and solutions based on real-world experience to help users get the most out of MikroTik RouterOS for both home and business networks. I hope these resources make your MikroTik journey easier and more enjoyable.

Download RouterOS

If you already own a MikroTik device, you're ready to get started. If not, you can still explore MikroTik RouterOS by running the Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) edition in VMware Workstation Pro. Both are available to download and use for free, allowing you to build a virtual lab and gain hands-on experience before using physical hardware.

Use the links below to download them for free and start your MikroTik journey.

• • Download VMWare Workstation Pro

  • Download MikroTik CHR

You can also download MikroTik RouterOS CHR v6.49.20-Longterm and MikroTik RouterOS CHR v7.21.5-Longterm in OVA format from my shared space.

Download WinBox

Although you can manage MikroTik RouterOS through the web interface, SSH, or Telnet, the most popular and convenient method is WinBox. WinBox is MikroTik's graphical management tool, providing full access to RouterOS features through an intuitive interface.

One of WinBox's greatest advantages is its ability to open multiple windows simultaneously, making it easier to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot different parts of your router without constantly switching between menus.

You can always download the latest version of WinBox from MikroTik's official website: Download the Latest Version of WinBox

If you need an older release, such as a legacy or x86 version, you can find those here: Download Legacy WinBox Versions

IP Lists

If you live in Iran and are a network engineer, you probably know how useful well-maintained IP lists can be. Due to extensive Internet filtering and access restrictions in Iran, network engineers often need advanced routing mechanisms to route traffic through different ISPs, tunnels, or other network paths.

This approach, for example, can be useful when you need to access both services hosted inside Iran, which may require an IP address belongs to Iran, and services hosted outside the country at the same time.

MikroTik RouterOS allows you to route traffic destined for specific CIDR ranges through different underlay or overlay interfaces. One common approach is to create IP address lists, use firewall mangle rules to mark the relevant traffic, and then route the marked traffic through the appropriate routing table.

In this section, I provide several useful IP lists that can be used when configuring routing and firewall policies.

Iran IP List

The Iran IP list is one of the most useful lists for network engineers working with multiple routing paths. You can use these IP ranges to prevent traffic destined for Iranian networks from being sent through an external tunnel and instead route it directly through an Iranian ISP.

To create this list, I collected IP ranges from five different sources and used a Python script to combine and process the data. I then used a second script to verify that the IP addresses were correctly grouped into CIDR ranges and that no addresses were accidentally omitted or added. This process helps ensure that the final list contains the available Iranian IP ranges without unnecessary duplication or missing addresses, resulting in a more accurate and reliable dataset.

I periodically update this list and provide the latest version here. The download package contains both the original list and an IPv4-only version formatted for MikroTik RouterOS from my GitHub: View in GitHub

Google Meet

Google Meet is Google's video-conferencing service, allowing users to participate in meetings using a Google account through a web browser or supported applications. It is widely used for online meetings and can perform reasonably well under limited bandwidth conditions.

If you use Google Meet in your organization and need to route its traffic through a specific ISP or network path, you can use the provided IP list when creating firewall or routing policies.

You can have both the raw list and MikroTik RouterOS ready to import file based on your need. View in GitHub

Telegram IP List

Telegram is a widely used messaging platform that provides messaging, voice and video communication, file sharing, and cloud-based features. It is also designed to work under a wide range of network conditions.

If you need to create routing or firewall policies specifically for Telegram traffic, you can use the provided IP list. Telegram publishes information about its network infrastructure, which can be used as a source when maintaining routing rules.

You can have both the original list and an IPv4-only version formatted for MikroTik RouterOS based on your need. View in GitHub

DoH List

As a network administrator responsible for managing an organization's traffic, you may need to monitor DNS queries and ensure that DNS requests are resolved through your organization's internal DNS infrastructure.

Although technologies such as Group Policy can be used to control DNS configuration on managed Windows devices, not every device on a network can necessarily be managed through a domain controller. For example, a network may contain IoT devices, mobile devices, embedded systems, or other non-Windows equipment.

DNS over HTTPS (DoH) can make DNS traffic more difficult to identify and control because DNS queries are transported over HTTPS. To improve DNS policy enforcement, I have compiled a list of known DoH service endpoints that can be used when creating firewall rules and traffic policies.

You can download the raw file and a MikroTik ready to import file based on your need. View in GitHub