Mikrotik Serial and Console Access

Table of Contents

Serial Console: "Out of the Box" Settings

Serial port:

  • Baud: 115200
  • Data: 8
  • Parity: none
  • Stop: 1
  • Flow: none

Use screen on Linux to connect to serial port

sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

To exit (kill) the screen utility without closing your terminal window entirely, type CTRL-A k

"Backup" Methods for Console access

Console Access: Telnet over Ethernet (not IP)

For Windows, use Mikrotik's Neighbor Viewer utility

For Linux, use this open source utility described in a blog post:

To install on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install build-essential automake autoconf autopoint
git clone https://github.com/haakonnessjoen/MAC-Telnet.git
cd MAC-Telnet
./autogen.sh
./configure --disable-nls
sudo make all install

To use:

mactelnet -l        # List Mikrotik devices on local LAN
mactelnet MikroTik  # Connect to the device with identity “MikroTik” (default name)
mactelnet AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF   # Connect to device with MAC address AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

Serial Console: Slower Baud Rate

This is useful for dodgy USB-to-serial adaptors that can't fully support the default 115200 baud rate. Configure via the web interface or CLI commands. Note that the serial console must first be disabled, then configured, then enabled, and finally the system rebooted to finally take effect.

system console disable 0
system routerboard settings set baud-rate=9600
system console enable 0
system reboot

Note that this setting will NOT survive a 'system reset-configuration' command!