Mikrotik RouterBOARD Licenses

In this article, I am going to summarise the information about Mikrotik Licenses. (Updated: 22.01.2018)

There are several levels of licenses, which are limiting the functionalities.

Functionalities affected by the licenses are:

Wireless AP, Wireless Client and Bridge, RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols, EoIP tunnels, PPPoE tunnels, PPTP tunnels, L2TP tunnels, OVPN tunnels, VLAN interfaces, HotSpot active users, RADIUS client, Queues, Web proxy, User manager active sessions and Number of KVM guests

Most differences between them are the restrictions for the various tunnels.

  • 0 (trial mode), which doesn’t require a key – all of functionalities are restricted to 24hours trial period
    • excluding: initial support, no “Number of KVM guests”
  • 1 (Free Demo), requires registration – you can use only one session from a function at a certain moment (ex. one OVPN tunnel or one VLAN interface)
    • excluding: initial support, Wireless AP, Wireless Client and Bridge, RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols, RADIUS client, Web proxy
  • 3 (WISP CPE) – you can’t buy this as a standalone RouterOS version – it comes by default with Mikrotik SXT and other AP routers.
  • 4 (WISP), $45 with 15 days initial support
  • 5 (WISP), $95 with 30 days initial support
  • 6 (Controller), $250 with 30 days initial support
4 (WISP) 5 (WISP) 6 (Controller)
Wireless AP yes yes yes
Wireless Client and Bridge yes yes yes
RIP, OSPF, BGP protocols yes yes yes
EoIP tunnels unlimited unlimited unlimited
PPPoE tunnels 200 500 unlimited
PPTP tunnels 200 500 unlimited
L2TP tunnels 200 500 unlimited
OVPN tunnels 200 unlimited unlimited
VLAN interfaces unlimited unlimited unlimited
HotSpot active users 200 500 unlimited
RADIUS client yes yes yes
Queues unlimited unlimited unlimited
Web proxy yes yes yes
User manager active sessions 20 50 Unlimited
Number of KVM guests Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited

Most important things in the licenses are:

  • You are not able to upgrade a license, you have to buy a new one.
  • It is “glued” to the HDD of the device – which means that you can’t transfer the license to another device, but you are allow to move the HDD and the license will be legit.
  • It only can be used for one system.
  • If you format/overwrite/break the HDD with the RouterOS license – in other words if you did something to your HDD, which in some way erased the license –  it can’t be retrieved and you have to buy a new one.
  • If the fault for the broken HDD is not yours – you can request a replacement key ($10), but you have to prove that the drive is not destroyed in consequence of your actions – you might be asked to send the HDD to Mikrotik support.
  • If you want to format your HDD, you have to use: Netinstall

The installation of the license is really straight-forward:

  • Login trough Winbox or Webfig -> System -> License -> Paste key
  • Login trough Winbox or Webfig -> New Terminal and paste the key

Reboot is required after pasting the key.

All of the examples are configured on Cloud Router Mikrotik, provided by: CloudBalkan

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