MicroTik RB750GR3 hEX Router Reviewed

[thiggins]

2.)Intermittent packet loss experienced by Tim Higgins was not experienced by Jim Salter, ArsTechnica.com, who reports relatively smooth waveforms with some connection failure like any router except for his minimal diy Ubuntu, an Ubiquiti-ER Pro.

Packet loss was experienced by Doug Reid while writing the review. I performed the testing behind the Router Charts results, which don't show packet loss.

 

[System Error Message]

Other problems with Mikrotik RB750GR3 are:

1.) OpenVPN can only run under TCP, as Mikrotik has been unable to code for UDP.

2.) Intermittent packet loss experienced by Tim Higgins was not experienced by Jim Salter, ArsTechnica.com, who reports relatively smooth waveforms with some connection failures like any router except for his minimal diy Ubuntu, and Ubiquiti-ER Pro.

3.) Previous poor record of European router hacks by Mikrotik(probably not configured or password coded, though), and previous poor hardware defect record of RB750GR2.

Despite all this, it may be a solution as head home/office router and firewall, on future firmware update, relegating any expensive name brand router to AP use only.

Problems with mikrotik
1) They need to implement loads of things but havent yet, like DNScrypt too.
2) Packet losses can happen if you configure it wrong, Otherwise i have never experienced a packet loss caused by router itself, only if i configure it wrong
3) Previous record of hacks were for routerOS versions 3 or older (i started out with router OS 5 a few years ago and its been version 6). Some of the vulnerable mikrotik routers had default logins and did not prevent input on WAN while some unscrupulous vendors will sell mikrotik routers with some sort of malware in them (they must've done the hack to get dev shell access to install their malware). Otherwise routerOS is pretty much secure as to hack it requires booting the router using openWRT instead. I conversed with someone on mikrotik forums regarding hacking the router and he used his CCR1036 as a media encoder and it did a good job at being both a gateway and media encoder for his customers but his post regarding it was removed by mikrotik staff.

A long time ago in the past before i bought my first mikrotik routerboard, RouterOS was buggy but they have since been very stable since version 5 with a few bugs. I myself experienced very few bugs with it with the worst being that sniffing would cause a router reboot on the MIPS 24k platform.

 

[System Error Message]

Sorry for the delays, my new job has been demanding. Be rest assured i will be coming out with tutorials in November, this is because i've suggested mikrotik to the company i work with so its a chance for me to record my work this time and set it up to the best the router supports and write a tutorial. Currently we have a terrible consumer router that hangs twice a day.

In some later months i will also write about integrating mikrotik with a seperate server to perform IDS, IPS and other security features including web caching so you dont need a disk in your routerboard.

 

[robotdog]

I have Gigabit internet through Verizon FIOS and decided to give this router a shot due to this review, and the homebrew router article on Ars Technica.

Using the quickset configuration with fast-track, and setting an interface-queue of pcq-upload-default, I found that I was able to get nearly 100% throughput while avoiding bufferbloat.

My testing was done with DSL reports speed test:
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Before adding in the interface-queue, I would see no bufferbloat on downlink, but approaching 2seconds worth on upload, and an overall bufferbloat rank of C or D depending on the run. bandwidth would be approx. 900mbps down, and 950mbps up.

Disabling Fasttrack and using a simple queue with PCQ for eth1 (my internet interface), would cure the bufferbloat. My rank would be an A for bufferbloat, but I would "only" see around 700mbps of bandwidth up or down.

Afterword I decided to re-enable fasttrack, and use pcq-upload-default as the interface-queue for eth1. In this set-up upload bufferbloat stays within 0-20ms, bufferbloat score increases to an A, and the router can maintain around 900mbps symetrical.​

This isn't QoS, because there's no prioritization, but not many home users would really need that with a gigabit connection anyway.

Figured I would share my findings for any other home users who might have picked up this router for reasons like I did.

Would be interested to hear how this compares to queues used by the SNB test setup, and other people's configurations.

 

[System Error Message]

I have Gigabit internet through Verizon FIOS and decided to give this router a shot due to this review, and the homebrew router article on Ars Technica.

Using the quickset configuration with fast-track, and setting an interface-queue of pcq-upload-default, I found that I was able to get nearly 100% throughput while avoiding bufferbloat.

My testing was done with DSL reports speed test:
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Before adding in the interface-queue, I would see no bufferbloat on downlink, but approaching 2seconds worth on upload, and an overall bufferbloat rank of C or D depending on the run. bandwidth would be approx. 900mbps down, and 950mbps up.

Disabling Fasttrack and using a simple queue with PCQ for eth1 (my internet interface), would cure the bufferbloat. My rank would be an A for bufferbloat, but I would "only" see around 700mbps of bandwidth up or down.

Afterword I decided to re-enable fasttrack, and use pcq-upload-default as the interface-queue for eth1. In this set-up upload bufferbloat stays within 0-20ms, bufferbloat score increases to an A, and the router can maintain around 900mbps symetrical.​

This isn't QoS, because there's no prioritization, but not many home users would really need that with a gigabit connection anyway.

Figured I would share my findings for any other home users who might have picked up this router for reasons like I did.

Would be interested to hear how this compares to queues used by the SNB test setup, and other people's configurations.

you're doing what i usually advice, using fasttrack as a QoS method which is one of the things i tend to mention regularly about a feature mikrotik has that other router manufacturers dont have.

Its good to hear that interface QoS works.

I myself cant test hardware acceleration because i dont have a gigabit or faster internet connection and my mikrotik router doesnt require fasttrack as it is capable of symmetrical 10Gb/s software NAT. Getting 10G network adapters to work is also a pain as well.

 

[coxhaus]

Isn't Linux v3.3.5 kernel an old kernel? When will they upgrade?

 

[Nullity]

Isn't Linux v3.3.5 kernel an old kernel? When will they upgrade?

I assume they backport security fixes, which is likely what you are implying is the primary concern when using old code in networking devices.

 

[kvic]

I assume they backport security fixes, which is likely what you are implying is the primary concern when using old code in networking devices.

Security patches are less a concern as Mikrotik can backport from mainline. Their Linux kernel is heavily modified that IMO is less a competitive edge these days. More a hurdle to keep up the pace with newer kernel releases.

For example, Mikrotik wrote their own "fast track" by patching the kernel. That's lots of changes to the stock. They were very proud of this feature.

Apparently Qualcomm was looking at something similar and has their own version of "fast track" They decided to open source it. It's available in OpenWRT. I heard Edgerouters are looking at it too.

Personally I don't like the close nature of RouterOS environment. I'm also not happy with the new Edgemax team. So my opinion is not endorsement of either.

 

[sfx2000]

Isn't Linux v3.3.5 kernel an old kernel? When will they upgrade?

It's not that old of a kernel - Chromebooks, for example, many are still running 3.18.0 like on my little N22 Chromebook which was last updated on March 20th... and google did backport the meltdown, spectre variant patches in.

It can be a lot work sometimes to backport things, as most patches are on the tip... at the same time, if one does have a very customized kernel, it's more work to take things forward...

 

[crashnburn]

Other problems with Mikrotik RB750GR3 are:

1.) OpenVPN can only run under TCP, as Mikrotik has been unable to code for UDP.

Despite all this, it may be a solution as head home/office router and firewall, on future firmware update, relegating any expensive name brand router to AP use only.

Thats my current intent hopefully with Low Cost WiFi AP with High Perf

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/c...ome-soho-setup-for-wifi-ac-no-ubiquiti.60398/ - Do share your thoughts.

 

[crashnburn]

you're doing what i usually advice, using fasttrack as a QoS method which is one of the things i tend to mention regularly about a feature mikrotik has that other router manufacturers dont have.

What is this, how do I go about learning about it and applying it?

 

[onix]

I would like to see snb report on more Mikrotiks, especially performance comparisons to consumer-grade routers. I'm thinking of getting the RBD52G-5HacD2HnD-TC, but there is often very little comparison online between these industrial-grade routers and consumer-grade. It's as if reviews of them are mutually exclusive. I suspect most of the snb audience can handle the technical details., so why no reports?

 

[crashnburn]

I would like to see snb report on more Mikrotiks, especially performance comparisons to consumer-grade routers. I'm thinking of getting the RBD52G-5HacD2HnD-TC, but there is often very little comparison online between these industrial-grade routers and consumer-grade. It's as if reviews of them are mutually exclusive. I suspect most of the snb audience can handle the technical details., so why no reports?

So true. SNB could use more of Mikrotik stuff and comparisons.

 

[Krisbi]

MikroTik's 802.11ac based access points use MikroTik's RouterOS which uses MikroTik's own self made 802.11 drivers, i.e. no Linux kernel drivers, no vendor driver. Currently there is:
- No 802.11 k/v/r
- No airtime fairness feature
- No MU-MIMO
- ...

MikroTik's current development version of RouterOS 7 uses Linux Kernel 5.6.3.

I suspect most of the snb audience can handle the technical details., so why no reports?

Indeed, let someone provide SNB a MikroTik cAP ac and see how a TP-Link EAP225v3 "destroys" it.

 

[tamalero]

Hey folks, sorry to disturb the pro talk with a newbie question.
But how does this router perform when using Dual WAN?
I have dual fibers (in my country, almost all services are sold as "double service," aka you buy internet, you get a phone line and vice-versa or you get TV, you get internet as well but no phone) and I want to know if this cheap device would give basic router+dual wan+firewall support to replace a "gaming router".

I ask because I've seen reports of routers like the EDGE LITE dropping their routing speed to sub 300Mbps levels when dual wan or other things are turned on (Ie, firewall).

 

[onix]

Hey folks, sorry to disturb the pro talk with a newbie question.
But how does this router perform when using Dual WAN?
I have dual fibers (in my country, almost all services are sold as "double service," aka you buy internet, you get a phone line and vice-versa or you get TV, you get internet as well but no phone) and I want to know if this cheap device would give basic router+dual wan+firewall support to replace a "gaming router".

I ask because I've seen reports of routers like the EDGE LITE dropping their routing speed to sub 300Mbps levels when dual wan or other things are turned on (Ie, firewall).

Anecdotally, I see a lot of videos in developing countries dealing with internet stability and needing dual-WAN, e.g.

YMMV, but the configurations options are much broader than I've found on any consumer-grade US router. Buy an international version direct from the supplier, if you want it fully unleashed for wireless.