Introduction
This document describes the recommended steps for upgrading RouterOS to v7 major release and the possible caveats when doing so.
Upgrading from v6 to v7 happens exactly the same way, as upgrading within v6 releases. Please follow the Upgrade manual for more detailed steps. If you are currently running RouterOS version 6 or older, we first suggest upgrading to the latest stable or long-term release in v6 (currently 6.48.6 Long-term or 6.49.5 Stable).
In most RouterOS setups that run fine with the aforementioned v6 versions, no extra steps are required. Upgrading to v7 will automatically convert the configuration and your device will function right away.
Feature list compatibility
As previously stated, nearly all RouterOS systems can use the "Check for updates" functionality and upgrade to v7 in a few clicks, but there are some features, where extra steps may be required:
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| CAPsMAN | OK |
| Interfaces | OK |
Wireless | |
| Bridge/Switching | OK |
| Tunnels/PPP | OK |
| IPv6 | OK |
BGP | OK, but attention required * |
| OSPF | OK, but attention required ** |
| MPLS | OK, but attention required *** |
Routing filters | OK, but attention required **** |
| Tools | OK |
Queues | OK |
| Firewall | OK |
| HotSpot | OK |
| Static Routing | OK |
| User Manager | See notes |
Notes
BGP
All known configurations will upgrade from 6.x to 7.x sucessfully. But keep in mind that there is complete redesign of the configuration. v7 BGP implementation provides with connection, template and session menus.
Template contains all BGP protocol-related configuration options. It can be used as a template for dynamic peers and apply a similar config to a group of peers. Most of the parameters are similar to previous implementation except that some are grouped in the output and input section making the config more readable and easier to understand whether the option is applied on input or output.
BGP connection minimal set of parameters are remote.address, template, connect, listen and local.role
Connect and listen to parameters specify whether peers will try to connect and listen to a remote address or just connect or just listen. It is possible that in setups where peer uses the multi-hop connection local.address must be configured too. Peer role is now a mandatory parameter, for basic setups, you can just use ibgp, ebgp.
Now you can monitor the status of all connected and disconnected peers from /routing bgp session menu.
Other great debugging information on all routing processes can be monitored from /routing stats menu.
Networks are added to the firewall address-list and referenced in the BGP connection configuration.
OSPF
All known configurations will upgrade from 6.x to 7.x sucessfully.
OSPFv2 and OSPFv3 are now merged into one single menu /routing ospf. At the moment there ano default instances and area. To start OSPF you need to create an instance and then add are to the instance.
RouterOSv7 uses templates to match the interface against the template and apply configuration from the matched template. OSPF menus interface and neighbor contains read-only entries for status monitoring.
MPLS
Upgrade MPLS setups with caution, make sure to backup configuration before.
Routing filters
All supported options are upgraded without any issue, in case of an unsupported option - an empty entry is created. The routing filter configuration is changed to a script-like configuration.
The rule now can have "if .. then" syntax to set parameters or apply actions based on conditions from the "if" statement.
Multiple rules without action are stacked in a single rule and executed in order like a firewall, the reason is that the "set" parameter order is important and writing one "set"s per line, allows for an easier understanding from top to bottom on what actions were applied.
More RouterOSv7 routing filter examples are here.
User Manager
RouterOSv7 provides with new and redesigned implementation of User Manager, configuration now is integrated into RouterOS WinBox and console, more information is available here. Direct migration from older User Manager is not possible, it is possible to migrate older database from /user-manager/database/migrate-legacy-db However it might be a good idea to start configuration for the scratch.
New features
New Kernel is implemented in RouterOSv7, that lead to performance changes due to route cache, as well some tasks might require higher CPU and RAM usage for different processes.
- completely new NTP client and server implementation
- merged individual packages, only bundle and a few extra packages remain
- new Command Line Interface (CLI) style (RouterOS v6 commands are still supported)
- support for Let's Encrypt certificate generation
- support for REST API
- support for UEFI boot mode on x86
- CHR FastPath support for "vmxnet3" and "virtio-net" drivers
- support for "Cake" and "FQ_Codel" type queues
- support for IPv6 NAT
- support for Layer 3 hardware acceleration on all CRS3xx devices
- support for MBIM driver with basic functionality support for all modems with MBIM mode
- support for MLAG on CRS3xx devices
- support for VRRP grouping and connection tracking data synchronization between nodes
- support for Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN)
- support for L2TPv3
- support for OpenVPN UDP transport protocol
- support for WireGuard
- support for hardware offloaded VLAN filtering on RTL8367 (RB4011,RB100AHx4) and MT7621 (hEX, hEX S, RBM33G) switches
- support for ZeroTier on ARM and ARM64 devices
- completely new alternative wireless package "wifiwave2" with 802.11ac Wave2, WPA3 and 802.11w management frame protection support (requires ARM CPU and 256MB RAM)
- support for hardware offloaded VLAN filtering on RTL8367 (RB4011,RB100AHx4) and MT7621 (hEX, hEX S, RBM33G) switches