Summary

Partitioning is supported on ARM, ARM64, MIPS, TILE, and PowerPC RouterBOARD type devices.

It is possible to partition NAND flash, allowing to install own OS on each partition and specify primary and fallback partitions.

If a partition should fail for some reason (failed upgrade, problematic configuration introduced, software problem), the next partition will boot instead. This can be used as an interactive backup where you keep a verified working installation and upgrade only some secondary partition. If you upgrade your configuration, and it proves to be good, you can use the "save config" button to copy it over to other partitions. 

 Repartitioning of the NAND requires the latest bootloader version

Minimum partition sizes:

  • 32MB on MIPS
  • 40MB on PowerPC
  • 48MB on TILE

The maximum number of allowed partitions is 8.

[admin@1009up] > /partitions/print
Flags: A - ACTIVE; R - RUNNING
Columns: NAME, FALLBACK-TO, VERSION, SIZE
# NAME FALL VERSION SIZE 
0 AR part0 next RouterOS v7.1beta4 Dec/15/2020 15:55:11 128MiB

Commands

PropertyDescription
activate (<partition>)

Assigns another partition as Active. This option is available if the "partitions" setting is enabled in device mode (since RouterOS 7.17).

repartition (integer)Will reboot the router and reformat the NAND, leaving only active partition.
copy-to (<partition>)Clone running OS with the config to specified partition. Previously stored data on the partition will be erased.
save-config-to (<partition>)Clone running-config on a specified partition. Everything else is untouched.
restore-config-from (<partition>)Copy config from specified partition to running partition

Properties

PropertyDescription
name (string; Default: )Name of the partition
fallback-to (etherboot | next | <partition-name>; Default: next)What to do if an active partition fails to boot:
  • etherboot - switch to etherboot
  • next' - try next partition
  • fallback to the specified partition

Read-only

PropertyDescription
active (yes | no)Partition is active
running (yes | no)Currently running partition
size (integer[MiB])Partition size
version (string)Current RouterOS version installed on the partition
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