SwOS

What this chapter covers

The SwOS chapter introduces the switch operating system that MikroTik offers next to RouterOS.

SwOS is small and focused. It has no routing and no command line, only a set of web pages for switching. The chapter first shows how to get it running and manage it, and then shows how it handles the Layer 2 features that the earlier chapters covered in RouterOS.

There are two syllabus topics, and three pages cover them.

After this chapter you should be able to do the following:

• Say what SwOS can and cannot do, compared with RouterOS.
• Select SwOS on a dual boot device, and reach its web interface.
• Configure access and trunk ports with the SwOS VLAN options.
• Describe SwOS trunking, rate limits, host rules and ACL rules.

How the topics fit together

The first page gets you into the device, and the next two pages use it.

The configuration pages are a mapping exercise. Every feature appears in an earlier chapter: VLANs, spanning tree, link aggregation, QoS, port isolation and security. Here the same idea is set on a web page and applied by the chip.

Two groups of settings take most of the effort:

• VLANs: per port options and a VLAN table, much like the chip VLAN model in RouterOS.
• Trunks and security: static trunks, rate limits, host and ACL rules, each with a fixed set of options.

How to use these pages

Each topic page has the same shape, so you can skim for what you need.

• What it is: the idea in plain words.
• How it works: the mechanism, with diagrams and example commands.
• What to remember for the exam: the facts to memorise.
• Common mistakes: the classic traps.
• Check yourself: three questions to test your understanding.

SwOS has no console, so the example blocks on these pages are few. If you have a SwOS device, follow along in the browser. Without one, compare each SwOS setting with the RouterOS setting that does the same job.