Hey cookiemonster!
So I talked to one of my ex-coworkers and he was kind of a MikroTik Guru (at least in my world) and I asked him to explain things like to a five year old child. So he liked the metaphor with club and bouncers/security guards. So here's what he told me:
TL;DR version - scroll down
Imagine a huge Club named "Swos" with multiple rooms where different music is played. One plays techno, other plays disco, another one metal and another one plays 50s-80s classics.
This club works 24/7 and collaborates with smaller clubs and they agree on working together on reusing the same tags/wristbands so visitors can use the bands together in a network and share the entry ticket profits. There's a small club called "PC" around the corner that doesn't use bands at all if a free-for-all club, there's also club two blocks away called "AP" which also has couple of music rooms but it's not as big as Swos capable of having 4096 rooms playing all together. And there's also one club called "Admin" - a rather small one but also uses wristbands and tags visitors.
This Swos club has bouncers and security guards all over the place and here is who is who:
VLAN Receive
You approach the Club and you notice a big bouncer guy - they call him by this nickname VLAN Receiver. He is in close contact with the Swos owner and lets people in based on the owner's instructions. On a normal, casual day like Tuesday they let in everyone cause people don't go to clubs on weekdays. On these days you can hear see the little badge on VLAN Receiver's jacket with word "any". On this day he will let anyone in. With the bands on their wrist coming from the AP Club or Admin Club and those without the bands coming from the PC Club too.
Usually on the weekend days Swos Club is very popular and everyone would like to come in but there's not enough space for these people so VLAN Receiver has the badge "only tagged" and accepts people from the AP and Admin Club only up until around midnight or so. After midnight there's a little more space in the club so usually he changes the badge back to "any" so those from PC Club can enter without the tickets too.
There was one time when Swos Club owner had a beef with AP Club owner. On that period VLAN Receiver was having a badge "only untagged" and he was accepting only those from PC Club so he wouldn't share profits with the AP Club dude. Unfortunately people from Admin Club were also affected by this decision.
VLAN Mode
This guy was a gate security guy inside the club after VLAN Receive did let you go through. He also was using badges with information.
When VLAN Mode had a badge "disabled" he basically didn't care for the tags/bands. He didn't check if your tag is on the list however he was taking off any tag you had on your wrist and did let you chose the music room you wanted to enter.
But most of the weekdays by default VLAN Mode had a badge called "optional" and you could chose any music room you wanted and he didn't took off your tag.
During weekend days before 6 PM and after midnight the traffic was higher but not critical. So VLAN Mode had a badge "enabled" and he was checking if your tag was on their so-called VLAN list. If your tag was on the list - you can enter any room you want.
But the worst moments were the weekend days between 6 PM and midnight. VLAN Mode had a badge "strict". They did let you through but they also checked if you're permitted to enter the most occupied music rooms. They were the most crowdy and VLAN Mode was checking if you're on their VLAN list and if you're even permitted to enter the room.
Default VLAN ID
One of the VLAN Mode's assistant was Default VLAN. He usually was giving you a new Default tag only when VLAN Mode was having badge "disabled". You could keep the old tag though.
Force VLAN ID
This guy was kind of easy if he was wearing "no" badge. Along with Default VLAN ID he was giving out new tag if Receiver and Mode let you in without a tag and told you to wear it.
But if he had "yes" badge? Oh boy... He took your tag away and gave a new one. No matter if you had a tag or not. No discussion - you had to had a new tag. Period.
TL;DR
Awesome! Will try this one out. Thank you! <3
It is good to clash and exchange knowledge :)
MikroTik needs more documentation and more tutorials though...
Quote from: cookiemonster on January 11, 2025, 12:04:37 AMThey were great. Perhaps you would have as much luck.
So I talked to one of my ex-coworkers and he was kind of a MikroTik Guru (at least in my world) and I asked him to explain things like to a five year old child. So he liked the metaphor with club and bouncers/security guards. So here's what he told me:
TL;DR version - scroll down
Imagine a huge Club named "Swos" with multiple rooms where different music is played. One plays techno, other plays disco, another one metal and another one plays 50s-80s classics.
This club works 24/7 and collaborates with smaller clubs and they agree on working together on reusing the same tags/wristbands so visitors can use the bands together in a network and share the entry ticket profits. There's a small club called "PC" around the corner that doesn't use bands at all if a free-for-all club, there's also club two blocks away called "AP" which also has couple of music rooms but it's not as big as Swos capable of having 4096 rooms playing all together. And there's also one club called "Admin" - a rather small one but also uses wristbands and tags visitors.
This Swos club has bouncers and security guards all over the place and here is who is who:
VLAN Receive
You approach the Club and you notice a big bouncer guy - they call him by this nickname VLAN Receiver. He is in close contact with the Swos owner and lets people in based on the owner's instructions. On a normal, casual day like Tuesday they let in everyone cause people don't go to clubs on weekdays. On these days you can hear see the little badge on VLAN Receiver's jacket with word "any". On this day he will let anyone in. With the bands on their wrist coming from the AP Club or Admin Club and those without the bands coming from the PC Club too.
Usually on the weekend days Swos Club is very popular and everyone would like to come in but there's not enough space for these people so VLAN Receiver has the badge "only tagged" and accepts people from the AP and Admin Club only up until around midnight or so. After midnight there's a little more space in the club so usually he changes the badge back to "any" so those from PC Club can enter without the tickets too.
There was one time when Swos Club owner had a beef with AP Club owner. On that period VLAN Receiver was having a badge "only untagged" and he was accepting only those from PC Club so he wouldn't share profits with the AP Club dude. Unfortunately people from Admin Club were also affected by this decision.
VLAN Mode
This guy was a gate security guy inside the club after VLAN Receive did let you go through. He also was using badges with information.
When VLAN Mode had a badge "disabled" he basically didn't care for the tags/bands. He didn't check if your tag is on the list however he was taking off any tag you had on your wrist and did let you chose the music room you wanted to enter.
But most of the weekdays by default VLAN Mode had a badge called "optional" and you could chose any music room you wanted and he didn't took off your tag.
During weekend days before 6 PM and after midnight the traffic was higher but not critical. So VLAN Mode had a badge "enabled" and he was checking if your tag was on their so-called VLAN list. If your tag was on the list - you can enter any room you want.
But the worst moments were the weekend days between 6 PM and midnight. VLAN Mode had a badge "strict". They did let you through but they also checked if you're permitted to enter the most occupied music rooms. They were the most crowdy and VLAN Mode was checking if you're on their VLAN list and if you're even permitted to enter the room.
Default VLAN ID
One of the VLAN Mode's assistant was Default VLAN. He usually was giving you a new Default tag only when VLAN Mode was having badge "disabled". You could keep the old tag though.
Force VLAN ID
This guy was kind of easy if he was wearing "no" badge. Along with Default VLAN ID he was giving out new tag if Receiver and Mode let you in without a tag and told you to wear it.
But if he had "yes" badge? Oh boy... He took your tag away and gave a new one. No matter if you had a tag or not. No discussion - you had to had a new tag. Period.
TL;DR
- VLAN Receive comes first to analyze if the frame is tagged or not and based on the value
- ANY: Let any traffic in - tagged or not. No drops.
- ONLY TAGGED: Only tagged comes in - untagged traffic is dropped.
- ONLY UNTAGGED: Only untagged comes in - tagged traffic is dropped.
- VLAN Mode comes second to check if the tag is on the VLAN Table
- DISABLED: No checking against VLAN Table but removing all existing VLAN tags. Default VLAN ID becomes powerless as VLAN Mode disabled blocks all VLAN operations.
- OPTIONAL: Both tagged and untagged comes in (usually with Receive==any). Tagged traffic keeps the tag even if it's not on VLAN Table.
- ENABLED: Traffic needs to be on the VLAN Table.
- STRICT: Traffic needs to be on the VLAN Table and checks if this port actually belongs to the VLAN this traffic is tagged with.
- Default VLAN ID is only affecting untagged traffic
- If VLAN Receive==any: Tagged traffic is unaffected, Untagged gets the Default VLAN ID value.
- If VLAN Receive==only tagged: Tagged traffic is unaffected, Untagged doesn't even reach this point - it gets dropped by VLAN Receive
- If VLAN Receive==only untagged: Tagged traffic never gets processed - it gets dropped by VLAN Receive. Any other (untagged) is tagged now by Default VLAN ID value.
- Force VLAN ID works only with Default VLAN ID
- NO: Every tagged traffic keeps own original tag. Untagged is forcefully tagged with our Default VLAN ID but it's not Force VLAN ID's job
- YES: Everyone gets the new tag of Default VLAN ID. Any existing tags (or non existing if Receive==only tagged or Receive==any) are overwritten forcefully.
Quote from: cookiemonster on January 11, 2025, 12:04:37 AMYes you disable the parent and rely on the VLANs hanging off it. It is a container yes, but as unassigned, it does not need any atribute like an IP. See how it looks like on mine:
Awesome! Will try this one out. Thank you! <3
It is good to clash and exchange knowledge :)
MikroTik needs more documentation and more tutorials though...