The device is a compact access point that is ideal for apartments, houses and small offices. There is a WPS button on the case that allows clients to connect wirelessly without entering a password or put the device into cAP mode for centralized control using the CAPsMAN controller by simply pressing a button. The access point is equipped with a multifunctional operating system RouterOS with all its features: firewall, user access control, restriction bandwidth etc.

The hAP lite TC features a powerful 650MHz Atheros processor, 32MB RAM, a 2.4GHz MIMO 2x2 radio, four Fast Ethernet ports, and Level 4 RouterOS operating system license. USB power supply included.

Specifications

Radio Specifications

Judging by the sales statistics, this is the most popular router from our range. There are a great many reasons for this, but two of them, in our opinion, are the most significant: firstly, it only costs $20, Secondly, this is Mikrotik. In total it turns out "Mikrotik for $20", which is really impressive.

We will express our opinion about it in advance: the router is more than worthy of attention. It works very stably, the speeds of wired and wireless connections provides quite consistent with the declared ones, and its functionality is comparable to the top-end Cisco / Juniper routers, which cost sky-high thousands of dollars in price tags. There are also disadvantages: it has only 4 Ethernet ports (including the WAN port), the radio module is rather weak and does not support the 802.11ac standard. However, here, as in a well-known vulgar joke: "Well, what did you want for 20 dollars?"

So, let's tame the hero of our material. Our prerequisite is an ISP giving us a dynamic IP address. Let's get started:
1. Turn on the provider's cable in 1st router port
2. We turn on the cable from the computer to any remaining free port
3. Like all Mikrotik devices, hAP Lite default IP address is 192.168.88.1. Assign to our computer network settings from the same subnet. For example, address 192.168.88.10, mask 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.88.1, DNS 192.168.88.1:

4. Let's go to the router via browser:

Here we will make a small digression: in hAP Lite, Mikrotik has implemented a default configuration that provides for a quick start. The router is already configured to receive a dynamic address on the 1st interface, the DHCP server is enabled, the bridge between the ports is configured. In fact, in our topology, the router worked as expected immediately after being turned on. That's not what we're here for though, so...

5. Let's reset the router to factory settings. To do this, click on the section System button Reset Configuration:

6. Tick ​​the option No Default Configuration and press Reset Configuration:

7. We confirm our intention:

8. After about a minute, the router will reboot. Here there is a slight hitch: after resetting the router with the removal of the default configuration, it will no longer be assigned an IP address, and it will not be possible to access it with a browser. No problem, in this case, Mikrotik provides special application for configuration - WinBox. Download it from the site http://www.mikrotik.com/download in the section Useful tools and utilities:

9. WinBox does not require installation. Let's run it and click on the tab at the bottom Neighbors. All Mikrotik devices within the broadcast domain should appear in the list below. In our case, this will be the only hero of the article. Click on its MAC address (it is important!), then press the button Connect at the top of the screen:

10. Before us appears in all its glory the interface of the router. R window outerOS Default Configuration close by pressing OK:

11. Click on the menu on the left Interfaces. Note that in an empty configuration on the router, the wireless interface is disabled. It is called wlan1. Select it and click the blue checkmark at the top of the window. This will be useful to us in the near future:

12. double click open ether2 interface, change its name to ether2-master and press OK:

13. Now open ether3 interface, and change the parameter Master Port on the ether2-master:

14. We repeat the same action for the ether4 interface: open it and change the Master Port parameter to ether2-master.

This paragraph should be read only by those who are very interested in the technical side of the issue! If you opened the article just to have a setup cheat sheet in front of your eyes, then you can skip it!
And now let's decipher what was done in paragraphs 12-14: unlike more familiar household routers, ports in Mikrotik routers are not included in a single switching matrix by default, i.e. are not constituent parts switch as such. To "assemble" them into a logical switch, there are 2 ways: software and hardware. Software - bridge - uses the central processor of the router for switching. The hardware one uses a special hardware switching chip, while the CPU is not used. Thus, for the ports to work in switch mode, the use of a switching chip suggests itself. Now back to what we did earlier: we renamed the ether2 port to ether2-master so that we can clearly see in the configuration console which port is the master port for the others, and we told the router that the ether2 port is the master port for the other two. Using the master port, we have enabled the switching chip, and the CPU is no longer involved in calculating packet switching between the ether2-ether4 ports. You can read more about switching chips and their capabilities here: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Switch_Chip_Features

15. Let's create a bridge for the interfaces that form the loop of the local network. Click on the menu on the left Bridge, in the first tab Bridge press + , in the opened window enter bridge name(for example, LAN) and press Ok:

16. Let's move on to the Ports tab, press + , choose Interface- wlan1, Bridge- LAN, press OK:

17. Repeat the procedure for the ether2-master interface.

18. Your the final list of ports in the bridge should look like this:

19. As mentioned above, in our topology, the provider provides us with a dynamic IP address. Enable the DHCP client on the WAN port of the router. To do this, open the menu on the left IP-> DHCP Client and in the window that appears, click + :

20. The provider cable is inserted into the 1st port of the router. Choose Interface- ether1, necessarily set the parameter Add default route into position Yes and press OK:

21. Now in the DHCP client window you will see on which interface the DHCP client is enabled and what address it received:

22. Enable NAT. To do this, in the menu on the left, open IP-> firewall, go to the tab NAT, press + , in the window that appears, set the parameter Chain into position srcnat, parameter out. Interface into position ether1:

23. Without leaving the New NAT Rule window, go to Action tab, and set the parameter Action into position masquerade, then press Ok:

24. Set up DNS. Menu on the left IP-> DNS. Our provider has already given us 2 dynamic servers, but their list can be supplemented (filled in the Servers parameter) with our own hands. The main thing in this window do not forget to check the Allow Remote Requests checkbox, after which you can press Ok:

25. It's time to assign an IP address to the router to work on the local network. Go to the menu on the left IP-> Addresses, in the window that opens, click + and enter IP address/subnet mask. In our case we will use 192.168.88.1/24. Parameter Interface should be set to LAN(this is our Bridge created in step 15; your name may be different), after which you can press OK:

Now our list of IP addresses should look something like this(of course, the address on the ether1 interface will be different for you):

26. By the way, we should already have access to the Internet on our computer! Let's check:

Really showed up! But the celebration will be postponed until later.

27. Now let's configure the DHCP server. Go to the menu on the left IP-> DHCP Server, in the window that opens, click DHCP Setup:

28. We choose as the interface on which DHCP will work, our bridge is LAN, press Next:

29. Set the address space. We plan to issue addresses on the 192.168.88.0 network with a mask of 255.255.255.0, that's why enter 192.168.88.0/24 and press Next:

30. Specify the gateway. Ours is 192.168.88.1. Click Next:

31. Determine the pool of IP addresses that will be issued to clients. Here we advise you to make a decision yourself, based on the network topology. We will use the range 192.168.88.2-192.168.88.254, enter and press Next:

32. Enter DNS servers(you can have your own, or use public DNS from Google or Yandex), click Next:

33. Enter the lease term for IP addresses(you can not change the default one), click Next:

On this DHCP server setup completed:

34. Now let's set up WiFi. Click on the menu on the left Wireless, in the opened window double-click to open the wlan1 interface, and set parameters:
- mode- ap bridge
- Band- 2GHz-B/G/N
- SSID- enter the name of your WiFi network
- Wireless Protocol - 802.11
- WPS Mode - disabled

Thereafter press OK:

35. Now let's set a password for our network. let's move on to the Security Profiles tab, open default profile. Now:
-set the Mode parameter into position dynamic keys
- tick WPA2 PSK in parameter Authentication Types
- put all the checkboxes in Unicast Ciphers and Group Ciphers
- in the WPA2 Pre-Shared Key field, enter the password from WiFi network
- press OK

36. Connect to WiFi, check its performance. Active connections can be viewed in the Registration tab:

37. Now disable all router management interfaces, except for WinBox(if necessary, leave the ones you need, but from a security point of view, we do not recommend using a firewall without using a firewall). For this we go to IP-> Services, select unnecessary services and click the red cross:

38. It remains to set the administrator password. Let's go to System-> Users, login to admin user profile, press Password, enter the password twice in the fields New Password and Confirm Password and click OK:

You can learn how to set up MikroTik in an online course on equipment from this manufacturer. The course author is a certified MikroTik trainer. You can read more at the end of the article.

MikroTik hAP lite or RB941 (code on the manufacturer's website) is a small model of a Latvian company. This is one of the cheapest MikroTik devices, priced at around $25. The abbreviation hAP stands for home Access Point lite - home access point (simplified version).

For those who have encountered the equipment for the first time, there is a semi-automatic setting mode for Mikrotik hAP lite. The wireless router will automatically create an access point. New devices can be connected using the WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) function without too much headache.

If you are not satisfied with the basic setup scenario and you are far from new to setting up equipment, then you will be pleased with the wide possibilities of configuring the device.

Ports Mikrotik RB941

The device has only 4 Ethernet ports instead of 5, unlike the older brother MikroTik HAP AC. The speed of the Fast Ethernet ports is 100 Mbps. Light diodes The Ethernets are on the back of the router.

Nutrition Mikrotik hAP lite

This is the first device with a 5 V supply voltage direct current. I recommend pay attention to the fact that it is possible to use any standard 0.5-2A USB adapter, including adapters from many mobile phones or tablets. In emergency situations, the router can be powered by a battery power bank. Here's to you mobile hotspot access! microUSB port in this device cannot be used for data transmission!

Wireless module of the RB941 device

• supports 2.4 GHz frequency band;
• possible data transfer protocols: 802.11 b, 802.11 g and 802.11 n;
• transmitting antenna power is up to 22 dBm;
• gain of two internal antennas up to 1.5dbi;
• the data reception / transmission speed is up to 300 Mbit / s due to the support of MIMO 2x2 technology.

Rich functionality Mikrotik RB941

This tiny device, with RouterOS on board, has absorbed most of the modern technologies for networking.

The centerpiece of the device is a 650MHz QCA9531-BL3A-R network processor paired with 32MB of RAM. These capabilities are enough to process requests from 2-3 people.

Huge functionality is provided by the RouterOS operating system with a 4-level license. Here is just a part of the functionality supported by the device:

• creation of VLANs and other modern network technologies,
• organization of encrypted VPN channels
• connection to Internet providers using PPPoE, DHCP, Static IP,
• support for integration technology into a single wireless infrastructure thanks to technology from Mikrotik - CAPsMAN,
• control and restriction of network traffic,
• support for the operation of each port both in the “switching” mode and in the “routing” mode.

This is not a complete list of equipment features with RouterOS on board.

Level 4 license restrictions:

The best choice in the price category under $25

It's hard to believe that a $25 device has so much to offer. desired functions like BGP! wifi router It is small in size but powerful enough to do the job well. The stability of work is another serious plus in the treasury of the router.

Disadvantages of the Mikrotik hAP lite RB941 device

Unfortunately, when the device was released to the market at such an attractive price, something had to be sacrificed.

1. No Power-over-Ethernet POE feature (how many home users know what this is?!)
2. Wireless wifi network without 5 GHz band. This is already more significant, the maximum theoretical performance of 600 Mbps for the 802.11 n standard cannot be achieved.
3. The WiFi adapter is not as powerful as I would like.

So on this moment we have a standard configuration without network separation. In order to separate our local network, create a segment (part) of the network for children. To do this, select winbox→ Bridge(1)→Bridge(2)→plus(3)→General(4)→ from the menu and add the name bridge-child in the name(5) field. Save changes - OK.

Let's prepare interfaces (ports) for inclusion in bridge-child. In our configuration, the fourth ether4 port and an additional children's wifi network will be configured for the child. This means that by connecting to the fourth port with a cable and / or to a children's network via WiFi, you will have children's access to the Internet through these interfaces.

Set up a security profile for the children's WiFi network. WinBox→Wireless(1)→Security Profiles(2)→plus(3)→General(4)→in the Name(5) field, enter child→in the WPA(6) and WPA2(6) fields, enter the future Wifi password for the children's network . Save the settings - OK.

Let's add a new wifi network. WinBox→Wireless(1)→Interfaces(2)→plus(3)→Virtual AP(4)→Wireless(5)→enter the name of the children's WiFi network in the SSID(6) field→ select a security profile(7) for our network. Save the settings - OK.

Let's configure the ether4 interface. Winbox→Interfaces(1)→Interface(2)→double left click on ehter4(3) and enter interface settings→choose none in the Master Port(4) field. Apply settings - OK.

Next, we will include our interfaces in the prepared bridge-child. Winbox→Bridge(1)→Ports(2)→plus(3)→add ether4 (4) interface→ to Bridge(5) bridge-child. We will also do the same for the wlan2(6)(7) interface. Save all changes - OK.

Let's assign an internal address to the bridge-child interface. WinBox→IP(1)→address(2)→plus(3)→fill in the fields (4),(5),(6) according to the screenshot.

Now you need to assign a DHCP server to the children's network segment, for auto tuning IP parameters of network clients. To do this, Winbox→IP(1)→DHCP server(2)→DHCP(3)→DHCP Setup(4)→ select the bridge-child interface in the dhcp Server Interface(5) field.

After that, you need to click the Next button and follow the setup wizard DHCP servers without changing anything. Once you reach the Select lease time window:

Here you need to change the default lease time to 3d 00:10:00 and finish configuring the DHCP server.

If you did everything right, by now you should have two network segments:

Children's network LAN-4; wifi. Addressing - 192.168.99.0/24 Adult network LAN-2, LAN-3; wifi. Addressing - 192.168.88.0/24

Now these two networks have no restrictions and are completely equal. To start setting up restrictive functions for the children's network, you must complete presets router, namely:

• Set password and SSID (network name) to adult wifi network
• Set a password for the Admin user
• Update your router to the latest version.

If you find it difficult to do it yourself, you can find step by step instructions setting these parameters in

Today I will present you a small review of the router, which I have been waiting for a long time (it was announced back in 2015) and finally waited. In short, I can say that for most users its rich features will be redundant, but for those who want to get flexible settings home network there are practically no alternatives (for comparative money). If interested, welcome under cat.

To begin with, I will outline the background of the purchase, which prompted me to take exactly Mikrotik

For a long time, the time-tested old man Asus RT-16N worked for me as a home router. In general, very good router which fully met my needs home internet, plus provided fairly good Wi-Fi coverage. It was installed firmware from Oleg, and then from his followers, which significantly improved his work and added a number of additional functions to the router. In general, for (approximately) 5 years, this long-liver fully provided for my requests. However, relatively recently, due to work needs, I needed to raise the VLAN on the WAN port in order to provide access to the work network from home and to my home from work. And here certain difficulties arose: Oleg's firmware in the webmord does not provide such an opportunity, and rummaging through ssh I also failed to do this. After reading the forums and asking around the great Google quickly came up with the only solution on the RT-16N: install the OpenWRT firmware, which I did safely. We managed to register all the settings without any problems and everything worked, but two VERY unpleasant jambs quickly emerged. Asus does not provide enthusiasts with access to control their hardware (which is understandable in principle) and therefore all alternative firmware they either use the basic core of the system from Asus with minor changes in functionality (DD-WRT, firmware from Oleg, etc.), or write something of their own (OpenWrt), but due to the lack of documentation and manufacturer support, they implement their commands in a non-optimal way. In my case this resulted in:

1. Big dances with a tambourine around WiFi, since for a long time he agreed to rise only in the bg range at a speed of 54 M / bit and N did not start by any means.
2. Much more sad: with a network load on the jump at a rate of 100 megabits, the router ran into a maximum ceiling of 55-60 megabits with a processor load of 100%.

If you managed to more or less cope with the first trouble by talking on the forums of VRT-shnikov and downloading third-party “drivers” for Wi-Fi and seemingly reviving the N band (although it works strangely: when the router is rebooted, it drops the bridges and the Wi-Fi has to be raised to manual mode+ the ability to create access lists by MAC addresses is gone). but in general, wi-fi is more or less moving.

The second problem could not be dealt with in any way, although the multiple rules of the firewall were reduced to necessary minimum, but it didn’t help: the download speed from the Internet did not rise above 60 (the speed within the home network did not drop, but this is understandable - there is essentially no load there, everything goes directly).

In general, considering all of the above, I gradually began to come to the conclusion that it was time to change the router, but after studying the market, I realized that not everything is so simple. I wanted modern hardware that would be relevant for +N years, would provide good Internet speed in the future, even more than 100 M / bit (such tariffs have already begun to appear, which means that in 2-3 years it will be commonplace with an affordable price), and of course I wanted a dual-band router with support for WiFi AC networks for the future.
I got to choose and realized that the choice with such requests is small. Stock firmware of common brands does not provide the flexible settings that I need (in most even expensive routers, everything is limited to Vlan settings for IPTv multicast, which I don’t need. So again I’ll have to sew and again (possibly) have dances with a tambourine in the future. I wanted to be take TpLink Archer 7 but read in time that he has not yet available the AC mode on OpenWrt, and whether it will be available in the future - xs.
In general, I wanted something that would allow me to get everything I needed on the basic firmware and without hemorrhoids. And then I came across a mention on the network about the imminent (uh-huh, imminent:) release of the subject. I got acquainted with the characteristics and realized - this is the HE router of my dreams. It knows everything that is needed from its RouterOS, according to the settings it will satisfy any network management needs and is very promising in terms of hardware (I hope its capabilities will be enough for me in the coming years).

Let's take a closer look at the possibilities of this miracle box:

As you can see, the hardware is very decent, and it will block all the requests of most users. You can take a look at the giblets of the router (to be honest, I didn’t disassemble my router, the photos were found on the Internet)

In the figure: the numbers 1,2 indicate the built-in 2.4 GHz antennas, the numbers 3, 4 - the 5 GHz antennas. Under the epoxy are the UFL connectors to which antennas 5 and 6 (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) are connected.

Router block diagram:

CAPsMAN - Another opportunity from Mikrotik for country houses / offices

Starting from version 6.11, CAPsMAN functionality has appeared in RouterOS - the ability to centrally manage access nodes.

That is, instead of configuring each such node individually, it is enough to configure one controller, and then connect managed nodes to it. In this way, and not with the use of WiFi repeaters, which only repeat the signal already received with errors and increased latency over a wider coverage area, you can quickly and easily organize a seamless unified network that can cover almost any area object.

It is clear that the quality of such coverage will directly depend on the hardware capabilities of the central controller. When using three or four MikroTik hAP ac, for example, it will not be difficult to create a network that does not require re-logging in the entire volume of a three-story country house (with a basement, attic and outbuildings) or an entire vast floor of some business center.

At the same time, due to the ability to receive and give further along the chain the supply voltage via the Ethernet line (Poe In / PoE Out), such devices will allow you to do without redundant wires and additional load on electrical outlets.

For sure coverage WiFi network extended (in one, two or three dimensions) objects, two alternative methods are used:

1. You can install in the center of such an object a really powerful universal router with several external antennas, with the ability to simultaneously create two or more non-intersecting communication channels in the 5-GHz range - and hope that this monster will confidently "finish off" to the very border of the computational domain. And if not, then try to increase its power with additional antennas, but a simple increase in the number of antennas will not lead to an increase in the total power: the developer can either make individual antennas more powerful, or increase their number, but not both. Accordingly, at a great distance, you can install a WiFi repeater, but such a solution is fraught with an inevitable deterioration in the quality of communication.

2. A different approach, for Mikrotik with RouterOS - CAPsMAN, is directly opposite to the first. It provides for the organization of a two-level network from one control router and several managed access nodes. Each of these devices will be cheaper than a monstrous heavy-duty Internet center. Their combination, reasonably distributed efforts will lead to the fact that over the entire covered length, or over the entire area, or in the entire volume, the WiFi signal level will remain approximately the same, and switching between access nodes mobile devices will occur seamlessly and imperceptibly for both the user and applications.

The availability of an SFP port for installing a fiber optic communication module further expands the range of applicability of hAP ac. The use of an optical data delivery line to each of the access nodes allows you to expand the WiFi coverage area of ​​a single network configuration almost to infinity - until the central router has enough computing resources to process all requests in a timely manner.

And now, briefly about my own impressions:
This small box fully justified my hopes, the speed is strictly according to the tariff, nothing is cut or lost. By testing a 5 GHz network, the Wi-Fi speed within the network exceeded 100 megabits (115-120). Unfortunately, I don’t have a single AC device at hand, so I’ll have to wait for the future to look into my house :) However, there is no urgent need for an AC right now - anyway (my) Internet tariffs will not pull it out, so this technology is for the future .
As for the settings, you can really turn your head off by studying the tabs :) The tool is really flexible and allows any network perversions.

For example, this is how you can set up a guest grid:

And this is how you can deploy HotSpot:

I decided not to drag here under the spoller, in the end it makes no sense to pull the floor of the Internet here, sometimes links are enough. I am sure that if someone is interested, he will find any additional information.

Mikrotik turned out to be a very interesting home router. The company has made world name in network solutions for corporate needs, and now, apparently, the time has come for her to master the home segment of the market, I am sure that they have prospects in this direction. In general, I am personally absolutely satisfied, the new router began to work in the home network, I hope it will serve me no less than Asus. I bow out for this, if you have questions - write.

Down there in the comments, I was rightly noticed about the lack of photos of the purchase and was suspected of being an advertising agent :) Fair remark. I didn’t take pictures of sending and unpacking, but I didn’t want a working device, because I didn’t have time to lay the wires beautifully - they stick out in different sides. The router was received just yesterday.

However, I understand that it looks like an order, so here are the pictures of the purchase, do not look at the wires - I will think about how to carefully throw everything through.

Well, in a couple of days I tidied up a little, and combed the wires:

Every day I find something interesting and NECESSARY in the settings of the router ... In general, now I'm digging into the manuals - I really don't regret buying it for a second. Good luck friends!