IP Addressing in MikroTik: Setting Up Your First IP

IPv4 Addressing on RouterOS: A Beginner Guide

Before a MikroTik router can do anything useful, its interfaces need IP addresses. This lesson covers everything you need to know about assigning and managing IP addresses in RouterOS.

Quick Review: IP Addresses and Subnets

An IPv4 address is written as four groups of digits separated by dots — for example, 192.168.1.100. Every device on a network needs a unique IP address to communicate.

A subnet mask tells you which part of the address identifies the network. The modern way to write this is CIDR notation — for example, /24 means the first 24 bits are the network part.

Common subnets:

Viewing Existing IP Addresses

/ip address print

Example output:

Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic
 #   ADDRESS            NETWORK         INTERFACE
 0   192.168.88.1/24    192.168.88.0    bridge
 1 D 10.0.0.2/30        10.0.0.0        ether1

• D means dynamic (assigned by DHCP client)
• X means disabled

For more detail:

/ip address print detail

Viewing Interface Names

Before assigning an IP, check your interface names:

/interface print

Output example:

 #     NAME      TYPE    ACTUAL-MTU
 0  R  ether1    ether   1500
 1  R  ether2    ether   1500
 2  R  wlan1     wlan    1500
 3  R  bridge    bridge  1500

Adding an IP Address

Basic syntax:

/ip address add address=<IP/PREFIX> interface=<INTERFACE-NAME>

Add WAN address (static from ISP)

/ip address add address=203.0.113.10/30 interface=ether1

Add LAN address

/ip address add address=192.168.1.1/24 interface=ether2

Add multiple addresses to one interface

One interface can have multiple IPs:

/ip address add address=192.168.10.1/24 interface=ether2
/ip address add address=172.16.0.1/24 interface=ether2

Modifying an Existing IP Address

Find the entry number with print, then use set:

/ip address print
/ip address set 0 address=192.168.1.1/24

Or use the find function:

/ip address set [find interface=ether2] address=192.168.20.1/24

Removing an IP Address

# Remove by number
/ip address remove 0

# Remove a specific address
/ip address remove [find address=192.168.88.1/24]

Disabling and Enabling an IP Address

/ip address disable 0
/ip address enable 0

A disabled address shows with the X flag in print output.

Practical Example: Two-Interface Setup

ether1 connected to ISP, ether2 connected to LAN:

# Static WAN address
/ip address add address=203.0.113.10/30 interface=ether1

# LAN address
/ip address add address=192.168.1.1/24 interface=ether2

DHCP Client — Dynamic WAN IP from ISP

If your ISP assigns your WAN IP via DHCP:

/ip dhcp-client add interface=ether1 disabled=no

Check the result:

/ip dhcp-client print

Connected Routes Are Created Automatically

When you add an IP address, RouterOS automatically adds a connected route to the routing table. Verify:

/ip route print

You will see a route like 192.168.1.0/24 via ether2 marked with type C (connected).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Wrong Subnet Mask

Use /30 for router-to-router links (gives exactly 2 usable hosts). Using /24 wastes 252 addresses.

Duplicate IP Addresses

Two devices with the same IP on the same subnet causes network chaos. Always check existing addresses before adding new ones.

Assigning to Wrong Interface

On most MikroTik devices, ether1 is the WAN port and ether2–ether5 are LAN ports. Double-check before assigning.

Forgetting to Remove Old Address

Before changing an interface address, remove the old one first to avoid having two addresses on the same interface causing routing confusion.

Summary

IP addressing in RouterOS is straightforward:

• print — see current addresses
• add address=X.X.X.X/prefix interface=NAME — add new address
• set NUMBER address=X.X.X.X/prefix — modify existing
• remove NUMBER — delete
• Connected routes are created automatically