Installing a Mikrotik CHR virtual router

In Yandex.Cloud, you can deploy a virtual Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router from a VM image. To install Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router and check its operability:

1. Before you start.
2. Create a VM with Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router.
3. Log in to your VM and change your password.
4. Create a test VM.
5. Check the connection between the router and test VM.

If you no longer need the created resources, delete them.

Before you start

1. Go to the management console. Then log in to Yandex.Cloud or sign up if don't already have an account.
2. On the billing page, make sure you linked a billing account, and it has the ACTIVE or TRIAL_ACTIVE status. If you don't have a billing account, create one.

If you have an active billing account, you can create or select a folder to run your VM in from the Yandex.Cloud page.

Learn more about clouds and folders.

Required paid resources

The cost of using a virtual router and test VM includes:

• A fee for the disks and continuously running VMs (see Yandex Compute Cloud pricing).
• A fee for using a public IP address (see Yandex Virtual Private Cloud pricing).

Create a VM with Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router

1. Open your folder and click Create resource. Select Virtual machine.
2. Enter a name for the VM, like mikrotik-router.
3. Select the availability zone with a subnet. If you don't know which availability zone you need, leave the default.
4. Under Images from Cloud Marketplace, click Select and choose the Cloud Hosted Router image.
5. Under Computing resources:
   • Choose a platform for the VM.
   • Specify the number of vCPUs and amount of RAM:
     • Platform: Intel Cascade Lake.
     • Guaranteed vCPU share: 100%.
     • vCPU: 2.
     • RAM: 2 GB.
6. In the Network settings section, choose the required network and subnet and assign a public IP to the VM either by selecting it from the list or automatically. If you don't have a network or subnet, create them on the VM creation screen.
7. In the Access field, enter the login and SSH key to access the VM. Note that you only need this data for VM creation. You can't use the data for router access.
8. Click Create VM.

Creating the VM may take several minutes. When the VM's status changes to RUNNING, you can log in.

Change the administrator password on the router

The router is created with a public IP address, so you need to change the default administrator password for security reasons.

1. Open the mikrotik-router VM page in the management console.
2. Copy the VM's public address and open it in your browser. The initial router setup screen opens.
3. Enter the VM's internal IP address in the IP Address field.
4. On the page that opens, enter the new administrator password, confirm it, and click Apply Configuration. You can make other settings later.

Create a test VM

Create a test VM in the subnet that hosts the router, to test connectivity between the router and VM.

1. On the folder page in the management console, click Create resource, and select Virtual machine.

2. In the Name field, enter the VM name: test-vm.

3. Select the same availability zone where the mikrotik-router VM is located.

4. Under Images from Cloud Marketplace, select the Ubuntu image.

5. Under Computing resources:

   • Choose a platform for the VM.
   • Specify the necessary number of vCPUs and amount of RAM.
   • Platform: Intel Cascade Lake.
   • Guaranteed vCPU share: 5%.
   • vCPU: 2.
   • RAM: 0.5 GB.

6. Under Network settings, select the network and subnet hosting the mikrotik-router VM.

7. In the Public address field, select No address.

8. In the Access field, enter the login and SSH key to access the VM.

9. Click Create VM.

Check the connection between the router and test VM

Make sure that a network connection has been established between the router and test VM:

1. Open the router's administrative interface in the browser.
2. Click Terminal.
3. In the terminal that opens, run ping <internal IP address of the test VM>.

If the packets reach the test VM, you can start configuring the router. Read about the router in the Mikrotik documentation.

Delete the created resources

To stop paying for the deployed resources, delete the mikrotik-router and test-vm virtual machines.

If you reserved a public static IP address, delete it.