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Managing your Mikrotik with WireGuard

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Summary
A practical WireGuard guide: set up a VPS server, configure a MikroTik client, advertise subnet routes, and follow security best practices for reliable remote access.

Remote MikroTik Management with WireGuard

WireGuard is a modern, minimal VPN that feels like performance magic.

It’s lean. Fast. Secure.

Perfect for connecting a VPS and MikroTik, or stitching networks together across the internet.

This guide gives copy‑paste commands, config examples, and hard‑won tips.

What is WireGuard?

WireGuard is a lightweight Layer‑3 VPN introduced by Jason Donenfeld.

It uses modern crypto: Curve25519 for key agreement and ChaCha20-Poly1305 for encryption.

No certificates. Simple keypairs. Small codebase.

That simplicity translates into fewer surprises and better throughput.

How WireGuard works — the essentials

Each peer has a private key and a public key.

Peers map public keys to allowed IPs and endpoints (IP:port).

Traffic is UDP‑based and peer‑to‑peer by design.

No central server is mandatory — but a VPS often acts as a stable rendezvous point.

Benefits at a glance

  • High throughput and low CPU use.
  • Minimal, auditable codebase.
  • Simple config files per peer.
  • Works well with NAT and CGNAT.
  • Cross‑platform: Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, MikroTik.

Server: WireGuard on a VPS (Ubuntu)

These steps set up a basic server that peers can connect to.

1) Install WireGuard

Terminal window
apt update && apt install -y wireguard

2) Generate server keys

Terminal window
wg genkey | tee /etc/wireguard/privatekey | wg pubkey > /etc/wireguard/publickey

3) Create /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf

[Interface]
Address = 10.8.0.1/24
ListenPort = 51820
PrivateKey = <server_private_key>
SaveConfig = true


# example peer (MikroTik)
[Peer]
PublicKey = <mikrotik_public_key>
AllowedIPs = 10.8.0.2/32

4) Enable and start

Terminal window
systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
systemctl start wg-quick@wg0

5) Firewall

Terminal window
ufw allow 51820/udp
# or use nftables/iptables as appropriate

Tip: Use a non-standard UDP port if you need to avoid automated scans.

MikroTik: configure as a WireGuard peer

RouterOS has built-in WireGuard support (RouterOS 7.x+).

1) Add the WireGuard interface

/interface wireguard add name=wg-vps listen-port=51820 private-key="<mikrotik_private_key>"

2) Add the server as a peer

/interface wireguard peers add interface=wg-vps public-key="<server_public_key>" endpoint-address=<VPS_IP> endpoint-port=51820 allowed-address=10.8.0.2/32 persistent-keepalive=25


/ip address add address=10.8.0.2/24 interface=wg-vps

3) Check status

/interface/wireguard/print
/interface/wireguard/peers/print

When the peer shows handshake activity and latest-handshake is recent, the tunnel is up.

Routing and accessing LAN devices behind MikroTik

From the VPS: route to the MikroTik LAN

If you want the VPS (or other peers) to reach 192.168.88.0/24 behind the MikroTik:

On the VPS add a route:

Terminal window
ip route add 192.168.88.0/24 via 10.8.0.2

On the MikroTik, enable IP forwarding and optionally src‑NAT for simplicity:

/ip firewall nat add chain=srcnat src-address=192.168.88.0/24 out-interface=wg-vps action=masquerade

Now services on the router’s LAN become reachable from the VPS over the WireGuard tunnel.

Warning: Only expose networks you control. Use firewall rules to limit which hosts or ports are reachable.

Key management and automation

Rotate keys periodically.

Automate peer creation with scripts when managing many routers.

Store private keys securely — treat them like passwords.

For fleets, consider a small control plane or a key distribution workflow.

Security best practices

  • Use unique keypairs per device.
  • Limit AllowedIPs to only what’s necessary.
  • Keep the WireGuard port firewalled and monitored.
  • Revoke lost devices by removing their peer entry.
  • Monitor handshakes and connection health.

Tip: Persistent keepalive helps maintain NAT mappings on consumer links.

Quick comparison

SolutionBasePerformanceEaseBest for
WireGuardKernel VPNVery highSimpleModern, high-performance links
OpenVPNTLS/OpenSSLMediumComplexLegacy devices and PKI-heavy setups
TailscaleWireGuard + control planeHighVery easyTeams, identity-based access
ZeroTierCustom meshHighEasyFlexible mesh networks

Integrations and uses

WireGuard plays well with monitoring (SNMP), TR‑069, TR‑369, and orchestration systems.

Use it for remote management, provider backhauls, or secure tunnels to cloud services.

Where MKController helps:

MKController’s NATCloud removes manual tunnel plumbing. It gives centralized access, monitoring and simpler onboarding — no per-device key babysitting.

Conclusion

WireGuard strips away VPN complexity without sacrificing security.

It’s fast, portable and ideal for MikroTik and VPS pairings.

Use it to build reliable remote access, with sane routing and good hygiene.

About MKController

Hope the insights above helped you navigate your MikroTik and Internet universe a little better! 🚀
Whether you’re fine-tuning configs or just trying to bring some order to the network madness, MKController is here to make your life simpler.

With centralized cloud management, automated security updates, and a dashboard that anyone can master, we’ve got what it takes to upgrade your operation.

👉 Start your free 7-day trial now at mkcontroller.com — and see what effortless network control really looks like.