MikroTik RouterOS 7.18 — What Changed

The stable version 7.18 of Mikrotik RouterOS brought significant enhancements, albeit in smaller quantities compared to version 7.17. Among the most relevant new features, performance improvements, package management, and support for new resources stand out.

One of the most anticipated improvements was the addition of FastPath and FastTrack support for IPv6. With this, network performance with IPv6 is equivalent to that of IPv4, ensuring more efficient and faster data transmission.

Now, the system’s package section displays all available extra package options, indicating those that are not installed. The installation process has become simpler: just enable a desired package, and it will be automatically downloaded and scheduled for installation on the next device reboot.

Several improvements were made to the container functionality:

• The default URL for downloading remote images is now “lscr.io”, linked to linuxserver.io, an alternative to Docker Hub.
• The root directory is now used for both installation and extraction of images, reducing failures due to lack of space.
• Better detection of hardware architecture, allowing proper support for ARMv5 and ARMv6.

The swap file functionality, previously restricted to the container package, is now part of the base package. This allows devices with low RAM memory to use a swap file, expanding their capacity without the need to add the container package.

File management has received enhancements to better handle large amounts of data:

• It is now possible to print the contents of specific directories.
• New “recursive” and “relative” flags allow viewing files in subdirectories and hiding the hierarchy above the current directory.

The ROSE package now provides full support for the BTRFS file system. Among the new options are:

• Formatting disks in BTRFS.
• Specific section for file system management, including “scrub” and “balance” functions.
• Subvolume management, allowing the creation of snapshots and their transfer over the network.

The latest CRS and CCR devices now offer hardware offloaded VXLAN support, significantly improving data transmission efficiency. The default port for VXLAN has been changed to 4789.

ARM and ARM64 devices have gained a new package called “iot-bt-extra”, which adds support for generic Bluetooth adapters with Bluetooth Low Energy technology and Bluetooth advertising. This allows Mikrotik routers and switches to be transformed into Bluetooth tracking devices, compatible with third-party tags.

For devices that support hardware offloading in L3, new advanced settings and monitoring tools are now available directly in the graphical interface.

RouterOS 7.18 is fully compatible with MKController services, facilitating network management and automation for administrators and service providers.

1. Go to System → Packages.
2. Click Check for Updates and select the Stable channel.
3. Click Download & Install.
4. The device reboots automatically after the update.

/system package update set channel=stable
/system package update check-for-updates
/system package update install

The update to version 7.18 of RouterOS brought essential enhancements to performance, package management, containers, storage, and support for new hardware. Keeping your devices updated will ensure access to these improvements, providing greater security, reliability, and efficiency for your network.

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