Inside the Routing Flow

In MTCNA and all other advanced MikroTik courses, we keep talking about routing almost everyday as it is one of the most pivotal concepts in the entire network management context.

On the same note, we have posted two more episodes of our online MTCNA program, detailing a simple IP packet will take when entering a router. Watch below to learn more:

Diving Deeper in the Routing Flow

As mentioned in previous tutorials, the main packet flow of RouterOS has three main stages for packets entering from the physical In-interface, namely Bridging, MPLS and Routing.

The routing flow, which operates on the OSI layer 3, that is the Network layer, is where a number of smaller processes take place, namely prerouting, input, forward, output, and postrouting, all five of which usher the traffic down different paths inside the routing flow.

In Episode 34, based on the three types of expected network traffic that we talked about in Episode 32,  we discuss the paths a simple packet may take in each of the three input, forwarded or output traffic scenarios.

And in Episode 35, we discuss the details of the five components of the traffic flow and show you where on RouterOS you can configure each of them.

Why Does the Routing Flow Matter?

In RouterOS, all IP and IPv6 firewall configurations take place on Layer 3, titled the Network Layer.

Therefore, a solid knowledge of the basic packet behavior in the Routing Flow - which itself operates on Layer 3 - gives you a much better understanding of how firewall configurations can and need to be set.

More Courses Available!