Having discussed PPPoE, today, I will demonstrate how you can successfully bridge two local area networks (LAN) together by using the Mikrotik Ethernet over IP (EoIP) protocol. This task can easily be achieved by using the Mikrotik bridging function discussed here except that when you are in a Point-to-Multi-Point scenario, the bridging function doesn’t work on wireless stations. If you found yourself in that situation, one of the things you can do is to use the Ethernet over IP.
Image credit Google
In this demonstration, I will asume we have two offices (the head office and the branch office), and we need to extend the LAN in the head office to the branch office so that those at the branch office can work as though they are plugged into the same switch as those at the head office. EoIP allows for the bridging of two LANs into a broadcast domain.
Image showing hosts in the same broadcast domain
Wireless setup will not be treated in this article. To set up EoIP on a wireless link, the following will be done.
On the Access Point:
Create the EoIP interface and assign a remote IP. This, you can do by clicking on interface>>EoIP>>add. Enter the IP address of the station in the space for remote address. See image below.
Next, you create a bridge and add the EoIP interface and the LAN interface to the bridge. See here for how to create a bridge if you do not know. Do these on both routers, using the correct IP addresses as the remote IPs, plug in your network hosts at both locations and assign IPs accordingly. This demonstration is for EoIP without encryption. I will be making a video on how to set up EoIP with IPsec encryption. Please, subscribe to my YouTube channel to see the video and other videos.
If you are comfortable with the command line, simply edit and pastes these codes in the new terminal windows of the appropriate routers and you are good to go.
