What to do when devices are offline on Mikrotik dude though up on the network

Adding devices on the Mikrotik dude can be challenging especially for devices whose service port numbers have been changed for security reasons. Changing of service port numbers is highly recommended on Mikrotik routers to help protect them from being taken over by attackers.

With port numbers changed from their default values to those known only to the adminstrator, attackers who try to access such devices via ssh, telnet or http, using port numbers other than those set on the devices by the network admin, will be unsuccessful. Access denail will occur prior to the attackers being required to enter loging credentials. This helps protect Mikrotik routers from intruders and avoid processor overhead resulting from different combinations of usernames and passwords used in brute force attacks.

Kindly see here for how to protect your Mikrotik routers from attackers by changing the default port numbers.

Also read:  9 things you must do on a Mikrotik router to effectively secure your network

However, many users have complained of not being able to monitor device status on the Dude in real-time after changing the service port numbers. The devices appear offline on the Dude while up and running on the network. This is simply because the dude is using the default probe values, depending on what protocol the user is using for probe, to track device status.

Adding devices on the dude

Devices with port numbers that have been changed from default to user-defined port numbers must have those values specified by the administrator when adding such device on the Mikrotik dude. If this is not done, the devices will be added but will remain permanently offline on the Dude even though they may be up and running on the network.

To successfully add and monitor such devices on the Mikrotik dude, the port value for the selected probe must be set to the same value as the service port number on the device.

Once the device has been added and the status shows down, double-click on the device, click on service, remove the default probe and add a new one, using a protocol running on the device you intend to add as well as a probe value that matches the exact value set on the device. See screenshot below.

On the Mikrotik router:

On the Dude

That is all you need to do to successfully add and monitor device status using user-defined probe values on a Mikrotik dude.

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