MikroTik RouterBOARD 800 Series User manual

RouterBOARD 800 Series
User's Manual
Rev. A (08-Jan-2010)
Limited Warranty
Copyright and Trademarks. Copyright ikroTikls SIA. This manual contains information protected by copyright law. No
part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the copyright holder.
RouterBOARD, RouterOS, RouterBOOT and ikroTik are trademarks of ikroTikls SIA. All trademarks and registered
trademarks appearing in this manual are the property of their respective holders.
Hardware. ikroTikls SIA warrants all RouterBOARD series equipment for the term of one year from the shipping date
to be free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service, except in case of damage caused by
mechanical, electrical or other accidental or intended damages caused by improper use or due to wind, rain, fire or other
acts of nature.
If you have purchased your product from a ikroTik Reseller, please contact the Reseller company regarding all warranty
and repair issues, the following instructions apply ONLY if you purchased your equipment directly from ikroTik Latvia
To return failed unit or units to ikroTikls you must perform the following R A (Return aterial Authorization) procedure.
Follow the instructions below to save time, efforts, avoid costs, and improve the speed of the R A process. Take into
account that all goods have one year warranty.
Instructions are located on our webpage here: http: rma.mikrotik.com
Manual. This manual is provided “as is” without a warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including, but not limited
to, the implied warranty of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The manufacturer has made every effort
to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this manual, however, it is possible that it may contain technical inaccuracies,
typographical or other errors. No liability is assumed for any inaccuracy found in this publication, nor for direct or
indirect, incidental, consequential or other damages that may result from such an inaccuracy, including, but not limited
to, loss of data or profits. Please report any inaccuracies found to su[email protected]m

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
Table of Contents
Limited Warranty............................................................................................................................1
System Board View.........................................................................................................................3
System Board Layout.......................................................................................................................3
Specifications.................................................................................................................................4
Block Diagram................................................................................................................................4
Hardware Guide..............................................................................................................................5
emory and Storage Devices...................................................................................................5
Onboard emory...........................................................................................................5
Onboard NAND Storage Device........................................................................................5
CompactFlash Slots........................................................................................................5
Extension Slots......................................................................................................................5
iniPCI Slots.................................................................................................................5
Daughterboard Connector...............................................................................................5
Input/Output Ports..................................................................................................................5
LAN1 Port with PoE.........................................................................................................5
LAN2 Port.....................................................................................................................5
LAN3 Port.....................................................................................................................5
DB9 Serial Port..............................................................................................................6
IDC10 Serial connector...................................................................................................6
Fan Connectors..............................................................................................................6
LEDs.....................................................................................................................................6
Power LED....................................................................................................................6
User LED......................................................................................................................6
User's Guide...................................................................................................................................6
Assembling the Hardware........................................................................................................6
Powering...............................................................................................................................7
Booting options......................................................................................................................7
Onboard NAND Storage Device........................................................................................7
Internal Storage Device..................................................................................................7
Booting from network.....................................................................................................7
Operating System Support.......................................................................................................8
System Architecture.......................................................................................................8
ikroTik RouterOS.........................................................................................................8
RouterBOOT...................................................................................................................................8
Boot Loader Configuration........................................................................................................8
Configurable Options......................................................................................................9
Boot Loader Upgrading............................................................................................................9
Primary Boot Loader...............................................................................................................9
RouterOS on RouterBOARD 800........................................................................................................9
Health monitor.......................................................................................................................9
Firware information...............................................................................................................10
Firmware Settings.................................................................................................................10
Software Reset.....................................................................................................................10
Appendix......................................................................................................................................10
Connector Index...................................................................................................................10
Button Index........................................................................................................................11
Ethernet Cables....................................................................................................................11
Serial Null-modem (Console) Cable with Loopback.....................................................................11
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RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
System Board View
Top view Bottom view
System Board Layout
You can download the board dimensions and case design files (PDF and DXF) from www.routerboard.com .
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RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
Specifications
RouterBOARD 800
CPU PC8544 800 Hz network processor
Memory 256 B DDR2 SDRA onboard memory
Boot loader RouterBOOT
Data storage 64 B onboard NAND memory chip
Ethernet Three 10/100/1000 bit/s Gigabit Ethernet ports supporting Auto- DI/X
MiniPCI slot Four iniPCI Type IIIA/IIIB slots
Expansion 1x RouterBOARD-PCI Daughterboard connector
1x RouterBOARD-PCIe Daugherboard connector
CompactFlash slots One CompactFlash slot on reverse (True IDE icrodrive supported)
Serial port One DB9 RS232C asynchronous serial port
One IDC10 serial connector
LEDs Power and User LED
Beeper Yes
Power Power over Ethernet: 38..56V DC (supports power over datalines)
Power jack: 10..56V DC
Fan control
Two 5.5V DC fan power output headers
Two 3.3V DC fan power output headers
with rotation sensor and automatic fan switching
(maximum output current - 300mA total)
Dimensions 14 cm x 20 cm (5.51 in x 7.87 in)
Weight 227 g (8 oz)
Temperature Operational: -75°C to +65°C
Startup: boots at warmer than -50°C
Humidity Operational: up to 70% relative humidity (non-condensing)
Power consumption ~9W without extension cards,
maximum – 35+ W (25+ W output to extension cards)
Monitoring Has Voltage and Temperature monitoring sensors
Block Diagram
4
CPU
Onboard RAM
Power
Supply
38..56V PoE
10..56V DC power ack
Onboard Flash (NAND)
LAN 1 - 1000BaseT
(with PoE in)
PCI
4 MiniPCI
slots
Serial port
User LED
GPIO
LAN 2 - 1000BaseT
LAN 3 - 1000BaseT
Fan control
Beeper

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
Hardware Guide
Memory and Storage Devices
Onboard Memory
The boards are equipped with 256 B DDR2 SDRA onboard memory.
Onboard NAND Storage Device
The boards are equipped with one 64 B NAND nonvolatile memory chip.
CompactFlash Slots
The board has one CompactFlash slot that supports Compact Flash Type I or II cards and True IDE
icrodrive storage devices. The CF slot is bootable. Warning! The RouterBOARD 800 series boards do not
support hot insert of CompactFlash/ icrodrive devices.
Extension Slots
Mini CI Slots
The board has four iniPCI Type IIIA slots with 3.3V only power signaling. They also accept iniPCI Type
IIIB standard cards. The board has been tested to operate with 5 Ubiquity SR series high power cards if
ambient temperature and adequate cooling is ensured.
Supplied power for the extension cards (excluding CPU and onboard Ethernet ports):
+3.3V: 7.5A typical
Daughterboard Connector
Additional Ethernet and/or iniPCI slots may be connected to the board using the daughterboard
connectors. Two connectors are provided, the longer connector (J4) is routerboard-pci type, same as used
on RB600 and RB500 series devices. The shorter connector (J10) is routerboard-pcie type.
Input/Output orts
LAN1 ort with oE
This Gigabit Ethernet port is recognized as the first LAN interface. It is compatible with most Power over
Ethernet injectors. The board accepts voltage input from 38 to 56 V DC. It is suggested to use 48V for power
over long cables because of better efficiency (less power is lost in the cable itself and power supply is more
efficient).
See Connector Index for pinout of the standard cable required for PoE. All cables made to EIA/TIA 568A/B
cable specifications will work correctly with PoE. Note that this port supports automatic cross/straight cable
correction (Auto DI/X), so you can use either straight or cross-over cable for connecting to other network
devices.
LAN2 ort
This Gigabit Ethernet port is recognized as the second LAN interface. This port does not support Power over
Ethernet.
All cables made to EIA/TIA 568A/B cable specifications will work correctly (see Connector Index for
pinout). Note that this port supports automatic cross/straight cable correction (Auto DI/X), so you can use
either straight or cross-over cable for connecting to other network devices.
LAN3 ort
This Gigabit Ethernet port is recognized as the third LAN interface. This port does not support Power over
Ethernet.
All cables made to EIA/TIA 568A/B cable specifications will work correctly (see Connector Index for
pinout). Note that this port supports automatic cross/straight cable correction (Auto DI/X), so you can use
either straight or cross-over cable for connecting to other network devices.
5

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
DB9 Serial ort
The RS232C standard male DB9 asynchronous serial port may be used for initial configuration, or for
attaching a modem or any other RS232 serial device. TxD (pin 3) of this port has -5V DC power when idle.
Some signals are not connected, so this implementation may not be considered to support full hardware
flow-control, so software flow-control (XON/XOFF) or none at all should be used.
IDC10 Serial connector
This connector can be used to add another serial port to the RB800. It's pinout is as follows:
Fan Connectors
You can connect up to four fans to the RouterBOARD, but only one pair of them will work at a time. They will
receive either 3.3V or 5.5V DC power. The board supports fan speed feedback signaling. RouterOS can be
configured to change the active fan, if the current active one is not rotating (note that if a fan does not have
rotation sensor, it will be considered failed).
JP1 and JP3 are 3.3V connectors, only one of them will power a cooling fan at the same time, other one will
be started when the first stops.
JP2 and JP4 are 5.5V connectors, only one of them will power a cooling fan at the same time, other one will
be started when the first stops.
To enable rotation of two fans simultaneously, simply connect one 3.3V fan to JP1 and a 5.5V fan to JP4
(outside of the pair).
LEDs
ower LED
Power LED is on when the board is powered.
User LED
User LED may be programmed at user's option. It is lit by default when the board starts up, then it is turned
off when the bootloader runs kernel.
User's Guide
Assembling the Hardware
First to use the board:
●In most cases you do not need to use any additional boot devices, as you can boot the RouterBOARD
from the onboard NAND memory. You can also install one CompactFlash module or icrodrive hard
drive, which you can use as an alternative boot device for non-RouterOS operating systems, or for
additional storage media;
●Insert iniPCI cards on the board itself, and on the daughterboard if you have one;
●Install the board in a case, connect and secure the daughterboard and connect antenna wires, if
needed;
●Connect other peripherals and cables.
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RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
You can also order a pre-assembled system with RouterBOARD and extension cards of your choice already
installed in a case.
Please do not power on the system with installed miniPCI cards if they have no antennas connected,
powering miniPCI wireless cards with no antenna can damage them. Disabled (in RouterOS) miniPCI wireless
cards can be used with no antenna.
owering
Power options:
●J14 power jack:
10..56V DC
●Power over Ethernet (PoE) on the J12 LAN1 Ethernet port:
38..56V DC Power over Ethernet
The board has a direct-input power jack J14 (5.5mm outside and 2mm inside diameter, female, pin positive
plug) and can as well be powered with PoE. All power inputs are always active, but only one should be used
at the same time.
RouterBOARD 800 series boards are equipped with a reliable 35+ Watt onboard power supply. 10..56 V DC
input voltages are accepted through the J14 power jack. The system is tested with 24V solar/wind/RV
systems with 27.6 charge voltage.
RouterBOARD 800 series boards are compatible with most standard and non-standard (passive) Power over
Ethernet injectors and accept powering over up to 100m (330 ft) long Ethernet cable connected to the
Ethernet port (J12). The minimum turn on voltage is about 38V DC and it has undervoltage protection
turning the board off when the input voltage drops lower than 32V.
The maximum output of the power supply to the extension cards is normally at about 25W (7.5A at 3.3V),
however with appropriate cooling, the onboard power supply is capable to provide higher power output to
the extension cards.
Booting options
First, RouterBOOT loader is started. It displays some useful information on the onboard RS232C
asynchronous serial port, which is set to 115200bit/s, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity by default. The loader
may be configured to boot the system from the onboard NAND module or from Ethernet network. See the
respective section of this manual for how to configure booting sequence and other boot loader parameters.
Onboard NAND Storage Device
The RouterBOARD may be started from the onboard NAND storage chip. As there is no partition table on the
device, the boot loader assumes the first 4 iB form a YAFFS filesystem, and executes the file called “kernel”
stored in the root directory on that partition. It is possible to partition the rest of the medium by patching
the kernel source.
Internal Storage Device
The RouterBOARD may be started from a CompactFlash module or a icrodrive hard drive installed in the
CompactFlash slot (J1). At least two partitions must exist on the device, first of which being the ELF image
the board is to be booted from (normally, it is a Linux kernel, appended with the kernparm ELF section that
specifies the root partition name and, optionally, other kernel parameters of your choice).
Booting from network
Network boot works similarly to PXE or EtherBoot protocol, and allows you to boot a RouterBOARD 800
series boards from an executable image stored on a TFTP server. It uses BOOTP or DHCP (configurable in
boot loader) protocol to get a valid IP address, and TFTP protocol to download an executable (ELF) kernel
image combined with the initial RA disk (inserted as an ELF section) to boot from (the TFTP server's IP
address and the image name must be sent by the BOOTP/DHCP server).
To boot the RouterBOARD computer from Ethernet network you need the following:
●An ELF kernel image for the loader to boot from (you can embed the kernel parameters and initrd
image as ELF sections called kernparm and initrd respectively)
●A TFTP server which to download the image from
●A BOOTP/DHCP server (may be installed on the same machine as the TFTP server) to give an IP
7

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
address, TFTP server address and boot image name
See the RouterBOOT section on how to configure loader to boot from network.
Note that you must connect the RouterBOARD you want to boot, and the BOOTP/DHCP and TFTP servers to
the same broadcast domain (i.e., there must not be any routers between them).
Operating System Support
System Architecture
CPU. RouterBOARD 800 series uses the PC8544 800 Hz PPC architecture embedded processor.
Ethernet. RouterBOARD 800 series has two onboard Gigabit Ethernet ports (J12 ETH1 and J13 ETH2)
controlled by the CPU and one additional onboard Gigabit Ethernet port (J1, ETH3) controlled by Atheros
AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
MikroTik RouterOS
ikroTik RouterOS, starting from version 4.0, is fully compatible with RouterBOARD 800 series embedded
boards.
RouterBOOT
The RouterBOOT firmware (also referred as boot loader here) provides minimal functionality to boot an
Operating System. It supports serial console via the onboard serial port at the boot time. The loader
supports booting from the onboard NAND device and from a network server (see the respective section for
details on this protocol).
Boot Loader Configuration
Loader parameters may be configured through the onboard RS232C DB9 asynchronous serial interface. To
connect to it, use a standard null-modem cable. By default, the port is set to 115200bit/s, 8 data bits, 1
stop bit, no parity. Note that the device does not fully implement the hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control, so it
is suggested to try to disable hardware flow control in the terminal emulation program in case the serial
console does not work as expected, and if it does not help, make a new cable using the pinout given in the
Appendix.
To enter the loader configuration screen, press any key (or only [Delete] key (or [Backspace] key – see the
note for the respective configurable option), depending on the actual configuration) just after the boot
loader is asking for it:
RouterBOOT booter 2.21
RouterBOARD 800
CPU frequency: 800 MHz
Memory ize: 256 MB
Pre any key within 2 econd to enter etup
RouterBOOT-2.21
What do you want to configure?
d - boot delay
k - boot key
- erial con ole
o - boot device
f - cpu frequency
r - re et configuration
e - format nand
g - upgrade firmware
i - board info
p - boot protocol
t - do memory te ting
x - exit etup
your choice:
To select a menu point, press the key written at the beginning of this line. Pressing [Enter] selects the
option marked with '*'.
8

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
Configurable Options
boot delay – how much time to wait for a key stroke while booting (1..9 seconds; 2 second by default).
boot key – which key will cause the loader to enter configuration mode during boot delay (any key |
<Delete> key only; any key by default). Note that in some serial terminal programs, it is impossible to use
the [Delete] key to enter the setup – in this case it might be possible to do this with the [Backspace] key.
serial console – to configure initial serial console bitrate (1200 | 2400 | 4800 | 9600 | 19200 | 38400 |
57600 | 115200; 115200 bps by default).
boot device – initial boot device (boot over Ethernet | boot from NAND, if fail then Ethernet | boot from
CompactFlash only | boot Ethernet once, then NAND | boot Ethernet first, then CompactFlash | boot from
NAND only; boot from NAND, if fail then Ethernet by default). You can also select boot chosen device
option to boot from the device selected immediately, without saving the setting.
cpu-frequency – CPU frequency (800MHz by default).
reset configuration – whether to reset all the boot loader settings to their respective default values (yes |
no; no by default).
format nand – perform a low-level NAND format. During this operation, all previously marked bad sectors
are retested to find out if they are faulty indeed.
upgrade firmware – receive a new boot loader image using X odem protocol over serial line or using
DHCP/BOOTP and TFTP protocols through the Ethernet network (upgrade firmware over ethernet | upgrade
firmware over serial port).
board info – prints the serial number, boot loader version, CPU frequency, memory size and AC addresses
of the onboard Ethernet ports
boot protocol – network booting protocol (bootp protocol | dhcp protocol; bootp protocol by default).
do memory testing – performs a full memory test.
Boot Loader Upgrading
The boot loader is needed to initialize all the hardware and boot the system up. Newer loader versions might
have support for more hardware, so it's generally a good idea to upgrade the loader once a newer version is
available. You can upgrade the loader through the onboard serial port using X odem protocol (programs
available for all major OSs). For example, you can use HyperTerminal for Windows or inicom for Linux to
upload the boot loader. Alternatively if you have a DHCP/BOOTP and TFTP servers available, you can specify
the loader image as a boot image and choose the bios upgrade over ethernet option in the boot loader
configuration menu. The loader will get the image from the TFTP server and upgrade itself. The most current
loader image is available for download on www.routerboard.com.
The boot loader upgrading is supported also from ikroTik RouterOS. The procedure is described in the
ikroTik RouterOS manual.
rimary Boot Loader
There are two boot loaders present on the NOR flash memory chip. Secondary is the main one, that is
executed by default. This is the one that can be upgraded. In case something goes wrong in the upgrade
process, or you have set some incorrect settings that render it unusable, you can load the Primary boot
loader by holding the Software Reset 1 button (S1), connecting the power, and then releasing the
button/jumper. The Primary boot loader has the default settings, which can not be changed. It is also not
possible to upgrade it.
RouterOS on RouterBOARD 800
Health monitor
This menu shows the current fan status.
[admin@MikroTik] > y tem health print
fan-mode: manual
u e-fan: main
active-fan: main
[admin@MikroTik] >
fan-mode – whether to use automatic fan failover (auto | manual; manual by default).
9

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
use-fan – which fan to use in manual mode (main | auxiliary; main by default).
Firware information
This menu displays RouterBOARD model number, serial number, the current boot loader version and the
version available in the current software packages installed.
[admin@MikroTik] > y tem routerboard print
routerboard: ye
model: "rb800"
erial-number: "154201C1DD3C"
current-firmware: "2.21"
upgrade-firmware: "2.21"
[admin@MikroTik] >
The firmware version can be upgraded using “ system routerboard upgrade” command.
Firmware Settings
Boot loader settings are also accessible through this menu.
[admin@MikroTik] > y tem routerboard etting print
baud-rate: 115200
boot-delay: 2
boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
enter- etup-on: any-key
boot-protocol: bootp
enable-jumper-re et: ye
[admin@MikroTik] >
The Software Reset 2 jumper (S2), which resets both boot loader settings and RouterOS setting by default,
can be disabled in this menu (it will still reset the boot loader settings).
Software Reset
It is possible to reset all software configuration by holding the Software Reset 2 jumper (S2) during the
power-up. No confirmation or passwords will be asked, so use with caution. This feature can be disabled in
the “system routerboard settings” menu by switching the “enable-jumper-reset” parameter to “no”.
To use it, simply shorten it with a screwdriver, and power up the device, until RouterOS loads.
J 5 DIS OE Jumper
This jumper will disable the 802.11af compatible smart PoE, and also lower the undervoltage protection
threshold to approx 10V, allowing to use this device with passive PoE in 24V Solar power installations.
Appendix
Connector Index
J1 CompactFlash slot
J11 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base-T port LAN3 (no PoE)
J4 Daughterboard PCI connector
J10 Daughterboard PCIe connector
J5 iniPCI Type type IIIA/B connector 1
J6 iniPCI Type type IIIA/B connector 2
J7 iniPCI Type type IIIA/B connector 3
J8 iniPCI Type type IIIA/B connector 4
J2 RS232C male DB9 serial port
2 RxD (Receive Data)
3 TxD (Transmit Data)
10

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
5 GND
7 RTS (Request to Send)
8 CTS (Clear to Send)
J12 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base-T port LAN1 with PoE extension
J13 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet 1000Base-T port LAN2 (no PoE)
J14 Power jack (10..56 V DC, positive contact is the central pin)
JP1 DC Fan 1 connector
1 GND
2 +3.3 V DC
3 Rotation speed feedback
JP3 DC Fan 2 connector
1 GND
2 +3.3 V DC
3 Rotation speed feedback
JP2 DC Fan 2 connector
1 GND
2 +5.5 V DC
3 Rotation speed feedback
JP4 DC Fan 2 connector
1 GND
2 +5.5 V DC
3 Rotation speed feedback
Button Index
S1 Software Reset 1 button. Loads the Primary boot loader
S2 Software Reset 2 jumper. Resets boot loader and RouterOS settings
Ethernet Cables
RJ45
Pin
Color Function
(100 bit)
Function
(1Gbit)
RJ45 pin for Straight cable
( DI, EIA/TIA568A)
RJ45 pin for Crossover cable
( DI-X, EIA/TIA568B)
1 Green TX+ Data Data A+ 1 3
2 Green/White TX- Data Data A- 2 6
3 Orange RX+ Data Data B+ 3 1
4 Blue - Data C+ 4 4
5 Blue/White - Data C- 5 5
6 Orange/White RX- Data Data B- 6 2
7 Brown - Data D+ 7 7
8 Brown/White - Data D- 8 8
Serial Null-modem (Console) Cable with Loopback
DB9f Function DB9f DB25f
1 + 4 + 6 CD + DTR + DSR N/C N/C
N/C CD + DTR + DSR 1 + 4 + 6 6 + 8 + 20
11

RouterBOARD 800 Series User's anual
DB9f Function DB9f DB25f
2 RxD 3 2
3 TxD 2 3
5 GND 5 7
7 + 8 RTS + CTS 7 + 8 4 + 5
N/C – not connected.
12