Disaster Recovery Planning

Disaster Recovery Planning

A RouterOS disaster recovery plan covers four distinct failure scenarios, each requiring a different recovery path. This guide presents concrete runbooks for each scenario, a backup strategy that supports fast recovery, and a testing checklist to validate the plan before you need it.

For backup creation and format details, see Backup. For automated backup scheduling and off-router delivery, see Backup Automation.

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Recovery Scenarios

Scenario	Cause	Recovery path	Estimated RTO
A — Misconfiguration	Bad firewall rule, broken routing	Safe mode revert or binary restore	< 5 min
B — Failed upgrade	Package incompatibility, boot loop	Pre-upgrade binary restore	5–15 min
C — Hardware replacement	RMA, physical failure	RSC export import on new hardware	15–30 min
D — Complete failure	Corruption, forgotten password, unbootable	Netinstall + restore	30–60 min

Note

RTO figures assume backups are stored off-router and you have console or physical access. Adjust for your environment.

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Backup Strategy for DR

A recovery plan is only as good as its backups. Keep both backup types for each critical change event.

What to keep

# Before any significant change: create both formats
/system backup save name=("pre-change-" . [/system clock get date]) password="STRONG-PASS"
/export compact show-sensitive file=("pre-change-" . [/system clock get date])

	Binary (.backup)	Text export (.rsc)
Restore same device	Yes — fast, exact	Yes
Restore to new hardware	Not recommended	Yes — edit interface names first
Encrypted at rest	Yes (password arg)	No — protect the file system
Human-readable	No	Yes — diff-friendly

Where to store

Store at least one copy off the router. The router’s local filesystem is lost in Scenario C and D.

• Email via /tool e-mail send (see Backup Automation)
• SFTP/FTP push from a scheduler script
• MikroTik Cloud (for binary backups only)

A backup stored only on the router does not protect against hardware failure. Off-router storage is mandatory for Scenarios C and D.

Retention minimum

Keep at least:

• Last known-good before each change
• One weekly backup retained for 4 weeks
• One pre-upgrade backup per RouterOS version

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Scenario A — Misconfiguration Recovery

Use Safe Mode when making changes interactively. If the session is lost, RouterOS automatically reverts changes made during the safe-mode session.

Using Safe Mode (interactive)

Press Ctrl+X in a Winbox terminal or run:

/safe-mode

Safe Mode holds changes in memory. If your connection drops, all changes since entering safe mode are reverted automatically. Exit safe mode normally to commit:

# Commit changes — press Ctrl+X again or:
/safe-mode off

Restore from binary backup (soft recovery)

If you committed bad changes and can still reach the router:

/system backup load name=pre-change-mar-2026.backup password="STRONG-PASS"

The router reboots and returns to the saved configuration. No Netinstall required.

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Scenario B — Failed Upgrade Recovery

Always create a binary backup immediately before upgrading:

/system backup save name=("pre-upgrade-" . [/system clock get date]) password="STRONG-PASS"
/export compact file=("pre-upgrade-" . [/system clock get date])

If the router boots but behaves incorrectly after upgrade

1. Log in via console or Winbox
2. Verify package state: /system package print
3. Check installation integrity: /system check-installation
4. Restore pre-upgrade backup:

/system backup load name=pre-upgrade-mar-2026.backup password="STRONG-PASS"

If the router is in a boot loop

The router cannot load the backup itself. Proceed to Scenario D (Netinstall), then restore from backup after reinstall.

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Scenario C — Hardware Replacement

Binary backups are tied to the originating device’s MAC addresses and RouterOS version. Use the RSC export for migrating to new hardware.

Step 1 — Obtain the RSC export

If the original router is still reachable:

/export compact show-sensitive file=running-config

Download running-config.rsc via Winbox (Files panel) or SCP/FTP. If the router is not reachable, use the most recent off-router export from your backup storage.

Step 2 — Prepare the new router

Install the same RouterOS version as the source device. Differences in minor versions are usually tolerable; major version differences require manual review of the export.

# On the new router — verify version matches
/system package print

Step 3 — Edit the export for new hardware

Open running-config.rsc in a text editor. Identify and update:

• Interface names (e.g., ether1 → sfp-sfpplus1 on different hardware)
• MAC address references in bridge-host entries (if any)
• IP addresses that should change on the new device

Remove any commands for features not present on the new hardware (e.g., PoE settings on a non-PoE device).

Step 4 — Import on the new router

Upload the edited .rsc file to the new router, then:

/import file-name=running-config.rsc

Caution

Import executes commands sequentially. “Already have such entry” errors during partial imports are usually safe to ignore. Review the log for genuine failures:

/log print where topics~"script"

Step 5 — Verify and adjust

After import, verify critical services:

/ip address print
/ip route print
/interface print
/system identity print

Adjust any settings that could not be imported automatically (certificates, keys, RADIUS secrets).

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Scenario D — Complete Failure (Netinstall)

Use Netinstall when the device is unbootable, corrupted, or the password is lost and a reset is insufficient.

Prerequisites

• A Windows PC with Netinstall installed
• A direct Ethernet connection between the PC and the router’s first Ethernet port
• The correct RouterOS .npk package for your hardware architecture
• Off-router backup or RSC export

Step 1 — Enable Etherboot (if router is still reachable)

Pre-configure Etherboot to speed recovery next time:

/system routerboard settings set boot-device=try-ethernet-once-then-nand

This causes the router to attempt a network boot once on next reboot, then fall back to local storage — allowing Netinstall without holding the reset button.

Step 2 — Boot into Netinstall mode

If Etherboot is not pre-configured, hold the reset button while powering on until the LED flashes. Timing varies by model:

Model family	Method
RouterBOARD (most)	Hold reset button on power-on for ~5 s
hEX, RB941, RB951	Hold reset, power on, release after first LED flash
CCR	Hold reset button ≥ 10 s after power-on

The device broadcasts on the network. Netinstall detects it automatically.

Step 3 — Reinstall RouterOS

1. In Netinstall, select the device
2. Check Apply default configuration only if you have no backup to restore
3. Select the .npk package matching your hardware
4. Click Install — the router reboots into a fresh RouterOS installation

Step 4 — Restore configuration

Once the router is accessible (default IP 192.168.88.1):

From binary backup (same hardware/version):

/system backup load name=pre-change.backup password="STRONG-PASS"

From RSC export (follow Scenario C steps 3–5):

/import file-name=running-config.rsc

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Testing Your Recovery Plan

A plan that has never been tested is not a plan. Schedule periodic recovery drills.

Monthly — verify backup integrity

Confirm backups exist off-router and are not empty:

# On router — check local backups are being created
/file print where type=backup
/file print where name~".rsc"

On your backup server, check file sizes and timestamps. A backup file that is 0 bytes or not updated within the expected window indicates a broken automation job.

Quarterly — test binary restore

On a spare router or a CHR VM running the same version:

1. Copy the backup file to the test device
2. Run /system backup load
3. Verify the configuration loaded correctly
4. Check /ip address print, /interface print, routing table

Annually — full Netinstall drill

Run through the complete Scenario D procedure using a non-production device or CHR. Document:

• Time to complete each step
• Any manual steps required post-import
• Interface name differences requiring RSC edits

Update your runbook with any corrections.

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Recovery Checklist

Use this before and after any major change or incident.

Before changes:

• Binary backup created with strong password
• RSC export created (compact show-sensitive)
• Both files delivered off-router (email / SFTP / cloud)
• Safe Mode active for interactive changes

After failure:

• Identify scenario (A/B/C/D)
• Locate most recent off-router backup
• Confirm RouterOS version on backup vs. device
• Follow scenario runbook above
• Verify services post-restore
• Document incident and update backup retention policy

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Related Resources

• Backup — binary backup and export reference
• Backup Automation — scheduled backups with off-router delivery
• Scheduler — scheduling backup scripts
• Netinstall — official Netinstall guide
• Safe Mode — safe mode reference