MikroTik CHR Installation with Proxmox Virtual Environment

In the following we will show you how to install Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) under Proxmox

Prerequisites:
For this tutorial you will need a running Proxmox Host

  • Proxmox Host
  • SSH Access to Proxmox Host

Login via SSH onto your Proxmox Host

ssh your-username@your-proxmox-host

Navigate to your Datastore: (Replace with your actual Datastore / If unsure, check /etc/pve/storage.cfg)

cd /var/lib/vz/template/iso

Download Image from the Mikrotik.com page via wget

root@pve01:/var/lib/vz/template# wget https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/7.9.2/chr-7.9.2.img.zip
--2023-06-08 19:58:15-- https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/7.9.2/chr-7.9.2.img.zip
Resolving download.mikrotik.com (download.mikrotik.com)... 159.148.172.226, 159.148.147.204, 2a02:610:7501:1000::204, ...
Connecting to download.mikrotik.com (download.mikrotik.com)|159.148.172.226|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 39855968 (38M) [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘chr-7.9.2.img.zip’

chr-7.9.2.img.zip 100%[===================================================================================================================>] 38.01M 12.1MB/s in 3.1s

2023-06-08 19:58:19 (12.1 MB/s) - ‘chr-7.9.2.img.zip’ saved [39855968/39855968]

or curl:

root@pve01:/var/lib/vz/template/iso# curl https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/7.9.2/chr-7.9.2.img.zip --output chr-7.9.2.img.zip
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 38.0M 100 38.0M 0 0 13.9M 0 0:00:02 0:00:02 --:--:-- 13.9M

Unzip the Image:

root@pve01:/var/lib/vz/template# unzip chr-7.9.2.img.zip
Archive: chr-7.9.2.img.zip
inflating: chr-7.9.2.img

Create a new VM: (via GUI or Command Line)
e.g. 2 CPUs, 1024 Megabytes of RAM and 1 NIC (VirtIO) – We don’t need any disks!

My VM Config looks like this:

root@pve01:/var/lib/vz/template/iso# cat /etc/pve/qemu-server/106.conf
boot: order=ide2;net0
cores: 2
ide2: none,media=cdrom
memory: 1024
meta: creation-qemu=7.2.0,ctime=1686248229
name: chr
net0: virtio=CA:A3:47:54:EA:3D,bridge=vmbr0
numa: 0
ostype: l26
scsihw: virtio-scsi-single
smbios1: uuid=ab5f28fc-8d10-4d99-a165-1efd50f9e82b
sockets: 1
vmgenid: c0190061-d54d-4364-99ff-c393d1b45008

After that we have to import our MikroTik CHR Disk:
Caution: 106 is the ID of MY VM – Your ID can be different. Please check!

qm disk import 106 chr-7.9.2.img local-zfs

chr-7.9.2.img = name of the file, which we want to import
local-zfs = name of my datastore – the name of your datastore may differ.

root@pve01:/var/lib/vz/template/iso# qm disk import 106 chr-7.9.2.img local-zfs
importing disk 'chr-7.9.2.img' to VM 106 ...
transferred 0.0 B of 128.0 MiB (0.00%)
transferred 6.7 MiB of 128.0 MiB (5.21%)
transferred 13.0 MiB of 128.0 MiB (10.12%)
transferred 19.2 MiB of 128.0 MiB (15.03%)
transferred 25.5 MiB of 128.0 MiB (19.94%)
transferred 31.8 MiB of 128.0 MiB (24.85%)
transferred 38.1 MiB of 128.0 MiB (29.75%)
transferred 44.4 MiB of 128.0 MiB (34.66%)
transferred 50.6 MiB of 128.0 MiB (39.57%)
transferred 56.9 MiB of 128.0 MiB (44.48%)
transferred 63.2 MiB of 128.0 MiB (49.39%)
transferred 66.4 MiB of 128.0 MiB (51.84%)
transferred 70.3 MiB of 128.0 MiB (54.91%)
transferred 77.4 MiB of 128.0 MiB (60.43%)
transferred 83.6 MiB of 128.0 MiB (65.34%)
transferred 89.5 MiB of 128.0 MiB (69.94%)
transferred 95.8 MiB of 128.0 MiB (74.85%)
transferred 102.1 MiB of 128.0 MiB (79.75%)
transferred 108.4 MiB of 128.0 MiB (84.66%)
transferred 114.6 MiB of 128.0 MiB (89.57%)
transferred 118.6 MiB of 128.0 MiB (92.64%)
transferred 124.9 MiB of 128.0 MiB (97.55%)
transferred 126.4 MiB of 128.0 MiB (98.77%)
transferred 128.0 MiB of 128.0 MiB (100.00%)
transferred 128.0 MiB of 128.0 MiB (100.00%)
Successfully imported disk as 'unused0:local-zfs:vm-106-disk-0'

 

You should now see a „Unused Disk 0“ under your VM:

Double Click on „Unused Disk 0“ – and press „Add“

Last but not least we have to edit our Boot Order.
Head over to „Options“ -> „Boot Order“ – click and hold on „scsi0“ and move it to the top. – After that mark the checkbox and click „ok“.

 

It’s now time to start our new Cloud Hosted Router. 😉
Click on „Start“ in the top right corner OR right-click on your VM and press „Start“.
Your VM is now starting – to monitor the boot process click on „Console“.
After a couple of seconds you will be greeted by a MikroTik Login Screen.

Type „admin“ – password is blank. (press enter):

Accept the software license with Y and press q to skip the software license text.
Enter a new password twice – voila.

Welcome to your Cloud Hosted Router – running on Proxmox. 😉