MikroTik Solutions

The Dockerfile builds a single static binary that does nothing but print its arguments (by default, “Hello, world!”) separated by a single space on stdout and exit, like a stripped-down version of POSIX’s /bin/echo. Its tiny size (~8 kB uncompressed) makes it ideal for testing that RouterOS’s container feature is working. As such, this container is built for all four platforms that ROS’s /container feature runs on.

See the Makefile for details on building, configuring, and running this container.

Simple Method

Start by installing the container package per MikroTik’s docs. Networking details don’t matter for this container, as it merely emits a message on stdout, but that does mean you have to have your logging set up properly. The shortest path is:

$ ssh myrouter
> /system logging
add topics=container
> /container
  add remote-image=tangentsoft/echo:latest \
  interface=veth1 \
  logging=yes
> start 0

Remote Tarball Method

If you need to install the container via an image tarball, the simplest way to fetch it is:

$ docker pull --platform linux/arm/v7 tangentsoft/echo:latest
$ docker image save tangentsoft/echo:latest > echo.tar
$ scp echo.tar myrouter:

That assumes you’ve got a 32-bit ARM based router such as the RB4011 and it’s got SSH with keys set already. For 64-bit routers, change the --platform argument to linux/arm64.

Source Method

You can instead build the container from this source repo:

$ fossil clone https://tangentsoft.com/mikrotik
$ cd mikrotik/echo
$ make echo-latest-arm.tar
$ scp echo-latest-arm.tar myrouter:

The tarball name will vary depending on the CPU type you need. Check your build directory. You can avoid giving the tarball name to “make”, but since that will build all four platform tarballs, this method saves you some time.

We’re using the skopeo tool from the Podman project to fix up some formatting issues in the image tarball which RouterOS is currently interolerant of, at least as of ROS 7.9rc2.