how to install the mikrotik cloud hosted router version 6.44.6 on oracle virtual box 6.1

The Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) Is A RouterOS Distribution Intended To Be Used In A Virtual Environment. The Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router Can Be Installed On Vmware, Oracle, Hyperv And Kvm Hypervisors. Mikrotik CHR Ships Will All Traditional Routeros Features Except The Licensing Model Used. This Tutorial Aims To Provide A Guide On How To Install The Mikrotik CHR 6.44.6 On Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1.

REQUIREMENTS

In order to complete this tutorial successfully the following items are required. Please ensure to have these items available before taking implimentation action on this tutorial :
1) 1 x Laptop or Desktop computer with 64 bit Windows, MacOS or Linux installed and virtualization support.
2) 1 x Oracle VM Virtual Box 6.1 (Ensure that HYPER-V is not enabled if using Windows).
3) 1 x Internet connection.
4) 1 x Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router Image and the mikrotik WINBOX app

OVERVIEW

1) MIKROTIK CHR LICENSING INFORMATION
2) Download the MIKROTK CHR virtual disk image file (VDI) from the mikrotik website
3) Open virtualbox and create a new LINUX virtual machine
4) Whilst creating the LINUX virtual machine, attach the MIKROTIK virtual disk image to the VM
5) Once the virtual machine creation process is complete, start the VM and complete the post installation setup using WINBOX

MIKROTIK CHR LICENSING INFORMATION

The Mikrotik Cloud Hosted Router has a different licensing model from the licensing model used on conventional mikrotik routers. There are 3 licensing tiers i.e Perpetual1 (P1), Perpetual 10 (P10) and Perpetual Unlimited (P-Unlimited). The perpetual licenses mean that you only have to buy once and use forever. A perpetual license can also be transfered to different/new CHR installation and a 60-day free trial license is available for all paid CHR license levels. Click HERE to learn more about how you can purchase a license.

Step 1 : Download The Mikrotik CHR Image

1) Click HERE to go to the official mikrotik website to download the Mikrotik CHR image file. On the download page click on the save link on the VDI image row. You can choose between the long term, stable or beta testing Mikrotik CHR image options.

Step 2 : Install The Mikrotik CHR On Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1

1) Launch the VirtualBox 6.1 application and click on the “NEW” button to create a new virtual machine.

2) On the “CREATE VIRTUAL MACHINE” dialog box, add a descriptive name in the “NAME” input box. Select a location to save virtual machine files in the “MACHINE FOLDER” input box. Select “LINUX” on the “TYPE” dropdown menu and select “OTHER LINUX 64 BIT” on the “VERSION” drop down menu.

3) Next allocate memory to your virtual machine by using the memory slider, you can type in the exact amount of memory you would want to allocate to the Mikrotik RouterOS virtual machine on the input box next to the slider. Mikrotik recommends 32MB as the minimum amount of memory for RouterOS CHR. Click on the “NEXT” button.

4) On the Hard Disk configuration page, select the “USE AN EXISTING VIRTUAL HARD DISK FILE” radio button and browse to the location where RouterOS CHR virtual disk image is saved on your computer. Finally click on the create button to complete the Mikrotik RouterOS CHR virtual machine creation process.

5) The next step is to configure the network adapters for the RouterOS CHR virtual machine. In the VirtualBox Manager click on the “SETTINGS” gear icon for the RouterOS CHR virtual machine and select the “NETWORK” option. On this page enable or disable network adapters and also define where each virtual network adapter will be attached to.

On this tutorial Adapter 1 and 2 are enabled. Adapter 1 is bridged to the physical network interface card on the host computer. Adapter 2 is attached to the virtualbox host only adapter.

6) Click on the “START” button if the VM configuration is correct and the host computer have virtualization technology enabled, the virtual machine will boot up using the attached Mikrotik CHR virtual disk and display a login prompt as shown in the image.

7) The default username for Mikrotik RouterOS is admin and the password is blank. To view current IP Address settings on the Mikrotik CHR vm login using above mentioned credentials. Type the command “ip address print” to view the IP address details and type “ip interface print” to view all available network interfaces on the Mikrotik CHR VM.

8) The RouterOS CHR VM can also be accessed using the WINBOX configuration utility. This is a handy utility for those who prefer to use a graphic user interface that the command line.