L009 with Wi-Fi (L009UiGS-2HaxD-IN)

The L009UiGS-2HaxD-IN is the L009 variant with a radio in it. Eight gigabit ports, a 2.5 Gbit SFP cage, PoE-out on the last port and enough memory to do something serious with. It suits an office with half a dozen desks, a home network with a lot of fixed devices, or a second site where you want to get by with one box.

Worth knowing up front: this model has one radio, and it is on 2.4 GHz. Our catalogue records no 5 GHz radio for this device. If you want a complete Wi-Fi network, put access points behind it; see the section below.

The ports

• ether1 through ether7: seven gigabit ports. ether1 is the default WAN port, the rest go into the bridge.
• ether8: gigabit, with PoE-out. The only powering port, which makes it the obvious one for the access point you add.
• sfp1: a 2.5 Gbit SFP cage. Faster than the copper ports, for fibre or a fast hop to a switch.

Eight copper ports plus SFP is a lot for this size. In a small office it often means you do not need a separate switch: desks straight onto the router, an access point on ether8, and the SFP cage as a fast link to a NAS or a switch in the cabinet. See Bridge and ports and PoE-out.

The SFP cage is also a good candidate for a second WAN, because it is faster than the copper ports. See Multiple WAN connections.

The Wi-Fi, and which package

One radio, wifi1, on 2.4 GHz. The catalogue puts this model on the new Wi-Fi package of RouterOS v7. That is the other way round from the older hAP models, and it has visible consequences in the configurator:

• The script writes under /interface wifi, not under /interface wireless. The interface is therefore called wifi1, not wlan1.
• The 802.11r fast roaming and management frame protection (PMF) fields do appear, because they belong to the new package.
• The band steering field does not appear: it needs more than one radio, and there is only one here.
• Use this device as a CAP and the script writes /interface wifi cap. A controller that only manages the old package will not work with it. See CAPsMAN.

The wifi package has to be present on the device. If it is not installed, those lines do nothing. See RouterOS packages and Wi-Fi settings.

With one radio on 2.4 GHz the Wi-Fi here is mainly a bonus: fine for a printer, some IoT gear and a phone in the same room. If you want 5 GHz or coverage across a building, hang access points off the ports and let this router manage them with the Router + CAPsMAN role. See also Planning Wi-Fi.

What is inside

The catalogue records ARM 32bit, 512 MB of memory, the 88E6190 switch chip and RouterOS licence level 5. Level 5 is ample for everything the configurator writes. At 512 MB the small-board note never appears here.

For VLANs there is no hw_vlan: switch-menu on this model, so you do not get the note that bridge VLAN filtering turns hardware offload off. Bridge VLAN filtering is the ordinary route here, and with eight ports a setup with a guest VLAN, an IoT VLAN and a management VLAN is comfortable. See VLANs.

Which roles fit

• Office router with VLANs: this model's strongest side. Eight ports is enough for desks, a trunk and a WAN.
• Home router: fine, with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi thrown in.
• Router + CAPsMAN: routing and managing the Wi-Fi of separate access points. Note that those access points then have to run the new Wi-Fi package too.
• VPN gateway: WireGuard or IKEv2 as the endpoint for a second site. See Site-to-site tunnels.
• Access point, CAP, Wi-Fi repeater and Wireless CPE: available, but all on that single 2.4 GHz radio.

Only LTE / 5G router is greyed out, with the message that there is no LTE modem.

The quickest route to a working configuration

1. Pick One device and search for L009UiGS-2HaxD. The L009 without Wi-Fi is a different device.
2. Pick Office router with VLANs for an office, or Home router for one network.
3. Fill in your internet connection on ether1, optionally through a provider preset.
4. At the VLAN step: mark one VLAN as the management VLAN and watch which port becomes the trunk.
5. Set an admin password, reset the device and paste the script. See Using the script.

The whole route for an office is in Example: an office.

What trips people up

• Expecting 5 GHz. Our catalogue records one radio for this model, on 2.4 GHz. If you want 5 GHz, add an access point.
• Missing the wifi package. Without the wifi package on the device the /interface wifi lines do nothing. Check with /system package print.
• Pairing a CAP with a controller on the old package. Those two do not talk to each other. Use the same package on both ends.
• Mistaking the SFP cage for 10 Gbit. This one is 2.5 Gbit, and only with a module that can do it.
• The management VLAN untagged on a desk port. That puts your management network within reach of every chair. See VLAN checks.