MikroTik RouterOS Prometheus Exporter (ros-exporter)

Warning

This exporter is under development, use with caution.

A Prometheus exporter for MikroTik RouterOS devices.

This exporter connects to MikroTik routers using the native API (via the go-routeros/routeros library) and exposes metrics for monitoring with Prometheus.

Features

• Collects metrics for:
  • System Resources (CPU, Memory, Storage, Uptime, Board Info) - Always Enabled
  • System Health (Current and power consumption, fan speed and temperature) - Always Enabledx
  • Interface Statistics (Traffic, Packets, Errors, Drops) - Always Enabled
    • PPP and PPPoE interfaces are automatically excluded from interface statistics
  • BGP Peer Status (State, Prefixes, Updates, Uptime) - Optional
  • Active PPP Users (Count, User Info, Uptime) - Optional
• Exposes metrics via HTTP on /metrics (default port 9483)
• Target router and optional metric collection are specified via scrape configuration in Prometheus (using URL parameters)
• Exporter health metrics (mikrotik_up, mikrotik_scrape_duration_seconds, mikrotik_last_scrape_error) - Always Enabled
• Configurable listen address, metrics path, and scrape timeout via command-line flags
• Graceful shutdown handling

Requirements

• Go 1.24+ required
• MikroTik RouterOS v6.48 or later (tested with both v6.x and v7.x API features)
• A dedicated read-only user on the MikroTik router for the exporter

RouterOS Version Compatibility

• RouterOS 7.x:

  • Uses the newer API path (/routing/bgp/peer/print) for BGP data collection
  • BGP peer uptime is available in the uptime field
  • Standard field names are used for BGP metrics and interface statistics

• RouterOS 6.x:

  • Uses the older API path (/ip/bgp/peer/print) for BGP data collection
  • In RouterOS 6.48, BGP peer uptime might be in the established-for field instead of uptime
  • Field names for BGP metrics and interface statistics might be different in RouterOS 6.48
  • The exporter tries multiple possible field names for each metric to find the correct one
  • Multiple fallback methods for interface statistics collection:
    • First tries /interface/monitor-traffic with all interfaces
    • If that fails, tries /interface/print stats
    • If that fails, tries /interface/ethernet/print stats
    • If that fails, tries to monitor each interface individually
  • Debug logging is available to identify which fields and methods are being used

The exporter automatically detects the RouterOS version and uses the appropriate API paths and field names for data collection. It also handles differences in field names and formats between RouterOS versions, making it compatible with both RouterOS 6.x and 7.x.

Getting Started

Building

go build -o ros-exporter ./cmd/ros-exporter

Running

./ros-exporter [flags]

Flags:

• -web.listen-address: Address to listen on (default: :9483).
• -web.telemetry-path: Path for metrics endpoint (default: /metrics).
• -scrape.timeout: Timeout for scraping a target router (default: 10s).

Testing

To test base system go the exporter URL and add example target http://<exporter-address>:9483/metrics?target=<router-address>.

To test optional feature, add the parameter feature=true to URL parameter. In example of collect_wireless: http://<exporter-address>:9483/metrics?target=<router-address>&collect_wireless=true

MikroTik Configuration

Create a read-only user group and user on your MikroTik router:

/user group add name=prometheus policy=read,api
/user add name=prometheus group=prometheus password=YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD address=EXPORTER_IP_ADDRESS

Additionally there might be also a need to update ip services to allow access to API from EXPORTER_IP_ADDRESS. Print current API service configuration and change it accordingly.

/ip services print

Important

Replace YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD with a secure password and EXPORTER_IP_ADDRESS with the IP address of the exporter itself.

Prometheus Configuration

Add the following job to your prometheus.yml:

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'mikrotik'
    scrape_interval: 1m
    scrape_timeout: 50s # Should be slightly less than scrape_interval and greater than exporter's scrape.timeout
    metrics_path: /metrics # Or your custom path if using -web.telemetry-path
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['192.168.88.1'] # Replace with your router IPs/hostnames

    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__address__]
        target_label: __param_target
      - source_labels: [__param_target]
        target_label: instance
      - target_label: __address__
        replacement: localhost:9483 # Address of the ros-exporter itself

      # Pass credentials via parameters. User defaults to 'prometheus' if omitted.
      # Consider using Prometheus agent secrets management for production.
      # - target_label: __param_user
      #   replacement: your_custom_user # Uncomment and set if not using default 'prometheus'
      - target_label: __param_password
        replacement: YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD # Replace with the password set on the router

      # Optionally specify the API port (defaults to 8728 if omitted)
      # - target_label: __param_port
      #   replacement: 8729 # Example: Use non-standard port

      # Optionally enable BGP and/or PPP metrics per target
      # Add these blocks if you want to enable them for this job. Default is false.
      # - target_label: __param_collect_bgp
      #   replacement: true
      # - target_label: __param_collect_ppp
      #   replacement: true

Explanation:

1. targets: List your MikroTik router IPs/hostnames here.
2. relabel_configs:
   • The first two rules take the router address from targets and set it as the target URL parameter (__param_target) for the exporter and also as the instance label in Prometheus.
   • The third rule rewrites the scrape address (__address__) to point to where your ros-exporter is running (e.g., localhost:9483).
   • The __param_user rule adds the username. If omitted, the exporter defaults to prometheus.
   • The __param_password rule adds the password. Warning: Storing passwords directly in prometheus.yml is insecure. Use appropriate secret management in production.
   • The optional __param_port rule allows specifying a non-default API port (default is 8728).
   • The optional __param_collect_bgp and __param_collect_ppp rules enable collection of BGP and PPP metrics respectively (default is false).

Alternatively, using the params block (Prometheus v2.28+):

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'mikrotik-params'
    scrape_interval: 1m
    scrape_timeout: 50s
    metrics_path: /metrics # Or your custom path
    params:
      # user: ['your_custom_user'] # Optional: Defaults to 'prometheus' if omitted
      password: ['YOUR_STRONG_PASSWORD'] # Required
      # port: ['8729'] # Optional: Defaults to 8728 if omitted
      collect_bgp: ['true'] # Optional: Enable BGP collection
      collect_ppp: ['true'] # Optional: Enable PPP collection
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['192.168.88.1', '10.0.0.1'] # Router IPs/hostnames

    relabel_configs:
      - source_labels: [__address__]
        target_label: __param_target # Set target parameter from address
      - source_labels: [__param_target]
        target_label: instance # Set instance label from target parameter
      - target_label: __address__
        replacement: localhost:9483 # Address of the ros-exporter

Metrics Exposed

Note

WIP

List the key metrics exposed:

• mikrotik_up
• mikrotik_scrape_duration_seconds
• mikrotik_last_scrape_error
• System metrics (e.g., mikrotik_system_cpu_load_percent, mikrotik_system_memory_usage_bytes)
• Interface metrics (e.g., mikrotik_interface_receive_bytes_total)
• BGP metrics (e.g., mikrotik_bgp_peer_state)
• PPP metrics (e.g., mikrotik_ppp_active_users_count)

Additional resources

• Grafana Dashboard
• SystemD Service

TODO

Daemon experience

• Implement configuration via YAML/env vars
• Add better connection handling/pooling

Project / developer experience

• Debug mode
• Add unit/integration tests
• Add developer example how to implement metrics collection

Collectors

• feature: transceivers signal and temperature
• feature: OSPF
• feature: wireless interfaces client count, tx and rx rate, ccq, noice floor and frequency
• fix: add Interface speed to mikrotik_interface_
• fix: add hostname as name to mikrotik_system_info labels

License

MIT License