LLM 与 MikroTik 的网络连接

我一直在避免说“vibe networking”或者“vibkrotik”之类的奇怪词，但事实是——这几个月来，我确实一直在使用大型语言模型来搭建一些网络，而且整体进展非常顺利。

我一直是MikroTik：https://mikrotik.com/ 设备的粉丝——简而言之，这些设备可靠、价格便宜，而且能覆盖大量网络使用场景——物联网手机路由器、普通路由器、交换机、点对点系统等。

关于MikroTik的一个常见抱怨是其复杂的用户界面/配置。在某种意义上，我不确定这是否属实，因为网络本身就很复杂——也就是说，它比人们想的要深入。也许应该做一个冰山图格式的梗：https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/iceberg-charts 来说明这个问题。在顶部你会看到“IP地址”，深入下去你会看到“the dude：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWt6eL6Hj7M”以及其他你从未听说过的协议。MPLS！IGP！OSPF！

我想表达的重点是，是的，网络确实可能很难。我已经半职业地、业余地做网络一段时间了——为朋友和朋友的办公室搭建网络、制作网线、布置小型配线架等。我几乎肯定无法通过官方的“认证路由工程师”考试——好吧，不努力学习的话（相信自己）。

不过，你知道吗，这并没有阻止我（而我想也不应该阻止吧？）去享受乐趣和修复人们的WiFi（大多数人的WiFi问题可以归类为……哦，天哪——我应该为此再发一篇帖子。绝不要使用WiFi扩展器。）

那么大型语言模型在这里扮演什么角色？嗯，就像在其他地方（编程等）一样，它们是一种混沌的倍增器——它们确实知道如何配置MikroTik和一般网络，但它们也仍然会出错、走偏路等等。就像编程一样，你可以/应该保持严格控制、不完全信任并进行验证：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify，但你也可以更快地取得进展（记得2025年的研究说过大型语言模型的加速效果并不真实——嗯……：https://metr.org/blog/2026-02-24-uplift-update/#wider-adoption-of-ai-has-made-it-more-difficult-to-measure-task-level-productivity））。

所以在过去的几个月里，我能够搭建一些网络——当然是很小的网络——并且在给Claude代码访问我的设备并让它自行操作时玩得很开心。（正如我在这里讨论的：https://agentsandengineers.com/episodes/0001-vibe-coding-in-the-physical-world-robotics-circuits-and-dangerous-permissions/，是的，我的意思是冒险跳过权限）。

我整理了一份简短的关于这个话题的有用笔记列表——在一例中，我正在迁移一个现有网络（一个非常小的单路由器集成Wi-Fi网络到一个带两个无线接入点的路由器交换机），而在另外两例中，网络是全新的。

无论如何，这里是我整理的LLM MikroTik技巧和窍门列表：

我曾处于一些情况（或者也许是LLM把我引导到了这条路上……），IP地址冲突，你有多个重叠的192.168.88.x网络，通常一团糟，甚至很难连接到路由器或交换机，即使你通过以太网物理连接了这些设备（你应该总是这么做）

在我看来，最好的工具是L2“MAC Telnet：https://manual.mikrotik.com/docs/management-tools/mac-server”，也就是一个允许你通过L2（MAC地址）层进行Telnet的服务器。它某种程度上相当于使用WinBox：https://mikrotik.com/download/winbox（令我惊讶的是，它现在是跨平台的，而且在Mac上运行得相当好）——只是拥有一个L2层的Telnet客户端可以让你的LLM与MikroTik设备通信。WinBox是GUI软件，LLM无法控制。

为此，我强烈推荐MAC-Telnet：https://github.com/haakonnessjoen/MAC-Telnet——它会在最糟糕的时刻派上用场，即IP地址无法使用时！我/Claude 刚刚构建了一个小型的 Homebrew 公式：https://github.com/gregsadetsky/homebrew-mactelnet/ 来简化其安装，但你也可以按照原始安装说明操作——代码是相同的。我还制作了这个小型CLI：https://gist.github.com/gregsadetsky/eab0be331cb99342dd4be6bab7353f13，仅仅是为了让MAC-Telnet对LLM更友好地使用，但一般来说，LLM会自己弄明白如何使用CLI工具。你不需要MCP服务器。

玩得开心——如果你认为我完全错了，随时告诉我（以前发生过）。再见！！xx

I’ve been refraining from saying ‘vibe networking’ or ‘vibkrotik’ or some other abomination, but it is true - I have been using LLMs to setup a few networks these last few months, and things have generally gone over swimmingly.

I’ve been a fan of MikroTik：https://mikrotik.com/ equipment for a while - the short story is that the equipment is reliable, inexpensive, and they cover a ton of networking use cases - IoT cell phone routers, regular routers, switches, point to point systems, etc.

One of the usual complaints about MikroTik has been its complex ui/configuration. In a sense, I don’t know if that’s true inasmuch as networking is complicated in itself - as in, it goes deeper than one thinks? Maybe there should be a iceberg-format meme：https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/iceberg-charts about this. At the top you’d have “ip address”, and going deeper you’d see “the dude：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWt6eL6Hj7M” and other you’ve-never-heard-of-them’s. mpls! igs! ospf!

The point I’m trying to make is yeah, networking can just be hard. I’ve been half-networking, amateur-ishly, for a while now - setting up networks for friends and friends’ offices, making cables, patching small panels etc. I almost certainly couldn’t pass an official “Certified Routing Engineer” cert - well, not without studying a lot (believe in yourself).

But you know, it hasn’t stopped me (and I suppose it shouldn’t?) from having fun and fixing people’s wifi (most people’s wifi problems can be categorized into… oh brother - I should make another post about this. Never use extenders.)

Where do LLMs fit in? Well, as elsewhere (in coding, etc.) they are a chaotic force multiplier - they definitely know how to configure MikroTiks and networking in general, but they also still get things wrong, go off-path, etc. As with coding, you can/should keep a tight leash, mis-trust and verify：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust,_but_verify, but you can also make more progress faster ((remember the 2025 study that said that LLM speedups were not real - well…：https://metr.org/blog/2026-02-24-uplift-update/#wider-adoption-of-ai-has-made-it-more-difficult-to-measure-task-level-productivity)).

And so these last few months I’ve been able to setup networks - small, for sure - and had a lot of fun giving claude code access to my devices and letting it do its thing. (As I discussed here：https://agentsandengineers.com/episodes/0001-vibe-coding-in-the-physical-world-robotics-circuits-and-dangerous-permissions/, yes, I do mean dangerously-skip’ing-permissions).

I’ve compiled a short list of hopefully useful notes on this topic - in one case, I was migrating an existing network (a very small single-router-with-integrated-wifi to a router+switch+two wireless access points), while in two other cases the networks were net new.

In any case, here’s my list of LLM MikroTik tips and tricks:

I’ve been in situations (or maybe the LLM led me down this path..) where IP addresses are conflicting, you have multiple overlapping 192.168.88.x networks, and it’s generally a mess and hard to even connect to the router or switch, even if you’re physically connected to those devices over ethernet (which you should always be)

The best tool for this in my opinion is the L2 “MAC Telnet：https://manual.mikrotik.com/docs/management-tools/mac-server” ie a server that lets you telnet over the L2 (MAC-address) layer. It’s sort of the equivalent of using WinBox：https://mikrotik.com/download/winbox (which to my surprise is now cross-platform, and works quite well on Macs) - except that having an L2-layer telnet client allows your LLM to talk to your MikroTik devices. WinBox is a GUI software that LLMs can’t control.

For this, I deeply recommend MAC-Telnet：https://github.com/haakonnessjoen/MAC-Telnet - it will come in handy at the worst time ie when IP addresses don’t work! I/Claude just built a tiny Homebrew formula：https://github.com/gregsadetsky/homebrew-mactelnet/ to make its installation easier, but you can also follow the original installation instructions - it’s the same code. I also made this small CLI：https://gist.github.com/gregsadetsky/eab0be331cb99342dd4be6bab7353f13 just to make MAC-Telnet a bit more LLM-friendly to consume/use, but generally speaking, LLMs will figure out how to use a CLI tool by themselves. You don’t need an MCP server.

Have fun - and feel free to tell me I have it all wrong (it’s happened before). Bye!! xx