PPPoE Profile Management

PPPoE Profiles in NettPortal are MikroTik RouterOS PPPoE User Profiles that define connection settings for groups of PPPoE users—IP addresses, DNS servers, rate limits, timeouts, compression, encryption, and more. This guide covers everything you need to know about creating, managing, and configuring PPPoE profiles on your MikroTik routers. Even if you're not technical, we'll explain everything in simple terms.

🎯 What is a PPPoE Profile?

A PPPoE profile is a MikroTik RouterOS PPPoE User Profile that defines connection settings applied to PPPoE users who are assigned that profile. Profiles store router-level configuration like IP addresses (local and remote), DNS servers, rate limits for speed, session timeouts, idle timeouts, compression, encryption, and other RouterOS PPPoE settings. When you create a PPPoE customer and assign them a profile, the router applies all the profile's settings automatically. Profiles let you manage groups of users with the same settings efficiently.

Why Use PPPoE Profiles?

PPPoE profiles offer several advantages for managing your MikroTik routers:

⚡ Centralized Configuration

Manage settings in one place: Instead of configuring each PPPoE user individually, you define settings once in a profile and assign it to multiple users. When you need to change settings, update the profile once and all users using that profile are updated automatically.

Example: Create a "Premium" profile with 100 Mbps rate limit—assign it to all premium customers
Benefit: To change all premium customers to 150 Mbps, just update the profile once

🌐 Multi-Router Deployment

Apply to multiple routers: When creating a profile, you can select one or more routers to deploy it to. This ensures consistent configuration across all your routers. Users connecting to any router will get the same profile settings.

Example: Create a "Standard" profile and deploy it to Router 1, Router 2, and Router 3
Benefit: Standard customers get the same experience regardless of which router they connect to

👥 Group Management

Organize users by service tier: Create profiles for different service levels (Basic, Standard, Premium) and assign users accordingly. This makes it easy to manage different customer tiers and apply bulk changes.

Example: "Basic" profile for budget customers, "Premium" profile for high-paying customers
Benefit: Easy to identify which users belong to which service tier

🔄 Easy Updates

Update once, apply everywhere: When you edit a profile, you can update it on specific routers or all routers where it exists. Changes take effect immediately for all users using that profile.

Example: Update "Premium" profile rate limit from 100 Mbps to 150 Mbps on all routers
Benefit: All premium customers automatically get the new speed without individual updates

Creating a PPPoE Profile

Creating a PPPoE profile is straightforward. Navigate to the PPPoE Profiles page and click Add PPPoE Profile. Here's what you need to configure:

📝 Basic Information

Profile Name *: A unique name for your profile (e.g., "default", "premium", "basic"). This name will appear on your MikroTik routers and cannot be changed after creation.
Select Routers *: Choose one or more routers where this profile will be created. You can deploy the same profile to multiple routers for consistency.
Comment: Optional description explaining what this profile is for (e.g., "Premium customers with high-speed access")

💡 Tip: Use clear, descriptive names like "Premium", "Standard", "Basic" instead of generic names like "Profile 1" or "Test".

⚡ What Happens Automatically

When you create a PPPoE profile, NettPortal automatically creates the PPPoE User Profile on all selected MikroTik routers with your configured settings. The profile is immediately available for assignment to PPPoE customers. You don't need to manually configure anything on the router.

Profile Settings Explained

PPPoE profiles support various MikroTik RouterOS settings. All fields are optional—you can create a basic profile with just a name, or configure advanced settings for fine-grained control:

🌐 IP Configuration

Local Address: Router's IP address for PPPoE connections (e.g., "192.168.91.1"). This is the IP address that will be assigned to the router side of the PPPoE connection.
Remote Address: IP pool name or IP range for client IPs (e.g., "PPPoE-pool" or "192.168.91.2-192.168.91.254"). Clients connecting with this profile will get IP addresses from this pool. You can use a pool name (must exist on router) or specify a range.
DNS Server: DNS servers for clients (e.g., "8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4"). These DNS servers will be provided to clients when they connect. Use comma-separated IP addresses.

Note: If you leave remote address empty, clients will get IPs from the default pool configured on the router. DNS servers are optional but recommended for proper internet functionality.

🚀 Rate Limit

Speed limits for download and upload: Controls how fast users can download and upload data. The format uses a slash to separate download and upload speeds, like "10M/5M" which means 10 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.

Example: "100M/50M" = 100 Mbps download, 50 Mbps upload
Example: "5M/2M" = 5 Mbps download, 2 Mbps upload
Leave empty: For unlimited speed (no rate limiting)

⏱️ Timeouts

Idle Timeout: Automatically disconnects users if they're not using the internet for a specified duration (e.g., "5m" = 5 minutes, "1h" = 1 hour). Leave empty to disable idle timeout.
Keepalive Timeout: Keepalive timeout for connections (e.g., "10s" = 10 seconds, "30s" = 30 seconds). This keeps the connection alive by sending periodic keepalive packets. Leave empty for default.

🔒 Advanced Settings

Use Compression: Enable data compression (MPPC). Reduces bandwidth usage by compressing data. Useful for slow connections.
Use Encryption: Enable data encryption (MPPE). Encrypts data for security. Recommended for sensitive data.
Only One Session: Allow only one active session per host. Prevents multiple simultaneous connections from the same host.
Change TCP MSS: Change TCP Maximum Segment Size (recommended: enabled). Helps with packet fragmentation issues.
Use UPnP: Enable Universal Plug and Play. Allows automatic port forwarding.
Address List: Firewall address list name. Users with this profile are automatically added to this address list for firewall rules.
Use MPLS: Enable MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) for advanced routing.
Use IPv6: Enable IPv6 support for dual-stack networks.

💡 Tip: Most users only need basic settings (name, IP configuration, rate limit). Advanced settings are for specific use cases or fine-grained control.

📜 Connection Scripts (Optional)

On Up Script: RouterOS script to execute when connection is established. Useful for custom routing, logging, or configuration.
On Down Script: RouterOS script to execute when connection is terminated. Useful for cleanup, logging, or notifications.

Note: Scripts are optional and require RouterOS scripting knowledge. Most users don't need these.

Managing PPPoE Profiles

Once you've created profiles, you can view, edit, and manage them from the PPPoE Profiles page:

🔍 Viewing Profiles

The PPPoE Profiles page shows all profiles across all your routers:

Profile Name: The name of the profile
Routers: Which routers have this profile (shown as badges)
Local/Remote Address: IP configuration summary
Rate Limit: Speed limits (download/upload)
Actions: Edit or delete the profile

✏️ Editing Profiles

Click the Edit button on any profile to modify its settings. When editing:

Profile Name: Cannot be changed (read-only)—this is the identifier on the router
Select Routers: Choose which routers to update—you can update the profile on specific routers or all routers where it exists
Settings: Update any profile settings (IP configuration, rate limit, timeouts, advanced settings, etc.)
Results: After saving, you'll see success/failure results for each router

⚠️ Note: Changes to profiles take effect immediately for all users using that profile. Users may need to reconnect for some settings to apply.

🗑️ Deleting Profiles

Click the Delete button on any profile to remove it from routers. When deleting:

Select Routers: Choose which routers to delete the profile from—you can delete from specific routers or all routers where it exists
Warning: All users using this profile may lose connectivity
Results: After deletion, you'll see success/failure results for each router

⚠️ Warning: Deleting a profile removes it from the router permanently. Users currently using this profile will need to be assigned a different profile before they can connect again. Consider editing the profile instead of deleting if users are still using it.

Using Profiles with PPPoE Customers

Profiles are assigned to PPPoE customers when you create them. The profile's settings are automatically applied to the user on the router: