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In Altostrat SDX, effective fleet management begins with understanding the fundamental relationship between a Site and a Device, and the asynchronous way they communicate.
  • A Site is a logical container within the SDX platform. It is the central record that holds all configuration, policies, logs, metadata, and backups for a specific location or router.
  • A Device is the physical MikroTik router that you onboard and associate with a Site.
All management actions, from applying policies to viewing logs, are performed at the Site level. This abstraction allows you to manage the role of a location, even if the underlying physical hardware changes.

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The Site Lifecycle

A Site progresses through several states, from its initial creation in the dashboard to its final deletion. Understanding this lifecycle is key to managing your fleet effectively.
  • Pending Onboarding: The Site has been created in SDX, but no physical device has been associated with it yet.
  • Online: The device is actively communicating with the SDX platform by sending regular heartbeats. Its has_pulse status is true.
  • Offline: The device has missed several consecutive heartbeat checks. SDX considers it unreachable, and its has_pulse status is false.
  • Deleting: An administrator has scheduled the site for deletion. A grace period begins, during which the device is sent commands to remove all Altostrat configuration and its bootstrap scheduler.
  • Orphaned: After deletion, the logical Site record is removed from SDX. The physical device stops communicating with the platform and has had all Altostrat configuration removed. It is now “orphaned” and can be factory reset or reconfigured as needed.

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How it Works: The Asynchronous Polling Model

Altostrat SDX does not maintain a persistent, open connection to your devices. Instead, each managed device periodically connects outbound to the SDX platform to send a heartbeat and ask, “Are there any jobs for me?” This is known as a polling model. This architecture is fundamental to the platform’s security and scalability:
  • Enhanced Security: You never need to open inbound firewall ports, drastically reducing your network’s attack surface.
  • NAT Traversal: Devices can be managed from anywhere, even behind complex carrier-grade NAT, as they only need standard outbound internet access.
  • Scalability: The platform doesn’t need to track thousands of open connections, making it highly scalable.
This means that when you schedule a job or make a configuration change, it is queued. The action will only be executed the next time the device checks in, which is typically within 30 seconds.

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How-To Guides

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How to Create a New Site

Every device must be associated with a site. The first step is to create this logical container.
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1. Navigate to the Sites Page

From the main menu in the SDX portal, click on Sites.
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2. Add a New Site

Click the + Add button. You will be prompted to give your new site a descriptive name (e.g., “Main Office - London”, “Retail Store #14”).
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3. Onboard a Device

After naming it, the site is created with a Pending Onboarding status. From here, follow the Quickstart Guide to generate a bootstrap command and associate a physical device with this site.

Full Onboarding Guide

For a complete, step-by-step walkthrough of the device onboarding process, please refer to our Quickstart Onboarding guide.

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How to Edit Site Details

You can change a site’s name, location, and other metadata at any time.
  1. Navigate to the Sites page and click on the site you wish to edit.
  2. In the site overview, find the settings or details section.
  3. Make your desired changes and click Save. Changes are applied immediately to the logical Site record in SDX.

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How to Delete a Site

Deleting a site is a multi-stage process that removes the logical container from Altostrat and decommissions the associated device.
When you delete a site, the associated MikroTik device will be orphaned. It will stop communicating with SDX, and its management tunnel will be torn down. SDX will automatically remove all Altostrat-applied configuration from the device during the deletion process. This action cannot be undone.
  1. Navigate to the site’s settings page and select the Delete option.
  2. Confirm the action. The site’s status will change to Deleting.
  3. SDX will queue final jobs for the device, instructing it to remove all Altostrat configuration and its management scheduler.
  4. After a grace period (approximately 10 minutes), all site assets—including logs, backups, and metrics—are permanently deleted, the device configuration is cleaned up, and the device becomes Orphaned.

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Best Practices

Use a Consistent Naming Scheme

Adopt a clear and predictable naming convention for your sites (e.g., [Region]-[City]-[Function]) to make your fleet easy to search and manage as it grows.

Leverage Policies for Consistency

Avoid making one-off configuration changes on individual devices. Instead, group sites with similar needs and apply shared Control Plane Policies for security and management.

Regularly Audit the Orchestration Log

The Orchestration Log is your complete audit trail for all asynchronous jobs. Periodically review it to verify that automated tasks are running correctly and to track any changes made by your team.