I posted a feature request on the Mikrotik forums to validate the remove button after I managed to delete my network.

And I learned there was already a way to save me from my own stupidity: safe mode.

Safe Mode is a feature of WinBox, Webmin, TikApp and the Mikrotik console.

It provides an undo stack of changes you’ve made on your router. And if your changes involve… errr… nuking your router from orbit, they’ll automatically roll back after 9 minutes. Or, you exit without confirming your changes, you are given the option to undo them Or, you can hit the undo button to undo something bad.

To be clear, this isn’t queuing up changes ready to be applied; all your changes are made as normal. All it does is allow you to hit CTRL+Z if you mucked something up really badly. (Impressively, “something” also includes “removing all router connectivity”).

When you’re all done making changes, click Safe Mode again so they won’t be done when you exit.The manual says the router will only store the last 100 actions. I’m not exactly sure what one action may encompass (my guess is each action is one console command), but you could configure quite a bit in 100 actions. Also, this should encourage you to make small changes and then test they are working.The 9 minute timeout relates to TCP timeouts (apparently). That is, you need to confirm your changes for them to take effect. If you don’t, it takes the router 9 minutes to notice your connection wasn’t closed cleanly and roll the changes you made back.