How WISPMap works
A collector inside your network reads your devices and sends the results to WISPMap, which works out what's wrong and tells you.
Updated 10 November 2026
WISPMap has two parts: a small collector that runs inside your network, and the WISPMap service that you use in your browser.
The collector
The collector is a Docker container that runs on any small Linux machine inside your network: a Raspberry Pi, a VM or a spare PC. It's open source, so you can read exactly what it does.
Every few seconds it:
- pings every device you've added (every 30 seconds by default);
- reads your MikroTik routers over the RouterOS API with a read-only user: interfaces and traffic, OSPF and BGP, power and temperature, PoE, wireless clients and subscriber counts (every 60 seconds);
- reads other makes over SNMP: Ubiquiti and Cambium radios, UPSs, and any switch or router with SNMP;
- sends the results to WISPMap over HTTPS (every 10 seconds).
The router password and SNMP credentials stay in a settings file on that machine. They are never sent to WISPMap. Nothing connects into your network: the collector only makes outgoing HTTPS connections.
The WISPMap service
WISPMap keeps the history and works out what the readings mean:
- Status: every device is up, degraded (losing packets or slow), down or unknown.
- Root cause: WISPMap knows which sites sit behind which links. When a backhaul fails, you get one incident that names it and counts the sites cut off, not an alert for every router behind it.
- Rules: power cuts, backup links in use, weaker wireless signal, BGP sessions down and more. See every alert rule.
- Alerts: by email, to the right people, with reminders until someone acknowledges.
What you need
- A WISPMap account (join the beta, free).
- A Linux machine with Docker inside your network that can reach your routers.
- A read-only user on your MikroTik routers, and SNMP turned on for other makes.
Your first 15 minutes walks you through it.