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HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

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Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#31

Post by ZPrimed »

bombcar wrote: post #21
bdavbdav wrote: post #15

Frustratingly I couldn’t find a Mikrotik that would offer me a few SFPs, and a 2.5 or two. I wanted ideally just 3 SFPs - two WAN for LB / Failover and one up to switch. 2.5g WAN would do but would rather SFP for future use. UDM-SE it is for now.

What exactly did you need and how did https://mikrotik.com/product/crs305_1g_4s_in not do it? It says switch but it runs routerOS and can route at some speed - not 10G tho.

crs305 will choke when you start asking it to do NAT. it's a switch. It should be able to hardware-route between VLANs but it's not made for "home router" duties.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#32

Post by luizfelberti »

I love MikroTik, but ffs just let me install something else on it. SONiC or any other Linux would be awesome. I love their hardware, but their software is absolutely awful.

Is there any manufacturer out there who produces high quality hardware that is not locked down?

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#33

Post by cassianoleal »

luizfelberti wrote: post #32

I love MikroTik, but ffs just let me install something else on it. SONiC or any other Linux would be awesome. I love their hardware, but their software is absolutely awful. Is there any manufacturer out there who produces high quality hardware that is not locked down?

The opnSense Deciso boxes are very nice and open - if a bit on the expensive side.

https://shop.opnsense.com/product-categorie/hardware-applian...

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#34

Post by cassianoleal »

cyberax wrote: post #4

Mikrotik is really a sweet spot for routers. It's feature-rich and it has a nice Web UI (or WinBox that is now cross-platform). And Mikrotik as a company is just amazing; they still support hardware that is almost 15 years old. Other routers: 1. OpenWRT is a bit too basic, and updates are hit-and-miss. 2. Ubiquity is a bit too Apple-like, with its reliance on apps and integration. 3. Cisco is WAY too expensive, and t…

In which way is OpenWRT basic?

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#38

Post by za_creature »

socalgal2 wrote: post #20
SlavikCA wrote: post #16

About 2 years ago I tried to use Mikrotik, as the router for my ATT Fiber. It's royal pain. Basic router setup is not hard. Port forward to expose web server? Can be done after heavy docs&forum reading, but hair pinning never worked for me. I checked their WiFi AP. It's UI is hard even for senior software engineer. In the end I got opnSense installed in VM on Proxmox and it's my router for last 2 years. I'm using 2 M…

Agreed. I tried Microtik. Seemed like it was written by DOS people from the 70s or 80s, made difficult on purpose. I ended up switching to back to Ubiquti.

They run linux and offer ssh but with a custom shell that mirrors the "web shell" in usefulness.

Ubiquiti sucks nowadays but Microtik is simply insane.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#39

Post by Hikikomori »

SlavikCA wrote: post #22
bombcar wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn’t terribly complicated for me but I seem to be built for the old Cisco style iOS. But with an LLM it’s easier than falling off a log and the command line means it can do everything easily.

The router probably should work without relying on LLM: I remember I misconfigured it, and can't really Google around or ask LLM to fix it, because my Internet is down now. Of course I can use Internet on my phone, but it's not really convenient setup to ask LLM to troubleshoot the router.

Their products aren't really for consumers, maybe prosumers, but mainly smaller companies or ISPs that don't want to pay for Cisco.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#40

Post by BLKNSLVR »

rafal_opilowski wrote: post #36
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #23

I can't read the nearly-white (or super-thin font) text on the white background. Is that representative of using mikrotik hardware?

Apologies, fix should be live now

Wow, wasn't really expecting a response, but got a quick response along with a fix. Thank you, excellent support!

Nice detailed write-up too, and great explanatory diagrams.

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