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HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

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Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#61

Post by bakies »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #56
denkmoon wrote: post #52

Just use linux! Why use someone else's non FOSS, locked down linux, when you could truly own your router? It's a great educational experience I would recommend to anyone interested in networking. Grab debian, grab a system with 2 NICs, make it your router/firewall/gateway.

> Grab debian, grab a system with 2 NICs, make it your router/firewall/gateway. The problem with this (assuming you meant a generic (x86?) system) is that you won't get wire speed processing (no hardware offloading), so network performance will suffer. Unless you buy a dedicated router board (which is typically ARM), like say something like the Banana Pi BPI-R4. But installing/configuring a standard distro line Debia…

Is this a problem with home networks? I have pfsense installed on some mini PC I bought off Amazon.

Setting up Debian as a router might take some effort but it's certainly not difficult. Enabling routing is a single line config change, install dhcpd and you're almost there. I'd certainly recommend the router OS.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#62

Post by hack1312 »

denkmoon wrote: post #52

Just use linux! Why use someone else's non FOSS, locked down linux, when you could truly own your router? It's a great educational experience I would recommend to anyone interested in networking. Grab debian, grab a system with 2 NICs, make it your router/firewall/gateway.

Please link a SFF box or SoC with:

- 1x10GB SFP+

- 1x2.5GB Ethernet w/ PoE In

- 7x1GB Ethernet w/ PoE In/Out

- powered by DC jack, 2 pin, or PoE

- Similarly sized to 220 × 125 × 22 mm (approx 8.66 × 4.92 × 0.86 inches)

- Max power consumption 150W

- Silent

- ~$300

And I can replace my RB5009Upr+S+IN.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#63

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#64

Post by protocolture »

walrus01 wrote: post #50
protocolture wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CRS is the switch product line and you would not believe how many professional network engineers do exactly as you have suggested and installed a CRS and asked why it locks up when routing.

I really would question any "professional" network engineer that can't tell the difference between a switch and a router... https://mikrotik.com/product/crs305_1g_4s_in Each of the mikrotik switches even comes with a block diagram linked on its product page, showing for instance a single 1.3 Gbps between its L2 switch chip and its CPU. https://cdn.mikrotik.com/web-assets/product_files/CRS305-1G-...

>I really would question any "professional" network engineer that can't tell the difference between a switch and a router...

Oh the stories I could tell you.

I once had to work with a guy who didnt believe in dynamic routing.

Which wouldn't have been too bad but he also didnt believe in route summarisation or any kind of planning. So the network was carved up into random unpredictable blocks.

He sadly did very much believe in Mikrotik scripting, and so had scripts setup to disable/enable static routes based on very broad (often external) reachability criteria.

Whenever googles DNS had an issue the whole network would start flapping scripts like nobodies business.

The network was a large wisp with more than 600 pops and more than 10000 customers on its various services.

That engineer had been gainfully employed by multiple ISPs over 20 years.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#65

Post by hack1312 »

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…

Port forwarding is a simple dstnat rule and hairpinning is just a srcnat rule.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#66

Post by gregsadetsky »

zulux wrote: post #3

For me, the era of MikroTik is sort of... now. Don't get me wrong, they make powerful and feature-complete stuff, but their UI sort of assumes you really know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing. But my LLM does. I've been able to set up site-to-site VPNs with Mikrotik in fifteen minutes now, rather than the day-long exercise of googling and praying.

Shameless plug - a blog post re: LLMs and Mikrotiks from days ago! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48927915

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#67

Post by cyberax »

cassianoleal wrote: post #34
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?

For things like multiple DHCP/PD servers for multiple networks, subnetting (with dynamic prefixes), firewall rules, etc.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#68

Post by WaitWaitWha »

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…

Where would Netgate pfSense+ fit on that list?

I tried Mikrotik and the UI was wasting so much of my time, it was worth switching to Netgate, for me.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#69

Post by donmcronald »

redlewel wrote: post #14

I'm more than happy with VyOS. Throw that in proxmox and you have an open source JunOS with zero license headache. I do use Mikrotik for 2.5g switching though, zero complaints.

> zero license headache

Isn’t it a subscription? And super expensive? $3k/year/device was the cheapest thing I saw on their site or $12k/5 years. 25k/year for an MSP. On a 5 year cycle we’d need to manage thousands on devices to make it more attractive than pfsense (cost wise).

I really wanted to try it a few years ago but they seem like just another tech company that only wants millionaire customers.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#70

Post by walrus01 »

protocolture wrote: post #64
walrus01 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really would question any "professional" network engineer that can't tell the difference between a switch and a router... https://mikrotik.com/product/crs305_1g_4s_in Each of the mikrotik switches even comes with a block diagram linked on its product page, showing for instance a single 1.3 Gbps between its L2 switch chip and its CPU. https://cdn.mikrotik.com/web-assets/product_files/CRS305-1G-...

>I really would question any "professional" network engineer that can't tell the difference between a switch and a router... Oh the stories I could tell you. I once had to work with a guy who didnt believe in dynamic routing. Which wouldn't have been too bad but he also didnt believe in route summarisation or any kind of planning. So the network was carved up into random unpredictable blocks. He sadly did very much b…

I've had supposedly credible professional network engineers send me their PRIVATE ssh keys for access to something more than once. As a response to "please send me your ssh key for access to $THING"
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