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HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

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Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#71

Post by int0x29 »

parl_match wrote: post #41
stroebs wrote: post #28

I've been a MikroTik fan since the beginning of my career some 15 years ago now. I have used the MikroTik router and Ubiquiti AP combination ever since. With that said, I can absolutely agree that their UX is terrible for anyone who doesn't specifically know how to configure a MikroTik router. The fact that you have to configure FQ-CoDel yourself and some bufferbloat protection isn't just a built-in option is absurd…

They have an increasingly capable "simple" UI for casual users. It seems like improving it is on their roadmap, as they've been delivering vast improvements in functionality with each major release. Also, shipping winbox on all platforms has been a huge QoL improvement

Not sure how I missed the Linux binary. I can stop booting into Windows for it

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#72

Post by BenjiWiebe »

hack1312 wrote: post #62
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.

Looks like OpenWrt supports that model, so going that route would be an option of not having locked down software.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#73

Post by j45 »

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.

True, what MicroTik seems to offer is capability many orders of magnitude under the cost of comparable options.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#74

Post by BenjiWiebe »

cyberax wrote: post #67
cassianoleal wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which way is OpenWRT basic?

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

You can actually ditch the GUI and go to the command line with OpenWrt and do custom/weird/power-user stuff to your heart's content.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#75

Post by graton »

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.

Related they let you download the entire documentation in an LLM friendly format.

https://manual.mikrotik.com/llms-full.txt

Their front page documentation specifically mentions it: https://manual.mikrotik.com/docs/introduction#machine-readab...

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#76

Post by graton »

donmcronald wrote: post #69
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.

I think they are saying if you use VyOs on Proxmox it gives you something equivalent to JunOs. I have no idea if that is true or not though.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#77

Post by davkan »

int0x29 wrote: post #71
parl_match wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have an increasingly capable "simple" UI for casual users. It seems like improving it is on their roadmap, as they've been delivering vast improvements in functionality with each major release. Also, shipping winbox on all platforms has been a huge QoL improvement

Not sure how I missed the Linux binary. I can stop booting into Windows for it

It always worked fine with wine for me.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#78

Post by mmis1000 »

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.

Plus the routeros supports exporting all settings directly as text file. so you can really export the whole system, send it to llm and ask it to edit. install the new rule.

in worst case you just install the old rule back if it fuck up, no really damage can happen.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#79

Post by protocolture »

walrus01 wrote: post #70
protocolture wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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"

Amazing.

Re: HomeLab #1: MikroTik as a Home Router

#80

Post by davkan »

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.

How are you managing updates?

I absolutely loved vyos but after their repeated hostility towards non paying users I moved to mikrotik for my routers (already had mikrotik switches).

First they stopped publishing LTS images, telling users to build from source. So people built gh repos you could clone and build with actions. Then they stopped making lts builds reproducible and told free users to use the preview release. But the preview release doesn’t get security updates. So if there’s a vulnerability you’re SOL until the next release which could be months. Not really tenable for an edge device for me and I’m not very interested in being a user of a product that does not want me.

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