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Comment by yabones | Hacker News Reader

That's been my experience as well. Fantastic hardware value, but not great software.

And not just "insecure" libraries etc, just... strange design decisions. For example, SwitchOS doesn't allow configuration of a default gateway on the management interface, instead it just returns the request on whatever interface/vlan it gets it from. It leads to some very very strange behaviour when setting up firewall rules...

It's a shame, because the hardware is absolutely brilliant. I just wish they would open enough of their bootloader/hardware platform to allow 3rd party firmware to run easily.

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I'm almost positive they rewrite everything possible, and this leads to some of these issues too.

You can't assume that all of the features from upstream are in whatever they put in RouterOS.

For example, OpenVPN UDP support was finally added to the stable stream this year after 10 years of asking about it.

Also, just the need to support two different OSes on the same hardware.

Network hardware should be rock solid appliances that live up to their specs on every front that I can just set and forget, and maybe occasionally need to do a security update. I shouldn't have to think of the pros and cons of one firmware choice over another, I don't have time for that crap.

Just make a fully-featured switch and fully-featured router and release them as such, instead of a crippled SwitchOS and crippled RouterOS, neither of which live up to the hardware's full potential.

What would a basic home Wi-Fi network with two access points, a router, and a switch look like? I attempted to figure this out since I wanted to set up a network with multiple VLANs to separate work machines, IOT devices, and trusted devices once I started working remote. I couldn't figure it out so just bought Ubiquity gear. They were the sweet spot for configurability with out spending weeks learning how to configure network equipment as far as I could tell.

I picked up a RB750 and a TP-Link AP several years back to enhance my networking knowledge. Took me several days of trial, error, and figuring out the right search terms to get a network like you described. I enjoyed the process but it's not for everyone.

But for about $130 the speed and stability blows away any equivalent-priced consumer technology with the added bonus of being much more configurable.

not allowing routing on the management interface is a big deal breaker for anyone trying to seperate their management networks from their revenue traffic.

This, including a couple of other issues, is keeping me from adapting mikrotik for anything more then a homelab.

How do you feel about OpenWRT on Mikrotik?

Not OP, but... using daily at home on a few hAP AC boxes.

I've been using it for about a year in a RBM11G for my home internet. it's been as stable as the Cradlepoint CBA750B it replaced. I reused the outdoor ABS box, still mounted on a 10ft steel pipe above my roof latitude 38 Eastern US, we get some pretty hot summers.

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