Source
r/homelab•
JamesIsAwkward

I'm thinking of moving from my pfSense VM to a mikrotik. I'm just wondering about their device lifecycle and also looking for recommendation.

Discussion

pfSense/OPNsense have spoiled me. Having a firewall that is up-to-date without a support agreement is awesome. But... tl;dr my home "server" is getting pretty old and its a power hog. I want to dismantle it until i can find something a bit smaller and more efficient to use.

I'm wondering how long Mikrotik supports their routers and such but I can't find too much info online. It would be really nice to get rid of the pfsense VM and move it all to a hardware router. My server CPU is pretty old too and doesn't support AES-NI, so I'm sure a newer mikrotik could do OpenVPN a lot better as well..

What do you guys think? Have you had good luck with mikrotik routers? What about with OpenVPN? I'm not looking to do any QoS stuff so I think I can get by with a smaller box.

Posted Mar 25, 2022, 1:55 PM UTC

210
QwertzHz•

I moved from pfSense to UniFi to MikroTik (specifically the RB5009). More than anything else, it's been awesome to have native support for WireGuard. The UX is great IMO, the metrics are often useful, and I've had no speed issues.

People complain about their systems being unusual, but I think that's only from a Cisco etc. perspective. As someone who doesn't do networking at his job and only has experience with pfSense and UniFi, it wasn't hard to learn RouterOS.

Maybe they're not for everyone, but I've really been enjoying the RB5009.

5
jimbo_6666•

I went from Mikrotik to Pfsense. Mikrotik certainly is not bad but if I go back I would use a high end router like a cloud core. What one were you looking at?

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JamesIsAwkwardOP•

I was looking at a hEX S maybe? I'd like to have hardware IPSEC support if possible. Unless the smaller ones can use wireguard, I'm not sure about that though.

TBH I'm completely out of my element atm, I haven't ever purchased a mikrotik produect in my life haha. Their "bang-for-the-buck" is just so nice, that's why I think I might move there.

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jimbo_6666•

That is underpowered compared to your pfsense box. Keep in mind you will need some VPN offloading too

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JamesIsAwkwardOP•

Oops, I edited my comment, I meant "hardware IPSEC support" haha

1
CanuckFire•

So, i have really enjoyed the fact that the mikrotik that i bought in 200...7-ish was getting regular updates until ~Nov2021 when I finally replaced it with a new Cap AC and new Hex. (rb750gr3) Almost 15 years is pretty damn good.

They made some larger changes and are moving to a much newer linux codebase for their ROS v7 to support a LOT of new features and make it easier to update to new hardware platforms, so depending on what you want it may make the most sense to get something like the Hex or Hex S to start using and then if you like their way of doing things or like the features in development look for something higher-end.

I am definitely waiting to see what new routers they release in the next year as the CCR2004 series and RB5009 are really interesting, and they have already confirmed in their forums that they have more for those platforms in development.

I cannot speak to openvpn much as i havent used it, but the new v7 code has wireguard built in and i am looking forward to setting it up to test.

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JamesIsAwkwardOP•

Thanks for your insight!

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janwiesemann•

I’m using a intel celeron based system with intel nics. I’m running OPNsense on it. It was cheap, does not draw a lot of power and I haven’t had any problems with it. The company is called HSIPC. The cpu has hardware accelerated AES support. I’m nur sure what IPsec uses but since I’m using WireGuard, which is using a non hardware accelerated encryption, this isn’t something I actually need.

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JamesIsAwkwardOP•

Do you happen to have a model number? I'd love to check this out!

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janwiesemann•

Just look for them on Amazon. They are was to find. You can also find alternatives by searching for opnsense box or pfsense box.

I think it’s this one: http://www.hamsing.com/product/html/31.html

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