I mean… It would work fine to use ROS for this, and truly, my mikrotik devices are definitely hands-off except updates and few rule adjustments, but this isn’t really any different from a Linux box. You have about as much initial config in a hardened immutable box as this.
The other thing is that mikrotik code isn’t open, which might be an issue for some.
I want to add that I respect this approach, it just seems like about as much work as any other roll-your-own solution.
My thinking was that while the initial setup time might be comparable, i’m banking on saving time with long-term maintenance. Most regular linux distributions have so many moving parts that often also change from one major version to the next. One could argue a bespoke minimal installation based on alpine or something would alleviate that, but at the cost of much more setup time (for me, at least). But i’m not saying my way is particularly the best; it’s just what works well enough for me.
I mean… It would work fine to use ROS for this, and truly, my mikrotik devices are definitely hands-off except updates and few rule adjustments, but this isn’t really any different from a Linux box. You have about as much initial config in a hardened immutable box as this.
The other thing is that mikrotik code isn’t open, which might be an issue for some.
I want to add that I respect this approach, it just seems like about as much work as any other roll-your-own solution.
Yeah, their GPL “compliance” is a disgrace.
My thinking was that while the initial setup time might be comparable, i’m banking on saving time with long-term maintenance. Most regular linux distributions have so many moving parts that often also change from one major version to the next. One could argue a bespoke minimal installation based on alpine or something would alleviate that, but at the cost of much more setup time (for me, at least). But i’m not saying my way is particularly the best; it’s just what works well enough for me.
Appreciate your words!