I’ve been having the itch to make some YouTube videos about routing/networking/RouterOS.
One thing that’s helping my procrastination win out is that I can’t decide what’s a good topic for a first video / series of videos.
The focus would be on understanding the underlying mechanisms that make the solution do what it does.
(It’s always better to learn why things work so that you can make your own solutions in the future)
If I were to make some videos, what topics would you guys be interested in seeing?
My intent (if I start making lots of videos) is to cover everything from basic networking theory to routing protocols like BGP, but I’d really like to know what the community would find interesting for a first video.
I’d like to see multi-WAN configurations with and without PCC - these topics are discussed here almost weekly so this would definitelly help.
VPN in general (road warriors and site2site), advancing through multi-WAN-multi-tunnel setups and topping at OSPF and BGP…
The idea behind transport networks and setting them up correctly would also be great to see.
Do you only want to cover networking or also general considerations (like deployment strategies, choosing the right ISPs for redundant tunnels, bandwidth expectations and stuff like that)?
Great idea, ZeroByte. Thanks for your efforts!
-Chris
I dislike the idea of explaining things in a video, but it seems that others do like it.
(or there would not be so many videos on youtube)
It seems there is demand for explanation of the firewall in RouterOS and why the default firewall fails so badly
when internet-facing interfaces are added the wrong way (i.e. the way explained elsewhere on Youtube).
I definitely want to focus more on theory than actual configuration walk-through / howto videos, because I think most people would benefit from actually learning what’s going on - not just “put these rules and it will work.” - I’ve seen some Mikrotik videos out there that make some pretty bad recommendations IMO. I really think I’d want to do one on the OSI model, for instance.
I wouldn’t be able to do CRS because I don’t have any CRS products - I’d be using GNS3 as the primary platform for videos, but you’re definitely right that vlans are not well-understood by beginners, and the way they’re done in RouterOS isn’t obvious to someone coming from a Cisco background.
Love this idea! I think, though, that you probably will need to get into some How-To’s, as theory can be applied across all vendor’s equipment assuming they support the same features. I think where the MT community is lacking is clear understanding on how to implement some of various technologies MT supports. I think it’s important to relate this to theoretical knowledge so we understand what’s going on under the hood, but specific configuration examples would be VERY useful, especially to beginners.
Certainly - any topic would have a concrete example to work with. Theory needs somewhere to land and take root, but I think a certain amount of “what’s going on” is very important even if you’re learning a specific procedure.
And BGP is definitely something that could use some explanation - I remember when I was first having to learn BGP - it was quite a daunting task, and almost all material available at the time was very technical and didn’t really explain the underlying ideas very well IMO.
It would be great, more and more networks are more dependent on layer2, aggregation etc. The vlan implementation in the CCR/CRS is quite a bit different. E.g Customer B wants a layer2 connection from point A to point G, they want to use any vlan they choose. Or Customer C wants you to carry Vlan224 from site B to his customer in site C. When to use a software bridge in a CCR? Should one rather use an EOIP tunnel and carry the vlan over that? All relative questions that someone might have.
Judging from your written word I believe that you will make rather good and helpful videos! Looking forward to them!
I agree that there are many videos and tutorials out there that are bad.
I don’t have any particular subject to propose but I would like the content to be kind of like the EEVBlog where Dave Jones goes in depth on how various electronic circuits work rather than simple ‘copy/paste’ tutorials of how to do stuff.
But even the more ‘tutorial-like’ channel of Keith Barker for mainly Cisco stuff is quite helpful to understand things.
Keith Barker kicks asterisk… (see what I did there? I made a pun - a-hah!)
I just want to see an OSPF tutorial that doesn’t go off into the weeds about LSA types - yes, that’s important, but I think that the design theory of OSPF is brushed over - ESPECIALLY when it comes to the concept of redistributing routes into OSPF (ASBR behaviors).
“How to forward a port - an ultimate guide” - And make it mandatory to watch for anyone who tries to post new topic about it (that would be the most important part).
I always prefer written tutorials (with pictures) myself. They allow anyone to go at their own pace. It’s just not possible with one video, it will always be too slow for someone and too fast for someone else. But I’m not complaining about the offer.
Another, a little bit more general, but more advanced, topic.
Firewall Optimization.
A guide to reduce the firewall load with in depth explanations of how rules are processed, why some rules are heavier than others, etc.
Of course this would require some prior knowledge of how ROS & Firewall/iptables work. It wouldn’t be for beginners.
Exactly. And you can use them at work where it is not possible to use sound.
However, I don’t want to discourage anyone from making videos, because I see that others love them.
(when I am in a chat at home with some other admin I know and he is looking things up, I always hear him listening to youtube videos,
something I would do only when it appears to be the only available resource)
