Thanks again for all the input. I’ve changed tack: I have a bunch of Zyxel Nebula kit I’m going to move to. So that I can have a better chance of getting done what I want to!
But… I want to get new kit running alongside old before I dump the old.
Some people have suggested that I could just plug the Zyxel switch into a port on my RB4011 and off we go, but it’s clearly not that simple.
I need to get the Zyxel switch talking to the Nebula cloud config servers. And already I’m falling down. I think it’s a firewall or NAT issue, and I’ve tried opening ports, setting up forwarding, but I’m not having success.
Does anyone have experience of this, or just know what I should do, please? I’ve spent hours trying so far
Obviously the Zyxel chaps want to sell me an expensive Zyxel firewall and more kit. But I have a good router and firewall, and I kind of know that my RB4011 is way more powerful than I need for this work, and that’s fine and I have it. Am I being foolish? From reading around on this forum, my distilled thoughts are: use the Mikrotik for routing and firewall, turn off wireless.
I feel I’m close to success, but it’s just out of reach! Any ideas, please?
Hold that thought…
As part of trying everything, I went digging around in the Zyxel switch settings, and found an option to turn on cloud management. Lo and behold… it’s not talking to its cloud management. Very frustrating, as I really have wasted hours on this nonsense.
So, the one question that remains is: does the RB4011 remain, purely to act as a router and firewall? My instincts are that it should, as long as I can make it work and get what I need out of it. The thing here is that whilst my needs are modest, so is my RouterOS skillset.
I’m running my broadband provider’s kit in modem only mode (Virgin Media, UK), and everything thereafter is done by the RB4011, by the way.
Thumbs up or thumbs down to keeping that bit of it?
Too funny I moved off of zyxel (and a reseller) many moon ago and migrated to a better bang for the buck in Mikrotik routers.
Yes they took a bit more brain power to config but very doable. If I can do it, so can you.
The default settings are pretty decent from the getgo.
If you want to make adjustments or changes to match your use cases, people here are willing to help.
Big thumbs up for the RB4011 wired.
(if you dont want it I will send you the postage to send me the unit, would be great for one of my kids).
Maybe this was already done. But you for sure want to make sure “indoor” mode is set on the Wi-Fi radio interfaces, as the “dynamic ranging” doesn’t play well with iOS IMO. If you haven’t already replaced your APs, that is.
all working beautifully now, with Zyxel APs. The RB4011 still acting as firewall, so there’s life in the old dog yet.
There’s no doubt that one gets more bang for buck with Mikrotik, right up to the point that it just doesn’t work. After a few years of trying to make the kit reliable, with the help of people far more knowledgable than myself, it was time to try a different tack!
Thanks again for all help and input, it’s much appreciated.
I’ll let the dust settle before trying to do any more tinkering with the Mikrotik as a firewall. In the meantime, I have a list of things to go on a well known auction site
