<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Eeeew!<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Yeah, it seems that some of the big players have hopped on the remote ransomware bandwagon when it comes to networking equipment.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have a Netgate firebox here that required such when running their OS. I replaced with PFSense and now have a firewall worthy of the name: practically unhackable. I won’t say that it is completely unhackable simply because of the geek factor.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">CISCO and others have been going to the subscription model for remote management of equipment for quite a while. However, I remember one of those plug meetings way back when that a statement was made: why allow a third party monopoly control of your organization? That was back in the days of MS vs. Linux (any flavor). Still holds true today and is even more important.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">-Eric</div><div class="">From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Security and infrastructure Dept.</div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Jan 14, 2025, at 1:16 PM, Arun Khan via PLUG-discuss <<a href="mailto:plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org" class="">plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace">I am considering buying a Cisco Meraki switch (MS225-24P-HW*) on eBay for my HomeLab use.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace">My understanding is that these devices need an annual subscription (ransomware) to manage them via a Cisco Cloudbase dashboard.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace">(They don't have a serial console unlike most network devices)</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace">In case you have worked with Meraki switches, please share your experience (include model #s) and what kind of configuration is possible with the "local" UI.</div><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:monospace">* PoE on all ports!</div></div><br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class="">--<br class=""></div><div class="">Arun Khan</div></div></div></div>
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