Eeeew! Yeah, it seems that some of the big players have hopped on the remote ransomware bandwagon when it comes to networking equipment. 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. 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. -Eric From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Security and infrastructure Dept. > On Jan 14, 2025, at 1:16 PM, Arun Khan via PLUG-discuss wrote: > > I am considering buying a Cisco Meraki switch (MS225-24P-HW*) on eBay for my HomeLab use. > > My understanding is that these devices need an annual subscription (ransomware) to manage them via a Cisco Cloudbase dashboard. > (They don't have a serial console unlike most network devices) > > > 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. > > * PoE on all ports! > > -- > Arun Khan > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list: PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss