Blog

Updates, insights, and the occasional rant about MikroTik fleet management.

• October 20, 2026
  What's in 9.12.3
  Remote WinBox allows ten session attempts per minute, reports the remaining wait, and uses atomic rate-limit counters.
• October 20, 2026
  What's in 9.12.2
  Key-only SSH upgrades, custom SSH ports, WinBox launch controls, Quick Add TLS selection, and database connection limits.
• October 9, 2026
  What's in 9.12.0
  Event-stream connection leak and RouterOS 7.18+ fixes, consistent tenant and API-key checks, poller and WinBox worker hardening, one new required setting.
• October 6, 2026
  What's in 9.11.2
  Wireless monitoring messages for missing data, request failures and confirmed zero clients.
• October 6, 2026
  What's in 9.11.1
  Device rename audit lock fix, initial RouterOS identity naming, and updates without reinstalling.
• October 5, 2026
  What's in 9.11.0
  Automatic extra-package firmware downloads, firmware status and wireless fixes, OpenBao setup retry corrections, and verification results.
• August 30, 2026
  What's in 9.10.0
  Maintenance release: safe-mode config rollback, faster WinBox session cleanup, stricter device onboarding, and a security fix (GHSA-89xh-5xwx-pvw6). Plus one known issue that is not fixed yet.
• March 22, 2026
  SNMP Works (And the UI Got Out of the Way)
  v9.8 adds SNMP device monitoring. It polls real devices, collects real data, and shows it alongside your MikroTik fleet. The UI also got simpler.
• March 21, 2026
  500 Devices Broke the API
  The API container got OOM-killed under realistic load. Here's what happened, what was wrong, and how three config changes fixed it.
• March 19, 2026
  Why I'm Not Posting This on Reddit
  I built something and I'm not posting it on Reddit, Hacker News, or anywhere that runs on upvotes. Here's why building in public on forums is a trap.
• March 19, 2026
  Free Is Now Capped at 250 Devices
  The free tier moved from "basically unlimited" to 250 devices. Here's why, what it means, and what hasn't changed.
• March 18, 2026
  Found a Bug Running 100 Simulated Routers
  A 100-device simulation exposed a NATS JetStream memory issue caused by message retention behavior. Here's what happened, why, and the fix.
• March 17, 2026
  What You Can Do With It Today (And What You Can't)
  An honest look at what The Other Dude actually does today. No roadmap promises, no marketing. What works, what's rough, and what's missing entirely.
• March 16, 2026
  This Is Not Stable Software
  The Other Dude is under active development. Things break, APIs change, and that's the point. Here's why, and when stability starts mattering.
• March 15, 2026
  Why This Exists
  The story behind The Other Dude: two decades of wanting better MikroTik fleet management, AI making it possible, and why I probably won't answer your email.