It seems like home networking issues are something that pretty much everyone faces these days; despite there being which aim to solve our Wi-Fi woes. Recently I decided to opt for a UniFi setup over typical mesh system. And after living with the setup for a few months now, the verdict is in; it’s safe to say that adopting Ubiquiti gear into your home is a must for tech enthusiasts or anyone who needs break-neck performance. Head below for an in-depth guide on how you can upgrade your home network by getting started with UniFi. Why choose UniFi? Right off the bat, you may be wondering what benefits getting started with a UniFi setup offers? Especially when compared to. One of the biggest selling points is the level of control that the suite of products offer.
By installing the UniFi WiFi controller software on the NVR, you get a UniFi controller, NVR and even a mFI server with a little more work all in one small box. This is not as simple as “apt-get install unifi”, however. The NVR, by default, uses LVM and has a very spacious volume setup which is where all of the recordings are saved. How to setup unifi software controller on Arch linux & Ubuntu Jul 01. Like other vendors use, you have to use there UNIFI controller software in order to configure the access point. If you use Windows it’s a fairly simple. Now you just need to follow the setup wizard and everything should be fine, it is.
In the prosumer space, you won’t find that is as feature-packed as UniFi while still being accessible. It’s also versatile, as there are plenty of different ways to configure the network. Whether you want a mesh setup or just need a single, long-range access point, there’s a series of components available that will fit the bill. Lastly, upgradability enters as yet another notable perk of going the Ubiquiti route. So if you make the switch to a Gigabit internet plan, you can opt for a more capable access point rather than entirely replacing the setup.
Breakdown of the setup: The two core pieces of hardware you’ll need for getting started with UniFi are a router and access point. Routers handle network traffic, assign IP address to connected devices and more. You can effectively think of it as the brains of your setup, as it handles the heavy lifting of ensuring clients stay connected. Then there’s access point, which connect to the router in order to create a wireless signal for your devices to connect to. Typical consumer Wi-Fi gear combines both of these devices into one.
Ubiquiti’s upcoming takes a similar approach to this. But with the bulk of UniFi devices, you’ll be able to mix and match various components to build a setup that fits your needs. Getting started with the right UniFi Router: For pretty much any home network, Ubiquiti’s is the ultimate option for getting started.
It offers up to 3Gbps network throughput, support for up to 200 individual clients and plenty of other features. The Security Gateway works with UniFi’s Network Manager, which allows you to configure everything from basic Wi-Fi settings to individual client preferences. Plus, it gives you a thorough breakdown of network traffic.
I’ve personally been relying on the for three months now. So far I have nothing but good things to say about its overall performance and reliability, as it has proved to be a fantastic option for getting started with UniFi. For additional performance, Ubiquiti also offers the as well as the. Both options include notably enhancements to the standard gateway, but with a significantly higher cost.
Getting started with a UniFi Access Point Finally, you’ll need to choose an access point. A solid place to look for getting started is, an entirely-level option that. Even at a lower-end price point, it still touts 802.11ac connectivity, up to 1100Mbps network speeds and more. There are also plenty of, from mesh-focused and high-bandwidth to long range and more.
UniFi Controller Another thing you’ll need for getting started is the UniFi Controller, a piece of free software that allows you to manage the entire network setup. For your initial setup, it isn’t crucial that the software is running 24/7, just when you’re looking to make changes to the network. Another perk of the is that it allows you to remotely access the network. This requires an always-on solution, but thankfully the client can run on a variety of different devices from an old computer to.
There’s also Ubiquiti’s own solution, the which integrates nicely into the ecosystem. Pairing all of this gear together is a solid way to get started overhauling your home’s Wi-Fi network.
Ubiquiti WiFi gear is becoming well known as the go to brand for nerds wanting to have home WiFi that competes with commercial set ups. The Ubiquiti AC-PRO access points in particular are in the category of “next level” consumer gear, and after installing them i’ve never looked back.
Being commercial gear the Ubiquiti APs do have one annoying requirement: you need to run controller software on your network to monitor and control the access points through Ubiquiti’s cloud based controller software. Luckily you can run this software on a range of hardware – and a $35 Raspberry Pi is just the ticket.
When I first setup my Ubiquiti Access Points I setup a VirtualBox host on my home server to run the Ubiquiti controller software on Ubuntu. This has been a nice way of running the software without paying $79 for a Ubiquiti Unifi Cloud Key, but it does mean you’ve got to run an extra host whenever you’re administering your access points. A Raspberry Pi is an awesome replacement for a virtual machine, and isn’t as pricey as a Cloud Key.
Geeking out aside, another bonus is that you can also run other stuff on your Raspberry Pi at the same time when you’re done. Prerequisites The migrate a controller host onto a Raspberry Pi you’ll need a few things first. – $35. – $12.99. – $4.99 Setting up the Raspberry Pi The first thing you’ll want to do is download the lastest version of Raspbian from the Raspberry Pi site: Next you can download software to flash Raspbian onto your SSD: Run this, and flash it onto your new SSD Configuring Raspberry Pi Plug in your Raspberry Pi and start it up.
Connect to your local network or wifi and fire up a terminal session to update the OS. Sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade Now we’re ready to setup the Ubiquiti software. Installing the Ubiquiti software First we need to add the Unifi package list to the Raspberry Pi. Echo 'deb stable ubiquiti' sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/100-ubnt.list /dev/null sudo wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/unifi-repo.gpg sudo apt-get update Now what we need to install is the Oracle Java8 runtime, along with the Ubiquiti software. Ubiquiti really only needs the JDK, so if you install just the JDK at the same time as the Ubiquiti controller software, apt-get will figure out that you don’t need the full Java runtime. Again in the terminal, type the following; sudo apt-get install unifi oracle-java8-jdk –y Finally, when installing the Unifi controller software, you might notice in the screenshot above you also end up installing MongoDB. We don’t want that running on your nice clean (and resource constrained) Raspberry Pi.
So let’s disable this from starting at boot time. The Unifi controller software runs it’s own instance of Mongo when it starts up, so you don’t need this running as well.
Sudo systemctl disable mongodb sudo systemctl stop mongodb Now let's login to the controller via the local host on the machine. Setting up the new controller and migrating The Unifi Cloud Control software works in a pretty cool way. Basically it watches your network for devices, and then reports these back to the cloud based Unifi service. This means you can then control your home network from the cloud without needing to punch holes in your firewall. First off, visit your Raspberry Pi’s controller software by visiting the Unifi software’s port. My Raspberry Pi has taken up the IP address of 192.168.1.198 so i’m going to visit it from another machine on the network on the TCP post 8443 I’m using Chrome, which throws a security warning, as the default Ubiquiti controller software doesn’t have a commercial SSL certificate attached. Select to Proceed.
You’ll then be asked to setup the controller’s backup and timezone settings. Then skip through the device setup screens as they’ll be no devices for adoption (they’re all already managed). Next, you can setup an access point for your new Unifi access controller site (we’ll overwrite this later).
Now configure your administrator access credentials. Confirm everything on your new controller’s configuration. Now the Ubiquiti software asks you to login to your UBNT account so it can add the new Raspberry Pi controller to your account. Now that you’ve logged in, your new Raspberry Pi controller can be accessed at any time from – nice! Now we’ve got to migrate your current access points over the new controller. Migrating Unifi Access Points The next step is you’ve got to migrate the access points you have today to the new Raspberry Pi controller. Firstly we want to export the site from the current controller.
Login to the current (soon to be deprecated) controller and open up the settings screen for the site you want to migrate (the one that has the access points in it). In the bottom of the site settings screen you’ll notice an “export site” button. Press this and save the file locally. Now in a separate tab login to your new controller and visit the “Sites” screen. We’re going to import the site into your Raspberry Pi controller. Give the new site you’re importing a name.
Now shift back to your old controller’s tab and finish migrating the access points to your new controller by entering your new controller’s IP address. In the next screen you’ll want to forget the devices on your old controller. And that’s it, you’re now done!
Your Raspberry Pi is now acting as a controller for your Unifi network. Related posts:.,.,.,.,.,.
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