*** Official Ubiquiti Discussion Thread ***

@Rensin

Create a 5/2.4ghz network as normal, then enable guess access with throughput caps for guests or children.
 
Ok ubiquiti bods. One last time, I fancy routing one or maybe two devices through an external VPN.

Would I be better getting the USG or the ERLite?

My connection is 200mbps and my provider can see me getting not much less, I'd only need the router to be able to route at a quarter, if that, through the VPN.

I know it's been asked before, but just getting my head straight after spending too much time buried in pfsense.

Pro of USG, pretty graphs, pro of ERLite, more powerful?
 
It largely depends if you are buying for now, or the future. If you want a device that you can configure from a simple GUI right now, but that will do a fraction of what a pfSense box does, then buy EdgeMax.

The USG is clearly the runt of the Unifi litter, and clearly the controller isn’t finished with regard to features like multi-WAN, some aspects of VPN and port mapping. Even some DHCP features are still absent. The rate at which they are adding features suggests that that is where the long-term smart money would go. That said, most of the ‘advanced features’ in a Unifi are still a Beta. Even in the LTS releases far too many features are still marked as Beta.

As for processing power, the USG-3P will handle any UK FTTC connection, with all features enabled. For FTTP or a Virgin Fibre connection, you probably want the USG-4P.

It’s a myth that the USG isn’t ‘powerful’. It will handle a full Gigabit connection if you just want simple routing. The ‘advantage’ of EdgeMax is that it has a more straightforward GUI model. It only has to handle routing and simple firewall rules (because it’s just a router). Anything Unifi also has to handle all the complexities of the switches, access points, lights and whatever else they UBNT skunkworks can come up with under the Unifi banner. So the USG will beat the EdgeRouter Lite for processing power.

Right now, you may well be better off sticking with pfSense if you know that system. Or a Mikrotik hAP or wAP if you want something new and shiny.
 
@WJA96 and @Caged great, thanks for those responses.

Wja, interesting points. Back to the drawing board for now. I only tried pfsense in a VM and for the most part it worked well, thought off the shelf might be less intrusive so to speak. Got a lot to think about.
 
Jamauk said:
How do I join the beta program? Whenever I go to it I get an access denied message.
Click to expand...
https://account.ubnt.com/manage/settings/beta

Basically just click on the gimme the beta button and that's it.

5.9.4 is very good. New dash is great and I find it much faster and less of a memory hog on my Pi. There's a few things that don't work quite right though, but I guess that's to be expected.
 
The only problem with 5.9.4 is it’s a very pretty update but it doesn’t actually do anything more than 5.8.x which in itself is only a very minor improvement over 5.8.x and the headline upgrade that 5.8.x delivered (port remapping) doesn’t actually work quite right either.

There are several people now asking serious questions over when the much-heralded Chris Buechler influence will start to be felt. The simple fact is that in almost 2 years there has been very little substantive improvement in the Unifi controller. If you compare the routing functions against the EdgeMax line, the Unifi stuff looks very much the idiot cousin in the family. The big updates that UBNT are claiming for the Unifi controller is largely nothing to do with UBNT -they are buying in or licensing other folks systems - AirView is a licenced product, IPS/IDS is Suricata etc. etc. and the cutting-edge new hardware features (RF Environmental Security Radio, USG-XG-8 and L2 PoE switches effectively don’t work.

So you’ll have to forgive me for being utterly underwhelmed by 5.9.4 as it doesn’t actually seem to add anything useful to the feature set of anything except look futuristic in the XG promotional literature.
 
dbmzk1 said:
https://account.ubnt.com/manage/settings/beta

Basically just click on the gimme the beta button and that's it.

5.9.4 is very good. New dash is great and I find it much faster and less of a memory hog on my Pi. There's a few things that don't work quite right though, but I guess that's to be expected.
Click to expand...
Thanks, just installed and upgraded the firmware across all devices. Previously I was on 5.7 so this is quite a big update for me, not really many more features as far as I can tell but running on my Dell T20 with WHS 2011 and SSD it certainly seems quicker (albeit very quick previously). Not certain on this but network transfer speed seems to be quicker, as a test moved a 5GB file across the network and got 115MB/Sec which is pretty much the maximum realistic speed for a 1TB connection.
 
What’s everyone’s opinion on the Unifi Cloud Key Controller ?,

I currently have my controller software running on a Mac mini - but it’s the only thing that is actually running on it

Thinking of getting a cloud key controller and retiring the Mac Mini - might sell it

I already have a Unifi USG, Unifi 16 & 8 Port Switch, Unifi AC-Pro & LTE

Thoughts ?
 
Phil Gr said:
What’s everyone’s opinion on the Unifi Cloud Key Controller ?,

I currently have my controller software running on a Mac mini - but it’s the only thing that is actually running on it

Thinking of getting a cloud key controller and retiring the Mac Mini - might sell it

I already have a Unifi USG, Unifi 16 & 8 Port Switch, Unifi AC-Pro & LTE

Thoughts ?
Click to expand...

I run mine on a Raspberry Pi along with Pi Hole and a few other random things.

There's a USB-C version of the Cloud Key with more RAM starting to filter through retail channels and a Gen2 version coming at some point "soon" so I wouldn't get one now.
 
I know nothing about this equipment except that it's highly recommended.

What sort of setup would I need for a flat with a 1Gbps connection? The PC and streaming devices would connected via ethernet so the wireless doesn't have to be anywhere near as fast. Whatever acts as the router can be plugged directly into ISP's RJ45 socket.
 
TJM said:
I know nothing about this equipment except that it's highly recommended.

What sort of setup would I need for a flat with a 1Gbps connection? The PC and streaming devices would connected via ethernet so the wireless doesn't have to be anywhere near as fast. Whatever acts as the router can be plugged directly into ISP's RJ45 socket.
Click to expand...

Which ISP? They do usually supply some form of router/modem themselves so you have to plug into that, but other than that my personal advice would be that Unifi kit probably isn't fast enough (at a sensible price point) to route you at the full 1Gbps. I'm using a full Unifi setup with a 1Gbps leased line and I had to get the USG-XG-8 10Gbe router (£2500) to run all the features at full speed. If you don't want all the security features turned on then theoretically the Unifi USG-3P would do what you want at about £100.

I would suggest that you go with a Netgate pfSense Appliance as the router (something like a Netgate SG-3100) then any decent PoE switch so you don't need to worry about using separate power injectors although a Unifi US-8-60W would be fine (4 PoE ports) and then you'll need at least one access point. If it's in a flat can you attach something to the ceiling or would you want to wall-mount it? If it's wall-mounted then I would strongly suggest you go with the In-wall type access point surface mounted onto a 30mm back-box. The AP-AC-IW does 2x2 Mimo (about 700mbps theoretical speed) and the AP-AC-IW-Pro does 3x3 Mimo so you can theoretically have 1700Mbps if you have clients that can do 3x3 Mino (most phones and tablets are 2x2 at best).

If you can ceiling mount then depending on what you want the AP-AC-Lite is the cheapest option (2x2 Mimo) but if you can get hold of one, the newly released AP-AC-Nano is a 4x4 Mimo Access Point which means it can connect two 2x2 clients simultaneously. And it should be roughly the same price as an AP-AC-Pro.

I would definitely do your homework though as this stuff isn't especially easy to get the best out of and if you install it inappropriately (ie. don't wall or ceiling mount the access points) then you may as well buy something good from Netgear, TP-Link or ASUS instead. People rattle on about how it's enterprise grade but what that really means is it comes with the right mountings for a suspended ceiling tile in the box. Even the in-wall stuff is meant for use in hotels.

Have a look at the Youtube videos by CrossTalk Solutions - they are a really good introduction to Unifi. For a complete Unifi solution you will need to budget at least £450, possibly £600.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply. My ISP is Hyperoptic and I'm planning to jump from the 150Mbps to 1Gbps service as soon as a good deal comes along. Given the costs, I might wait and see how my R7800 holds up - online benchmarks suggest some users with custom firmware can get 850Mbps+ out of their R7800.
 
Looking to upgrade my home network and have narrowed my shopping list down to the following (probably a typical list for a home setup);
  • 2 x UAP-AC-Lite Access Points
  • 1 x US-8-60W Managed Switch
  • 1 x USG
  • 1 x Cloud Key
Is there anything I should watch out for? Any gotchas? I'm planning to ceiling mount the APs (cable running issues not withstanding) and use POE. I have 200/20 FTTP via BT and have an OpenReach ONT. I'd like to create separate wireless networks for various groups of devices (Sonos, Smart Home tech, kids devices, etc) and I use IPv6.
 
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