Best start with Unifi gear

@danabw
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
I just want to say how much I enjoy your humor, in this case, and in your many posts over the years. Thanks for keeping this forum fun!

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I am in same spot. I think for new people starting, it will be easier than trying to understand the difference between LAN IN, LAN OUT, etc. I still don't really understand it. However, now that everything is already setup, I'm not changing any of my existing rules. I did the upgrade to zone based though anyway. :smile:

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All of my managed switches and APs are Unifi. I like the central management approach. I dipped by toe into their routers, but not find enough value over other options. Same with CCTV/Security camera system. Only integration I did with HE was with presence based on which AP various smartphones are attached to. Useful for finding family members without calling them. I have not done any automations from HE based on the Unifi state data.

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I just ordered one of their routers because I need to support a couple of sites that are using the older Dream Routers. The zone-based firewall looks very good and brings it almost to the point where I would say their entire network product suite is now complete. Right now I have their Etherlighting switches, aggregation switch, and self-hosting my own controller as a container under Proxmox.

Previously, I had the EdgerouterX which I really liked. However, when they came out with the UCG, I switched to gain that central management. The Dream Machine devices were more than I needed and willing to pay for.

Sadly just had a complete meltdown of unifi AP's at a client site. All 4 just went wonky. Speeds went from 600 to 20. Factory resetting them, the controller, changing switches (poe switches), certifying the cat runs to the panel, certifying the patch cables, nothing work. Even brought a couple home to my existing unifi AP network and they behaved the same (no change in any of my ac-pro's). Very strange. Shoved some Aruba iap 500's in and they performed flawlessly. Still can't explain it... Unifi doesn't have an explanation either.

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If they're U7 Pros then it's because UniFi has released a bad product. They're definitely not Pro. Lots of rounds of EA to try to fix the issues. They keep getting better, but still are not 100%.

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I have only seen that once where a power surge from a close lightning strike effected the AP's in 1/2 of a building. It seemed to impact the U6 Pro AP's from receiving good signals. Close devices were able to get some connectivity but more that say 30 feet from the AP's you couldn't get a connection. Had to replace 8 out of 24 AP's.

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Seems to be here. Strange though because even when I added a fresh out of the box ac-pro to the network and shut down all the others, the behavior persisted.

I'm sort of waiting for my ER12 to either go EOL or start having problems so I can get the Cloud Gateway Max. UI are still providing FW & security udpates for the ER line, so I haven't felt like tearing things up to move to the UCG (yet).

The current UI EA ER FW (acronym soup!) has been "in progress" for months and months (up to rc9 now!) and UI has been painfully slow in fixing some issues and wrapping it up. Depending on how long this goes on I may just pull the plug and move to the UCG-Max.

I had my finger on the Buy button for a Gateway Lite until I saw that it could only handle 4 Unifi devices. Fortunately, the UCG came out a couple of months later and is exactly what I needed. I don't need the extra bandwith from the Max at home.

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If you went with the UCG Max or it was a serious consideration, i would seriously consider atlease one of the the switches being a flex 2.5 GB POE.

By getting atleast one Flex 2.5 GBE it would allow it to maintain the higher bandwith no matter what you connect to it including new wifi 7 gear that has 2.5gbe uplink and need poe+ for power.

You could also do the Ultra if you dont care about the 2.5gbe network or running the other unifi apps.

Keep in mind all of them have different speed specs when you start doing packed inspection. The ucg lite is something like 300mbps while the ultra is 700mbps and the max is the highest at 1500mbps. It may not be a step up from what you have now though.

That said i have the UCG Max and it has been great. I just wish UI released the Flex 2.5 POE a few weeks ago.

Ah, thanks, that's good to be reminded of the potential options to retain access to 2.5 should I want/need it in the future. I'll likely get the Max since the price difference Ultra to Max not that significant, and you also get (if I understand correctly) nvme support.

Given how my ER12 keeps chugging along, by the time I make a change the UCGs will likely be EOL. :wink: Would it be wrong to fake a router death? :wink: :smiley:

My old UDM (base model) is my "Backup Router", in the event that my UDM SE ever fails. :wink: Think how upset your spouse would be if that old Edge Router failed, and it took days to procure and install something new. Buying that UCG Max now is the only logical thing to do to ensure everyone is happy! :wink:

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Yea. It has a slot for a NVME drive. They will install a 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB though many have put 4TB drives in it. It isnt for nas storage though. It is really for protect. If you dont have any desire to do that then it is a mute point. Protect can use third party ONVIF cameras now so :grinning: you could use it for those if you have some and want to. Just dont expect smart detect notifications. Well an AI Port could enable those to.

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Always expect only the best advice (i.e., "enabling") from you. :wink: Well said.

That would be kind of cool to have a plug-and-play backup in the house in case the main router went down. And given the fact that UI's support/interest in the ER line is only going to continue to fade. Hmmm. :thinking:

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Go for it! What's the matter? Won't your mommy let you? All the cool kids are doing it. Try it! You'll like it!

Just a little peer pressure! :wink: :joy: :rofl: :laughing:

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Oh man, so much pressure...you even threw down the "...mommy won't let you" glove!! :wink:

Things have taken a really interesting turn. Was texting a little while ago w/one of my cousins. He's also a Unifi fan/user, and one of the reasons I moved to Unifi in the first place, and I pinged him to ask him some questions about the cloud gateway, which he uses. I told him I was thinking about upgrading to one, and he says "I will not be using mine soon, do you want it?" Jaw drop moment. "What, wait, really?!"

He evidently recently decided to upgrade from the Ultra to the Max, and already has the Max in hand and is planning to switch over to it this weekend. Assuming all goes well he'll send me the Ultra when he's done! He's been teasing me about running "my ER dinosaur" for quite a while now, so I think he's pleased to be able to pull me into the future.

Price seems pretty reasonable: "Buy me an In-n-Out Double-Double the next time I'm in town." I said F-yes, of course. :smiley: I made a little celebratory noise and my wife came out of the bedroom at the other end of the house worried if I was OK. :slight_smile:

So it should be coming soon. He's in Pittsburgh so a few days shipping. Now all I need to do is make sure I engineer a smooth transition. Of course, I expect prompt and helpful tech support, Dan. :wink: Fun coming soon!

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Five Flex Minis now on the way from UI. I did some network consolidation, removed old devices I no longer use (SmartThings? What are you doing here!?), moved a few non-critical devices to WiFi, and now the Flex will work quite well for me.

So I'll have the one Lite 8 POE I had already ordered, along with the five Flex Minis. That should work perfectly. I do like the smaller size of the Minis.

Hopefully my cousin's transition to the Max will go easily, so he can ship the UCG Ultra and I can start getting things set up. Going to be a lot of work ... Need the wife to leave town for a bit so I can focus. :wink::rofl:

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I currently have the UDR with a. couple of U6 Lite AP's. I've been wanting to go 'full' Unifi for a while - switches and all. The UDR can't use the full speed of my 1,150Mbps WAN connection even with IPS off. If I were to turn it on it would be even worse (it has been pointed out I'm never using that much of the 1,150Mbps).

I would probably go with UCG Max but I don't need the storage but the empty model is always showing sold out in the UK/EU stores (the Ultra would do for me). When I initially set up my network about 15 years ago, I didn't trust WiFi and cabled everything possible. I probably need to have a think about what I actually need cabled now - with the exception of NAS, Apple TV boxes and IP cameras probably very little. Deploying several smaller 8 port switches in convenient locations probably makes more sense than everything being cabled back to one 24 port as I currently have.

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