I will be completely changing out my network this week, switching an asus router with AiMesh to Unifi. I am open to any tips or suggestions on how to do it.
Specifically, are there any considerations i will need to keep in mind for switching my hubs into the new network. I am assume the hubs (3 meshed and one beta), Home Assistant, ecowitt hub will have different IP addresses. On my current router I have my hubs on assigned IP addresses. In that case i just let the DHCP assign them then manually reserved the address. I was considering designating a block of about 10 IP addresses to be manually assigned, then assigning them their addresses mysellf (Mainly for organizing). Is that a decent idea, or over thinking it?
I am definitely open to any other tips, suggestions or things that i just hadn't thought of yet.
I am open to any other tips or suggestions as well.
The new router will automatically assign new IP addresses to all the devices on the network. This includes the Hubitat hub and other home automation devices like Hue bridge, Lutron bridge, and any WiFi devices. Any Ethernet connected devices will connect automatically. You will have to connect each WiFI device individually using the SSID and password for the WiFi. Remember that home automation devices only connect on the 2.4 gHz band, so you might want to specify different SSIDs for each band. Using the same SSID for all bands is convenient, but creates confusion when trying to join home automation devices.
I suggest using a IP address scanner such as Advanced IP scanner V2 to scan the network to find out which addresses are in use. You might need to match up MAC addresses if the scanner does not identify the devices. Then you can use the new IP addresses to reconfigure Hubitat. To reach the Hubitat UI using a web browser, use the IP address of the hub as the URL. If that does not work, try http://findmyhub.hubitat.com.
Once the configuration is completed, be sure to go into the UI for the new router and reserve the IP addresses for each dhub, bridge and home automation device so they do not get changed in the future.
Good luck. I upgrade by router every 2-3 years, so I have had to do this several times.
When you create a IoT VLAN you can designate the smaller IP range for it then reserve the IPs for those devices no problem.
I actually keep my hubs hanging off a small 8 port dumb switch which then plugs into one of my Unifi switches. The hubs, dumb switch, and other IoT devices are all on their own UPS.
This allows me to reboot the Unifi switch and anything else without impacting the IoT stuff.
What Unifi gateway and other gear are you getting?
Create a spreadsheet of devices on your current network, MAC IDs and current IP addresses being the most important for this exercise. Use that information in your new network.
Plan your new network. Do you want something different than 192.168.1.1/24 (the UniFi default)? Are you planning to use any complex networking features? There's a lot to learn about networking if you want to make use of the options that UniFi enables. A "normal" home flat network is easy to set up in UniFi - you just accept almost all the defaults.
In UniFi set the DHCP server on the router to only assign addresses outside of where you assign the fixed DHCP reservations.
Boot up the new router on a different ssid and put in the same dhcp assignments as you currently have. Then switch the ssid later , reboot it, and swap it for your current router.
So do it the same way I did on the router, let the DHCP assignin then reserve the IP address. Other than the hubs and a couple other specific devices, I do not have many reserved IP's, maybe 7 or 8 total.
I had done that at one point with my current router, figured out what everything was, got everything tweaked and identified. Recently I went to update it as I had added a number of devices since I had originally done it. I could not find the original spreadsheet I had exported it to, so I set out to redo it again. So many devices came up as only "espressif" along with some other issues, I pretty much decided if I'm going to have to do the footwork to figure out what each device is again, I might as well fast track the project to switch to Unifi and set up a whole new network (there were some other contributing factors as well). I plan to be much more methodical as I add devices this time, recoding the IP and MAC of each device as I add it, then running Advance IP scanner and getting that that all mapped out and everything identified actually keep that document where I can find it!! From there I think I should be able to stay on top of things as I need to add them. I know it’s some extra work doing it that way, but if I have to go through and re-add all the devices individually, I might as well just document it all as I go along.
My concern was with the Hub mesh. Once I identify the new addresses, wont the only thing I really need to do be to update the hub mesh settings? I'm guessing disable and reconnect? Not exactly sure there. Is there a better or recommended way?
This was actually one thing I was thinking about doing. I’m still digging into it. Do things like TV's Streaming Boxes (Apple TV, so Apple home by all its various names and incantations is in use) go on that VLAN or does it matter? I was also planning to put in a separate VLAN for my wife's work from Home (Financial services industry) , just to separate it from any issues .
This round (because I already see additions and upgrades) it is a Dream Router 7, UX 7 and flex 2.4 switch. In short order I'll probably switch out my POE switch to a Unifi switch and a NVR since we are already talking about cameras (the router should be able to handle it, says it should be able to, but I don’t think long range it’s a viable thing.
Yep. I have this already, the basics, IP and mac address, but so much of it is just "espressif" and identifying what those ACTUALLY are is the bigger project.
I’ve been thinking about this as well, haven’t totally decided to use something different, not really sure of the benefits of doing so (other than not a default).
Another part of my motivation has been that I’m working through a Cybersecurity bootcamp, and see this as an opportunity to apply some of the stuff I’m learning . Overkill for a home network? Sure. but serving another purpose.
If I am following you correctly, this goes to my question of setting a small batch of addresses aside for fixed addresses. say 192.168.1.2-192.168.1.17 fir things like the hubs, etc. and letting the DHCP assign the rest?
I keep our Apple TVs, HomePods, etc on the IoT VLAN myself for simplicity, we use Apple Home a lot, but you can put them in a separate VLAN too.
But if put them on a separate VLAN, you may just have to adjust some mDNS and FW rules stuffs.
The new Unifi Network app settings make it pretty easy and I think the defaults work pretty well now.
For the FW, you can keep all needed VLANs in the same “Zone” at first or in general and it will simplify things a bit as you get the hang of it all.
Then put your wife's work from home devices in a separate VLAN and Zone to lock it down a bit more and restrict the traffic to and from. Thats what I do too.
There are lots of videos on YouTube for setting up IoT VLANs and what not.
I havent started this project yet. I want to have a moredefiend process planned out before I dig in . The equipment arrived last night. Are these shots from the Unifi interface?
I can't believe I didn't see that before. I was going to respond that there's no way to add a DHCP reservation without going into it's settings either in the online or offline device list and selecting the 'fixed IP address'
I would suggest you look at the UCG Max or UCG Fiber instead of the UDR7. The reason is they support the full unifi app stack and have built in NVME storage that will be better for your camera storage.
Unfortunately this means you need an additional piece of kit for an AP. There are many wifi 7 options similarly priced to the UX7. Why are you choosing the UX7 instead of say a U7 Pro wall or U7 XG AP.
You may also want to consider using a Flex 2.5 8 PoE switch so you can power any additional gear later. Just keep in mind it doesn't come with a ac adapter. So you will likely need to either add a POE injector or the 210 watt AC Adapter.
I suspect what i suggested above is likely to hike the price a bit, but is more about what it gives long term.
One thing i would suggest to consider is to not limit yourself to specif number of AP's. You will find many suggestions in Unifi Forums to reduce transmit power to improve roaming performance, speed and help with interference. I found that it did help with roaming but some devices also struggled to make good connections. My wife's phone and tablets are a good example. Ultimately i ended up pushing the transmit power back up and she is now fine. What the experience highlighted is that I really need another AP to run the 2.4ghz and 5ghz band at lower transmit power levels. My house is only about 2300 sq ft and i currently have a U6+ and 2 U7 Pro Walls. Based on specs that should easily cover the house, but once the transmit power is tweaked down as many suggest they struggle to provide good full coverage to all corners of the house.
From a process perspective this really depends on what you have and what is important for you during the migration.
In my case I was migrating from Google Wifi so it was rather straight forward. Keep the wifi the same and minimize downtime. I have a ton of Govee devices and other IOT devices that use reserved IP's. Google Wifi also uses a different subnet then is typical. The process I followed is as such.
It is important to know the details of your current network though so I would collect
Wan IP, Subnet, Gateway if you use a Static IP from your ISP:
Network IP:
Subnet:
DHCP Server reservation range:
Wifi SSID('s):
Wifi Password
Local Lan DHCP reservations:
I initially connected my Cloud Gateway Max to my Google wifi just to set it up and to get it fully configured. During the setup I set the default lan to use 192.168.0.x with a typical class c subnet of 255.255.255.0 or /24. This could be good as a management space for Unifi equipment if you start to get several pieces.
Now that basic management is enabled setup a vlan to mimic what you currently use for Wifi. Use the 3rd octet as the Vlan ID.
Now under the Wifi section of the UI create a new wifi that uses the same name as you are currently using with the same password. If you like to split up the bands to different SSID's you can do that here as you specify what bands to use for each one. you can use all or one. Make sure you associate them with the network(Vlan) you created in Step 2.
At this point everything should be able to connect to the new Unifi devices and wifi. This is the point I connected everything my UCG Max to my ISP and pulled my Google Wifi. I verified the internet setup on my UCG Max since it was DHCP on Google wifi and is static to the ISP. I let everything reconnect and then used the clients section of the UI to select each one that needed a reserved ip or used one and set it under the UI. I expected some stuff to not work though as I set the static ip's on devices. Overall wifi was up in just a few min after swapping the gear. Some devices that needed static ip's took up to 24 hours to fully started working.
Now as stated above I did setup all of the DHCP reservations after the fact as mentioned in Step 4, but if you can do that before the swap as @Ranchitat mentions that would be better. I just didn't know how to. One nice thing about Unifi is that it has a option to allow you to force a disconnect to the remote devices. That seems to cause it to renew it's IP so it isn't hard to move device to Static ip's as you set them.
You could also setup some port profiles before hand to help with certain functions. I know use them allot on my gear to determine if POE is used or to lock a port to a network port to a specific VLAN. If you use ethernet allot you will likely want to setup some profiles to help device connect to the right vlan when physically connected.
Here is my list of port profiles and I use this to ensure a certain setup on a given port based on use case.
Reason:
Once devices connect via dhcp with an ip some are difficult to get them to switch.. as they request the same ip.. in this case you may need to reboot the device and it is a pain going around finding these devices and rebooting them if you want a specific ip.
For this reason as i said i recommend setting it up on the same ip/subnet but with a different ssid so you can first go in and setup the same ip address reservations as you previously had (nothing will connect to it as it has a different ssid)
Then just swap the ssid to what you normally use during final install and setup.. in this way all devices should reconnect via dhcp with their correct ips and no running around rebooting devices would be necessary.
I agree my process would of been better if I had of set the DHCP reservation beforehand. I was just stating what I ended up doing. I didn't really have to mess with devices though I just waited for the DHCP reservation to expire and the device to request a renewal. At that time it got the new expected IP. Either way following what @Ranchitat posted you should be able to set the DHCP reservations before doing anything with the wifi networks.
I am not sure what the SSID swap dance is really gaining here unless you need that to manage the gateway device until you set it back to the original ssid used. Setting a DHCP reservation is completely outside of the wifi setup so a user could all of there DHCP reservations before they even create the wifi setup.
That works if u connect via ethernet but i am not familiar with that hardware. And just wanted to point out dont set/change to your current ssid until youve added the reservations .
I’ll get into a more in depth answer tonight, but the short answer is currently there is no Ethernet available beyond my office where the router will be located, I need traditional power and mesh WiFi. I did look at the fiber and it was the need for the additional AP that pushed me toward the DR7. As of today there are no cameras. And I only expect to add 2 in the next 6 months, probably G5 bullets. It looked like the DR7 should be capable of at least that to get started. If not, I can always run scripted or frigate on Linux. That was my initial plan any way. I recognize I’ll eventuallyneed an NVR and likely upgraded gateway in the next year or so. The switch is actually the next thing I plan to add. Likely in the next month or so, wish I would have thought about it up front. I’ll just have to use my exsisting switch until then.
I anticipate making this change on Wednesday next week, so still open to ideas, suggestions. For various reasons I’m planning to completely rebuild the network new SSID etc so not to concerned with keeping same up
Addresses. Just need to know how to make sure my hub mesh gets working again.
) running UniFi Network Application 9.1.120.
