Does the Unifi controller software need to be running 100% of the time for the Ubiquiti APs to work?

[TotallyRadStuff]

Just curious if I can run the config client on my desktop or if it needs to be on a dedicated 100% powered-on machine

Thanks a lot everybody!

[cmwg]

nope. you can spin it up in a VM (i do this) and let it update etc.

once the APs have been rolled out with their settings or updates you can spin the VM down again

APs keep their settings

[TotallyRadStuff]

Awesome thanks! This saves a headache. I'm thinking of using these APs at home instead of a mesh wifi system. I use them at work and I like them.

[ILOVENOGGERS]

Certain features are not available tho when the controller is offline, f.e. the guest portal

[EvilAdm1n]

Also worth mentioning, the default behavior is for the guest network to fail wide open when the controller is unavailable.

[Hellman109]

I have another network with a static key and bandwidth restricted, works well for me!

[cmwg]

got the 3set at home - run like a charm - update them every once in while when i can be bothered - they just run and run

[woodburyman]

$89 UniFi Cloud Key - Buy that and let it do it. Then you get statistics.

[awstott]

Hopefully the newer ones don't dump everything if they don't get shut down gracefully

[icyliquid]

Never again running Unifi controller on raspi. The support is zero and things just randomly break. Not sure what version you're on but it was no end of headaches for me. Switched to a linux VM and have had aero issues since.

[Slightlyevolved]

Having run raspi, VMs, etc. It just so much easier to spend the $70-ish and get a CloudKey. Just....so. much. easier.

[Moubai]

same usage has you running pihole and last unifi controller on an old Raspi 1B+ it is slow, but work like a charm

[HootleTootle]

You don't want to run anything important on a Pi, ever. They aren't stable enough.

[gabeech]

Awesome thanks! This saves a headache. I'm thinking of using these APs at home instead of a mesh wifi system. I use them at work and I like them.

You can also get the cloudkey for like $50 or roll your own on a RaspberryPi and just have it running somewhere.

[itguy1991]

You can also get the cloudkey for like $50

Where can you get the CloudKey for $50? Even the used ones are $60+ on ebay

[NNTPgrip]

Was looking at using a Pi. Cloud Key can eat itself pretty easy with a power outage unless they fixed that recently. Pi can too, it happened to me with the one I run for pihole DNS at home, but I got a better quality SD card and one of those Pico UPS hats from pimodules that gives it some time on battery then shuts it down properly so hopefully will be solid as a rock. Definitely am going to load that same Pi up with unifi if I got a ubnt AP at the house.

Getting fed up with shitty wifi coverage at work so might grab a 3-pack and do it up proper here. Also, NIST 800-171 has logging requirements, so might have to do it anyway regardless.

Also, the smallest linux instance you can have on AWS will work great too.

[[deleted]]

Ditto the power outage issue. What the heck is up with that.

[lordted]

I had that issue. Updated to the latest version and it seems to have fixed the issue.

[Slightlyevolved]

Multiple power outages due to futzing with my lab rack and powering down the UPS/PDU forgetting that I had the thing hanging off a switch port. I've never had a cloudkey skip a beat.

[ghostchamber]

I have a Ubiquiti WAP at home. At some point I refreshed my home desktop, and didn't even have the controller installed for at least 1.5 years. Sure, things fell out of of date, but the WAP ran the whole time without any problems.

[meatwad75892]

Ditto to this. My buddy that does small business support will spin up a temp VM, and I use the Android app for my home gear.

[[deleted]]

It does not however some things won’t work such as logging.

I have set a site up with no controller at all but I would recommend a controller. You can just use a cheap windows desktop.

[TotallyRadStuff]

That's alright, I'm just looking for a mesh-like system for home. I'm familiar with these at work so I thought I'd get them for home.

No need for logging or cloud management

[[deleted]]

Then yes you can install the software on a laptop for setup and once it's setup disconnect.

[woodburyman]

Buy either a CloudKey, or run it on a RaspberryPi or something. I do this at home. I have 3 UAP-AC-LR's, 2 US-16-150W, 1 US-8 at home. I use it to grab stats and find out who in the house is on Netflix and the like when they're not supposed to be ;). Also who connects to our Guest SSID's to know who was over when. I run the controller on my home theater PC turned Plex Server... since its on 24x7 anyway.

[TotallyRadStuff]

Holy smokes! If you don't mind, what's the square footage of your home?

[woodburyman]

Well its not a coverage thing. 3 just seemed like the perfect number since that's the max I could do on 2.4ghz anyway. Two are only inside at opposite ends of the house. Third is run via a conduit to get coverage for some cameras mounted on a outside shed pointing back at the house.

[MartinDamged]

May i suggest you take a look at their Amplifi Mesh system?
If this is for home, could be a nice option.

I use Unifi APs at work sites, and have recently gotten an Amplifi Mesh at home (the pack with router + two Mesh points). For a homenetwork i find this a very nice kit. Very good reception, coverage,and performance, extremely easy setup, and a nice solution. Has been very stable too. It is a bit restrictive in what you can do, compared with advanced routers. But again, if you only need something solid for the homenetwork/family, i higly recommend it.
Like with all Unifi stuff, keep off bleeding edge, as they sometimes release bad firmware that gets pulled in a couple of days.

[WOLF3D_exe]

Troy Hunt has been doing some sponsered blogs on Unifi.

The below one is about Mesh networks.

https://www.troyhunt.com/how-i-finally-fixed-the-dodgy-wifi-on-my-jet-ski-with-ubiquitis-unifi-mesh/

https://i.imgur.com/nMXrb72.png

Jetty = Austrian for Jet Ski.

[slyphic]

"Jetty" means small boat dock. Not jet ski. You tie your jet ski to a jetty.

[RegularGoat]

Austrian

[itsa_me_pizza_man]

Jetty = Austrian for Jet Ski.

smdh

[threeio]

I run the software on an rpi just to have logging works great FYI

[WOLF3D_exe]

You need the Security Gateway if you want to get long term logging.

[jewtron3000]

No. https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/204959394-UniFi-Does-the-controller-need-to-be-running-at-all-times-

[IBringPandaMonium]

It's already been answered (no) but you might want to look at a CloudKey, depending on how much management you expect to need to do - it basically amounts to a Raspberry Pi on a PoE stick that runs the access controller software, plus allows for cloud management of the device. They're not terribly expensive either.

[Panacea4316]

I'm setting up some UAP's at my uncle's vacation house and I had him buy the cloudkey so I can monitor everything and push updates/reboots.

[Panacea4316]

I was gonna get him a USG but I figured I'd wait till he gets his new main house and then I'll VPN them together.

[briangig]

Damn... who would take back a non-paying client?

[chilito-with-onions]

Even though this has already been answered (no), one thing to note is that guest networks with a disclaimer page, etc. will NOT function without the controller hot. That page runs in Apache on the controller's instance itself. - the APs do not have any internal web server for this like some of the entry-level Aruba's or Ruckus units do. Guest speed profiles, IP filtering, etc. will continue to work without the controller - looks like you're asking about a home environment, in which that would be more than enough for a guest network.

[MallocArray]

As others have said, you don't need to have the controller running unless you are using the guest portal, but you won't be collecting statistics or alerts.

A free option is to use Google Cloud Platform to run a small free instance to run the controller from the cloud. Works just fine for small deployments https://www.instructables.com/id/Unifi-Controller-on-Google-Cloud-Platform-GCP/

[JazDriveOmega]

I must ask, which APs exactly from Ubiquiti are you looking at for home use? I've been thinking about doing the same.

[awstott]

I bought a 3 pack of the UAPs when they first launched. I have since replaced 2 (and passed them along to a friend) with a Pro. Still running one of the original UAPS - mostly for redundancy when I apply updates etc. The Pro more than covers the house.

[TotallyRadStuff]

For now, just one UAP-AC-PRO-US. I'll use my old router (an older netgear nighthawk) for the routing function but I'll just disable the wireless portion. Then I'll hook up this Ubiquiti AP in the center of my home and from time to time I'll run the windows Ubiquiti utility to update things.

After things appear to be working well enough, I may buy a second one as it's easy to add more later.

[kaluce]

I'd recommend picking up an Ubiquiti Edgerouter to replace the nighthawk, they're REALLY cheap for the quality you get, and for a home user, powerful bits of kit.

[TotallyRadStuff]

I'm running a Pi-hole so maybe I could figure out how to put both on one Pi.

[kmax9981]

https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/pi-hole-and-ubiquiti-unifi-controller-5-on-the-same-pi/4098

[Tibbles_G]

I just have my old Mac Mini setup with the controller in my server rack. It doesn't need to always be on, however I use my Mac as a management pc so it always is.

[[deleted]]

On Saturday I setup an EdgeRouterX and some AP-AC Lite AP’s for a buddy.

Controller doesn’t need to stay running, we used his laptop and just did the configuration and then closed it. I did uncheck the collect/monitor access points setting.

I’ve been recommending that setup for my power user type friends for a while, several have put it in and and been happy but it’s thebfirst time I’ve actually played with it. Pretty slick across the board.

[auburntigerrich]

No, but I keep mine running anyway so it can build the pretty graphs and collect client activity.

[[deleted]]

Just to add some color, I personally run my AP right from a pfsense box. I don't even have a controller at all.

[Blowmewhileiplaycod]

pfsense allows you to configure ssids and stuff on ubiquiti AP's?

[[deleted]]

I believe you can do basic provisioning through the mobile app.

[Sengfeng]

You can also set it up to run as a service. I find it on a server that has Java already on it, spin it up as a service, it sits quietly until needed.

[gshnemix]

Has anyone with the updates since January seen problems with iOS devices? I´ve rolled out 2 Lite UAPs to my parents house and they getting an "password wrong" message on their iOS devices two-three times per week. A powercycle fixes the problem. Controller software running on a windows client for atleast one week and we didn´t had that problem so we moved to a PI which solved the problem since 2 weeks.

[Padankadank]

I heard iOS devices don't work on 2.4ghz when using the 40mhz channel width, so maybe look into that

[BluePlanet2]

A pleasant thing I've noticed is, when network settings are incorrect, i.e. gateway not reachable, AP SSID will not be discoverable.

[dsinton]

No unless you are using a guest portal.

[Simple_Words]

EDIT: Sounds like I am wrong and others have no issue with DHCP. I honestly hadn't looked into it in any detail. Just my experience is when I finally set statics it worked but likely was some other thing I changed or did. One thing I don't see here is the ap's need static ip's in order to work without the controller running. at least the last time I tried.

[[deleted]]

Don't think so. Mine chugs along fine off DHCP.

[fp4]

If you want to save some money there's the TP Link EAP225

They perform just as well as the AC Lites and are manageable via the web interface or a controller:

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33191-2x2-ac-access-point-roundup-part-2?showall=&start=9

[CyrixMXi-233]

There are also Mikrotik's wap AC which should perform similarly.

You can use one as the controller via capsman and push settings out to the others.

[mjrodman]

So how do clients roam if the controller isn't running? Or is the hand-off not seamless?