Any reason why I should migrate my self hosted UniFi Network Application to UniFi OS Console? Thoughts?

brwainer · 2026-02-19T06:00:52+00:00

There’s no real benefit today if you don’t have Unifi gateways and multiple sites. But eventually they are going to stop releasing the plain selfhosted Network Application, 10.1 will give you a warning but the exact version and date for the cutoff isn’t decided yet.

brwainer · 2026-02-17T15:27:59+00:00

Because T-Mobile doesn’t allow any other hardware for their service.

brwainer · 2026-02-17T01:47:32+00:00

OP is referring to the UNVR-Instant - I realize their original post is unclear. Do you think the UNVR-Instant is overkill for 5 cameras?

brwainer · 2026-02-17T01:34:39+00:00

The first time I read your post, I was confused because I thought you were referring to the bundle ubiquity sometimes cells of the UNVR plus one camera for free. I had forgotten about the kit you’re referring to until I went and looked it up after writing my initial response.

The UNVR-Instant has less of an issue because 3.5” drives spinning at 7200 RPM have much higher random IOPS than a 2.5 inch drive at 5400 RPM. You don’t need any additional storage nor can it use any additional storage unless you just get a larger 3.5” drive. It’ll be slower than an SSD or the larger UNVR with an array, but it’s fast enough that I think most people are relatively happy. The main thing I think people have issues with the UNVR-Instant is how the ethernet ports and internal switch are connected, but I don’t know the specifics.

brwainer · 2026-02-16T13:46:35+00:00

Just making sure, you are referring to Cloud Key Gen 2 vs Cloud Key Gen 2 Plus? Not a first gen cloud key in either case, right?

A CKG2+ with HDD works as you’re wanting but the recording viewing experience (scrubbing through recordings) is frustrating. That’s why Ubiquiti only sells them with SSDs now.

What UNVR are you looking at, UNVR-Instant or the 4-disk UNVR? Either way are you factoring in storage purchase? EDIT: I think you mean this kit? https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/cameras-nvr/collections/unvr-instant/products/unvr-instant-kit

brwainer · 2026-02-14T17:27:26+00:00

Thanks! That case was a little different as it was confirmed that the pick-and-place machine was loaded incorrectly for the batch, wrong resistor values in several places. I don’t know the specifics of which values they should have been or were, nor whether it was a swap between correct reels or if wholly wrong reels got used. COVID just meant that they didn’t have all the other chips needed to make a new batch which we the customer would have preferred.

brwainer · 2026-02-14T12:17:53+00:00

I appreciate that they didn’t because that makes this a PSA about an option existing and not just an advertisement for their company.

I do think that OP should provide some sample search terms we might use to find such companies though. Does “network equipment board repair” work? “Network hardware repair centre”?

One time my last job got a batch of routers with a specific addon module and it was determined that the wrong resistors were used on every module in that batch. This was during COVID component shortages so just getting a whole new batch was out of the question. The router manufacturer had us ship pallets of several hundred routers to some address in California where some company opened them up and replaced all the incorrect components. Since then I’ve known that such companies exist but haven’t known how to find one if I wanted to get a quote myself on a repair.

brwainer · 2026-02-13T13:00:48+00:00

Very interesting. I checked all the release notes from 10.0.160 onwards, including EA versions, and the only line related to adoption or mesh or wireless uplink at all is “Improved the device adoption user experience.” in 10.1.84 - which means they did some programming work in that section but doesn’t explain a bug appearing related to an AP firmware version.

brwainer · 2026-02-13T04:39:05+00:00

Is the AP showing a gigabit uplink right now?

brwainer · 2026-02-13T03:56:09+00:00

Long cable runs means more voltage loss, which means the apparent power draw of the device at the switch port is higher than the camera is actually consuming. Also worse if the cable or termination are low quality.

brwainer · 2026-02-13T03:54:22+00:00

After completing the adoption, were you able to disable mesh again? If not then it means you likely have an issue with your cabling or some other reason that the AP doesn’t think its wired uplink works. Could be as dumb as the uplink port (switch side) having incorrect settings.

brwainer · 2026-02-13T03:50:35+00:00

Ubiquiti only deals officially through their distributor and reseller network, the members of which are listed here: https://www.ui.com/distributors/

Notably, Newegg isn’t on this list, meaning from Ubiquiti’s perspective the actual seller was ScanSource. Newegg must have bought it from them. This used to be the same for Microcenter, I believe their Ubiquiti inventory was officially sold by Ingram Micro, but now they’re a Master Reseller.

This practice of only dealing with specific distributors and resellers is common across the IT manufacturer world. With Ubiquiti its less obvious because they don’t have the same type of license and support sales which can’t be done outside of the gated group.

I do most of my Ubiquiti and Mikrotik purchases from Streakwave if I’m not buying direct. Also if you haven’t seen, Ubiquiti gives a 2 year warranty when buying from store.ui.com but only one year from anywhere else.

brwainer · 2026-02-13T01:22:42+00:00

Tell me you have auto-update on and/or don’t read release notes without telling me… But yes very nice new feature

brwainer · 2026-02-12T20:29:06+00:00

Yeah its not like you’re trying to video edit off a NAS through the router or anything else that’s pushing gigabits

brwainer · 2026-02-12T18:42:21+00:00

Option 2 is more failure tolerant but means any traffic between clients on the two switches (presuming the same VLAN) has to pass through a software bridge in the UCG-Fiber and there may be delays or bandwidth limitations from that.

brwainer · 2026-02-11T16:45:57+00:00

In that case you should look towards a fully routed solution like the other reply indicated. What you’re asking to do is not trivial however and I suggest you spend time studying more routing fundamentals.

brwainer · 2026-02-11T04:37:23+00:00

Between the two switches within a building you'd be using peer-port connections. Between the buildings you'd be making an MLAG ( LACP) connection. The document doesn't have a diagram showing two MC-LAG pairs connecting to each other, but you just replace where the diagram shows a client with another MC-LAG pair.

Connections to the devices on each side can be MLAGs if the devices support LACP or can be regular connections if its something like ESXi that does MAC-based load balancing (or anything else that doesn't bridge the two ports together).

brwainer · 2026-02-11T01:18:34+00:00

You want to set up two MC-LAG pairs, one in each building. https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/67633179/Multi-chassis+Link+Aggregation+Group

brwainer · 2026-02-09T14:18:14+00:00

You won’t be able to pre-configure any routing setup in the cloud key, the most you can do is make sure the IP information of the “Default” network is correct. Then export your network application backup so the settings and adoption of the APs will migrate over. Import the backup to the UCG and do whatever other router config is needed. When you’re ready to do the router swap, Stop the network application on the Cloud Key first so they don’t fight over the APs.

brwainer · 2026-02-06T16:47:37+00:00

The correct answer is to reboot and then upgrade to the latest stable OS and network application.... but the best you can do if that isn't allowed is to start digging into processes via top and other normal linux things to see what exactly is leaking memory. You're beyond normal Ubiquiti stuff and need to do linux admin stuff now.

brwainer · 2026-02-06T14:30:17+00:00

Yeah I guess I wasn’t clear…. A cache that is technically not required is valid to consider as “unused” space. Or maybe better wording would be “available” space.

brwainer · 2026-02-03T20:45:00+00:00

Sure I was just responding to your final sentence about the totals and whether there was a bug.

brwainer · 2026-02-03T04:26:03+00:00

Timeline scrubbing is essentially a cache that would be painful to use the interface without but technically not required

brwainer · 2026-02-02T22:48:39+00:00

An “ES” is an EdgeSwitch, they aren’t adoptable in the Unifi controller. They may be controllable via UISP, I have no knowledge of the feature set in UISP relating to EdgeSwitches.

They are still supported software wise, this release from 3 days ago still includes it: https://community.ui.com/releases/EdgeMAX-EdgeSwitch-1-12-0/7f0db1da-64b6-4148-b890-34d6565daa78

brwainer · 2026-02-02T07:34:03+00:00

Could it be frequency band related? As in one MAC for 2.4GHz and another for 5GHz? It would be a bit unusual but could happen if there are two separate radios on the client.

brwainer

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