Ubiquiti Wifi

[synaesthesia]

Yes, to run it in the cloud; the only guarantee of service you get via that is that as a hosted service, it runs; it's up to you to plan, configure etc no different to if you host the controller internally (which you're far better off doing)

[Chris_]

Looking in to upgrading our Meru wireless over the next few months, could any one let me know what their tech support is like?, with regards to resolutions\ response times etc..

 

They offer 24/7 support. I've had some quick resolutions to simple queries via the online chat, on the other hand I've got an ongoing case open with them about getting UniFi radius authentication working with Smoothwall, this has been going on for a few months, and due to their support being in the US there can be delays with responses.

[abillybob]

Just deployed a new Unifi solution here. We have an Ubuntu VM as the controller. Since putting in the new AP's AC-Mesh Outdoor and AC-Pro's it's been perfect. Before I got here there was a lot of problems with the Wifi... Still Unifi but very old the controller was running version 2.0 something! They also only has Unifi AP Outdoor's running on 2.4Ghz which where terrible, frequent packet loss and just slow all around even when only 1 device was connected to the AP. Since putting in the new stuff it's worked brilliantly!

[nicholab]

I still stuck between the pro or the new HD's for inside. I like the idea of unifi but there is no one to help you if it goes wrong. I am very tempted just to go unifi and slap an AP where the current Netgear WNDAP360 units are which I am not keen on.

[mullet_man]

Looking in to upgrading our Meru wireless over the next few months, could any one let me know what their tech support is like?, with regards to resolutions\ response times etc..

 

We are moving to Unifi over the summer, replacing our current Meru kit.

 

Am hoping there isn’t much to go wrong with it, I believe there isn’t a tech support to ring but you get support from the forums and think you can access support via chat in the controller software (I might be wrong here, am sure I saw someone mention this)

 

Looks like we are going to go Pro APs and the Mesh for a couple of external APs.

 

Out of interest what Meru kit are you replacing? We currently have the 4200 Controller with 320is and 320 APs. All work fine but we are over 6 years in and have no support with Meru as t costs a fortune and have issues with iOS devices which I’ve never seen a fix for.

[nicholab]

How are people getting on with the pro vs the hd did you go with say a third of the expensive units and two thirds the pro unit? We currently have an external netgear aerial which I would need a unifi external for.

[maxrebo]

We are moving to Unifi over the summer, replacing our current Meru kit.

 

Am hoping there isn’t much to go wrong with it, I believe there isn’t a tech support to ring but you get support from the forums and think you can access support via chat in the controller software (I might be wrong here, am sure I saw someone mention this)

 

Looks like we are going to go Pro APs and the Mesh for a couple of external APs.

 

Out of interest what Meru kit are you replacing? We currently have the 4200 Controller with 320is and 320 APs. All work fine but we are over 6 years in and have no support with Meru as t costs a fortune and have issues with iOS devices which I’ve never seen a fix for.

 

Do you work in my school? lol

We have exactly the same kit as you, they work fine but ours was also put in around 2012/13 and yes, the Meru support is rather a lot for the few times we actually use it.

Its a bit of a risk but we don`t use the WIFI to an advanced level so we probably don`t need a all singing all dancing setup.

 

Im very happy so far with our test Unifi setup

[mullet_man]

Do you work in my school? lol

We have exactly the same kit as you, they work fine but ours was also put in around 2012/13 and yes, the Meru support is rather a lot for the few times we actually use it.

Its a bit of a risk but we don`t use the WIFI to an advanced level so we probably don`t need a all singing all dancing setup.

 

Im very happy so far with our test Unifi setup

 

Hi!

 

Yep school here. Ours was installed 2012 and we are out of support for the last few years am fairly sure Meru require you to back date support/Maintainence before they will do anything so it will cost a bomb for us to get any form of support.

 

In terms of the kit obviously Meru was expensive at the time but am not sure we have or would ever need something like that in the future. We certainly couldn’t afford a like for like replacement in today’s current climate.

 

The Unifi kit seems perfect for us, we’ve tested one AC Pro and everything we have Device wise seems to connect fine so that’s good, like I’ve mentioned our big issue with Meru is the iOS issue which is something we struggle with on a day to day basis as have a fair few iPads around the building.

 

What kind of numbers are you replacing? We’ve got about 68 APs and are going to be replacing with more Unifi to cover a few areas which we’re having issues.

 

The only thing I need to get my head around and some other Unifi users might be able to help

 

The software is it best on a Linux VM? Or do we purchase the cloud key?

 

I’ve noticed the pro APs have two network ports what is secondary one used for?

[Katy]

Hi!

 

Yep school here. Ours was installed 2012 and we are out of support for the last few years am fairly sure Meru require you to back date support/Maintainence before they will do anything so it will cost a bomb for us to get any form of support.

 

In terms of the kit obviously Meru was expensive at the time but am not sure we have or would ever need something like that in the future. We certainly couldn’t afford a like for like replacement in today’s current climate.

 

The Unifi kit seems perfect for us, we’ve tested one AC Pro and everything we have Device wise seems to connect fine so that’s good, like I’ve mentioned our big issue with Meru is the iOS issue which is something we struggle with on a day to day basis as have a fair few iPads around the building.

 

What kind of numbers are you replacing? We’ve got about 68 APs and are going to be replacing with more Unifi to cover a few areas which we’re having issues.

 

The only thing I need to get my head around and some other Unifi users might be able to help

 

The software is it best on a Linux VM? Or do we purchase the cloud key?

 

I’ve noticed the pro APs have two network ports what is secondary one used for?

 

We run ours on a linux VM, 21 APs. Free vs paying for the cloud key was an obvious choice, I think the cloud key is aimed at smaller installations where you can't just spin up a VM for the controller.

 

Not 100% sure but I think the second port is so you can get 2Gbps throughput (or maybe 1Gbps per antenna) if you connect two cables.

[IrritableTech]

The software is it best on a Linux VM? Or do we purchase the cloud key?

I’ve noticed the pro APs have two network ports what is secondary one used for?

 

The cloud key is excellent (I have one at home) but I think they are sold as supporting no more than 25 devices. We use the windows unifi controller for our 45 APs. It's just best to move the install out of the user data and up the memory available to the java process - out of the box it is limited to 1GB.

 

I don't believe the second port is currently supported - for future expansion is my understanding at the mo.

[chazzy2501]

The controller runs in JAVA so it can run on Windows, mac or Linux. I'm using a windows server VM and run mine as a service. You can buy the cloud key or their cloud service. I liked the idea though of using my servers to run it. (so my backup etc.)

[Simcfc73]

Still find it funny they stick the install in the c:\users bit of windows.

 

We've got a couple of pro units for testing and am hopign to change out Ruckus stuff for it over the summer. Just need to work out the guest portal facility as the Ruckus stuff took a bit of tweakign to get it working with SW.

 

With our current system we have blocks of APS which we manage and we can allocate SSIDs to them whenever we like, couldnt see that facility in the Unifi stuff when you group the units unless I am missing something.

[Chris_]

I’ve noticed the pro APs have two network ports what is secondary one used for?

 

Not 100% sure but I think the second port is so you can get 2Gbps throughput (or maybe 1Gbps per antenna) if you connect two cables.

 

You can use the seconary port for connecting another device, PC etc.. I guess it could be useful in areas where there's only a single network cable and you need an AP and a PC.

[mullet_man]

You can use the seconary port for connecting another device, PC etc.. I guess it could be useful in areas where there's only a single network cable and you need an AP and a PC.

 

Ah ok thanks - I needed to weigh up if we are patching in both ports but obviously this isn’t the case then.

 

Luckily as a new build we have double high level sockets in every classroom.

[nicholab]

I would like to talk to some Unifi edugeek users please could PM me (even better if you are in Birmingham)?

[Guest obsidianpillar]

I would like to talk to some Unifi edugeek users please could PM me (even better if you are in Birmingham)?

I use UniFi, and am currently in Birmingham (although we don't use UniFi where I am at the minute). I've deployed and maintained environments that use purely UniFi in the past though.

 

Cheers.

[IrritableTech]

Still find it funny they stick the install in the c:\users bit of windows.

We've got a couple of pro units for testing and am hopign to change out Ruckus stuff for it over the summer. Just need to work out the guest portal facility as the Ruckus stuff took a bit of tweakign to get it working with SW.

With our current system we have blocks of APS which we manage and we can allocate SSIDs to them whenever we like, couldnt see that facility in the Unifi stuff when you group the units unless I am missing something.

 

Yeah - they really need to fix that by default, I can't really see a good reason to have it there.

You can create WLAN groups in the Wireless Networks area of settings. Click the pen in the top right of the page to add another group and clone the SSIDs over (if required). May do what you're after.

[Guest obsidianpillar]

Yeah - they really need to fix that by default, I can't really see a good reason to have it there.

You can create WLAN groups in the Wireless Networks area of settings. Click the pen in the top right of the page to add another group and clone the SSIDs over (if required). May do what you're after.

 

You can assign WLAN Groups to AP's within the controller, you have to select that by selecting the AP tho within the controller.

 

That's the way I've already done it, and its worked well depending on block, floor etc (Depending on usage case).

 

Context example is whereby before I've assigned a single AP within the Server Room to broadcast an SSID with our CCTV VLAN on, for monitoring by us over WiFi when we're in there.

 

Definitely works well, hope this helps.

 

Cheers.

[chazzy2501]

I like this feature:

 

 

and if you're insane:

 

[Guest obsidianpillar]

I like this feature:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48768[/ATTACH]

 

and if you're insane:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]48769[/ATTACH]

 

True! I like that feature. It's one I don't use that regularly, tho.

[kidpressingbuttons]

Thanks everyone for your advice and feedback! Budget has been approved to replace 20 ruckus aps with 25 ac pros next academic year.