How Do You Do Your Unifi Controller?

[FN-GM]

Hello,

 

I am looking at using Unfi Wireless. I was looking at running it on a Windows VM however it appears to be install it in the users profile and this isn't ideal. What do people do about this please?

 

Maybe there is another solution? I don't really want to use the hardware cloud key.

 

Thanks

[Arthur]

I was looking at running it on a Windows VM however it appears to be install it in the users profile and this isn't ideal. What do people do about this please?

It's possible to run the UniFi controller as a service on Windows. I haven't tried it myself, but it doesn't look too complicated.

 

• https://blog.workinghardinit.work/2018/08/30/running-the-ubiquiti-unifi-controller-as-a-service
  
• https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205144550-UniFi-Run-the-Controller-as-a-Windows-service
  

Maybe there is another solution? I don't really want to use the hardware cloud key.

Is a Linux VM or Docker container (running on Linux) also an option?

 

• https://hub.docker.com/r/jacobalberty/unifi/
   
  

  Note. Unifi uses mongo store its data. Mongo uses the fsync() system call on its data files. Because of how Docker for Windows works you can't bind mount /unifi/db/data on a Docker for Windows container. Therefore -v ~/unifi:/unifi won't work.

   
   
  
• https://crosstalksolutions.com/definitive-guide-to-hosted-unifi (also applies to Linux if you skip the VPS bit at the beginning)
  

Edited April 14, 2020 by Arthur

[kidpressingbuttons]

Honestly the cloud key is the best bet- very inexpensive in terms of the whole solution and it works brilliantly.

 

Ive had the Application Server and the Cloud key and would highly recommend them both.

[FN-GM]

Thanks - However we cannot use the Cloud Key due to a number of reasons.

 

Thanks

[Simcfc73]

I used it as a service prior to moving to the cloud key.

 

You can easily move the install from the user profile to anywhere else, you just need to change the shortcut to point to it. Updates are a pain though as you need to stop the service, uninstall it.. do the update then reverse it.

[CAWJames]

I have it running in Ubuntu in a hyper-v VM at work, and my home system runs in Docker on Debian. Fit and forget, both work well

[BroganOs]

I’ve it running on a server core vm using these instructions https://coltonrepair.com/how-to-s/server-core/3-running-a-unifi-controller-in-windows-server-core[\URL]

[MatthewL]

We have ours on a Linux box, as our Aruba fails or we need new sites adding we just add them to Unifi. I think we have about 160 AP's with a couple of sites on USG's aswell as the odd switch.

 

I have mine running on a Pi at home with 3 AP's and have run it on Windows as service but find Linux better.

[computer_expert]

I run several on a mix of debian and ubuntu VMs. Updating is pretty simple too - just run 'apt upgrade' and it stops, upgrades and starts everything back up again.

 

I've always found it easier to run on linux.

[synaesthesia]

Ubuntu server here, about as simple as they come and takes next to no resource.

[jamwatn]

Happily running on a Pi3 here for a year and a half.

[FN-GM]

Thanks. Looks like it will be a Linux box. Looks like it will be easier going forward.

[FN-GM]

Well that was easy. I installed the latest Ubuntu Server LTS and ran the following commands.

 

sudo apt update 
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk -y

echo 'deb http://www.ui.com/downloads/unifi/debian stable ubiquiti' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/100-ubnt-unifi.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 0C49F3730359A14518585931BC711F9BA15703C6
echo "deb http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv 06E85760C0A52C50
sudo apt update
sudo apt install unifi -y

 

I also installed Cockpit as it's easy to see key server information in a web interface.

 

sudo apt-get install cockpit -y

 

Thanks to those who replied

Edited April 16, 2020 by FN-GM