First Time Setup of UniFi Network
I set up a Ubiquiti UniFi network the other day. Most networking equipment doesn't possess the beautiful design and display as that of Ubiquity. The silver color and sleek blue lighting have vast eye appeal. This was fantastically frustrating as I was dealing with something new that seemed to have a variety of problems. As one who likes to take on new challenges, I figure I would post to help others be aware of issues I had if you also make the decision to set up one of these networks.
For the picture in the beginning of this post, the green ethernet cable connects to the Internet, the yellow cables connect the UniFi Security Gateway (USG) to the 8 port switch and the 8 port switch to the 16 port switch, and the white cable from the 16 port switch connects to the Ubiquiti Access Point (AP).
Configuring the UniFi Cloud Key Controller
The first problem I had was getting the UniFi Cloud Key controller (version 1) capable of being able to run the network. Yes, I know that version 2 is much more eye appealing but I only had a version 1 on hand. The biggest issue I had was exercising patience. The system will attempt to auto-download updates but in my haste to get this system up and running, I wanted the system to work NOW instead of allowing the unused system time to download and install the various required updates to the system. What I ended up doing was installing the UniFi controller software on my laptop computer, "adopting" the USG (aka the router), and two switches (adopting is the taking management control of the equipment via the controller), then ensuring that the software updates were installed on the switches and the USG while the Cloud Key downloaded the necessary firmware updates that it required to control the network.
The key takeaway is to plug everything in to the Internet, then wait for the system to auto-update! The software updates VERY slowly, so if you intend to deploy this, my recommendation is to plug everything in, factory reset it (push and hold the reset button for up to 30 seconds), then let it sit out overnight.
Working with the Right Firmware
After getting past the first problem of being patient and allowing the Cloud Key firmware to update, I had to remove devices from my laptop software controlling the equipment to allow them to be adopted by the Cloud Key controller. This was quite easy and the adoption process took a couple of minutes. The next step was to setup the local area network IP range that I wanted my devices to use as the default 192.168.1.1 is not my preferred setup (and should not be for you either - so please change it). Under the networking tab, I updated the IP to 10.X.X.X, saved my changes, then rebooted the cloud key.
This is where my next challenge occurred. If you change the IP scheme, you must manually reboot the equipment (unplug or push the reset button) to make the equipment accept the changed address scheme. Yes, this was the first time I used UniFi so I spent an embarrassing amount of time googling what was wrong. Experience is the best teacher so letting others know that these were my biggest downfalls is me hoping others don't have the same problems I have when they try to set up their systems when upgrading.
Final Thoughts
Ubiquiti UniFi equipment provides a very eye appealing design and graphical user interface (GUI) for those who want to upgrade to a next level of networking equipment. Aside from waiting for software updates of the Cloud Key (yes I was using Gen 1) the ONLY issue is how long it takes for the equipment to reboot. Many times the Cloud Key would take up to 10 minutes to complete the reboot so I would go off and do other things, then come back and start up again. Besides that, the interface is very well done, and I hope others out there who use UniFi can exercise more patience in order to experience this well crafted networking infrastructure that is quickly increasing in popularity.