Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
So I just abandoned my existing AP, and adopted it into the new controller, this of course meant that I was without wireless for the transition.
Not a huge ordeal as I simply enabled the wireless on my router for the short transition.
My question is there a better way to have done this?
Not if your only access to the controller is on a wireless network that the AP is providing.
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@JaredBusch said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
So I just abandoned my existing AP, and adopted it into the new controller, this of course meant that I was without wireless for the transition.
Not a huge ordeal as I simply enabled the wireless on my router for the short transition.
My question is there a better way to have done this?
Not if your only access to the controller is on a wireless network that the AP is providing.
Well that was what I meant. I connected to the LAN (old wireless) and had access to the AP from both sides, but I didn't see anyway to have the new controller adopt the AP without abandoning it and then adopting it.
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@JaredBusch said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
So I just abandoned my existing AP, and adopted it into the new controller, this of course meant that I was without wireless for the transition.
Not a huge ordeal as I simply enabled the wireless on my router for the short transition.
My question is there a better way to have done this?
Not if your only access to the controller is on a wireless network that the AP is providing.
Well that was what I meant. I connected to the LAN (old wireless) and had access to the AP from both sides, but I didn't see anyway to have the new controller adopt the AP without abandoning it and then adopting it.
What you should have done is backup and restore the controller from one system to another, then changed the DNS entry. The AP would have just found the new home.
If you do not do a backup/restore to move the controller, then yes, you have to forget the AP on the old one and adopt it on the new one.
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I was able to restore the wireless settings by downloading the autobackup and then importing it into the new controller.
So all I would've had to do what change the DNS entry for the controller?
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
I was able to restore the wireless settings by downloading the autobackup and then importing it into the new controller.
So all I would've had to do what change the DNS entry for the controller?
Yup. All of the UniFi line simply look for for a DNS value of unifi if their controller goes missing at the IP they knew.
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In the EdgeMax line, they even have a location for you to specify a controller IP in the DHCP server config. I wish they would update that to allow a DNS name, but I think it sets a DHCP option behind the scenes that requires IP, so it is not something they can control.
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This is probably a dumb question, but why isn't there a way to change the controller from within the existing controller?
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
I was able to restore the wireless settings by downloading the autobackup and then importing it into the new controller.
So all I would've had to do what change the DNS entry for the controller?
Even this wouldn't be required if you don't have a DNS entry on the local (think home) network, as it will do a broadcast and find the new controller.
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And the reason I ask that is what if you had to upgrade the controller for some future case of "upgrading inline isn't support"
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
And the reason I ask that is what if you had to upgrade the controller for some future case of "upgrading inline isn't support"
That's not the current model. Sure AD does that, just stand up a new AD box joined to the old AD, and assuming DNS is updated, all works.
But Ubiquiti hasn't designed this system with application failover built in. -
@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
And the reason I ask that is what if you had to upgrade the controller for some future case of "upgrading inline isn't support"
Companies have killed themselves like this before. You can be certain it would hurt them if they did something stupid like that.
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@JaredBusch Yeah my question is odd, just was trying to determine what would be a reason for installing a new controller.
It is an odd line of thinking, I know.
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In my case, my lab was down, so to get the AP up and playing with it I created a controller using a windows desktop.
Obviously this wasn't ideal, so when my lab was up (today) did I get a ubuntu system up and running with the controller software.
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@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@JaredBusch Yeah my question is odd, just was trying to determine what would be a reason for installing a new controller.
It is an odd line of thinking, I know.
I want to install a new controller, you just install the same version as existing, make a backup, restore backup, change DNS. done.
I have done it more than one time over the years.
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@JaredBusch said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@DustinB3403 said in Unifi - Migrate AP between controllers:
@JaredBusch Yeah my question is odd, just was trying to determine what would be a reason for installing a new controller.
It is an odd line of thinking, I know.
I want to install a new controller, you just install the same version as existing, make a backup, restore backup, change DNS. done.
I have done it more than one time over the years.
This assumes you have a DNS server on your network that you control. If you have no local DNS server, this is a non issue, the AP will find the controller based on broadcast.
