Unifi Switch adventures
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This thread will more or less just be me rambling about my install of my new US-48-500W Unifi switch.
Out of the box, it looks like a normal switch. One thing of note, the rack mount ears are part of the case, not removable.
it's also noticeably less deep than my HP switches.
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I connected the switch to my network (VLAN 1/Default VLAN) and my controller found it instantly.
I adopted it, upgraded the firmware and it's now online.
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Time to add the first AP
My current desire is to put the AP on the 105 VLAN. So i created a 105 VLAN and tried making that the default for the port the AP is attached to.
https://i.imgur.com/KWMlBUz.png
You'll also notice that you have to pick 24V Passive, the default is PoE+. I'm using UAP AC Lite units, and these use 24V Passive, not PoE+.
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This configuration didn't work.
I am guessing it's because DHCP Relay isn't working, but that's just a guess for now.
So I changed the Networks to LAN (the default LAN name) and the controller saw the AP, I adapted it, updated it, it was great. I moved it back to the wireless 105 network, and, nope, still won't connect (but I haven't confirmed if this switch has DHCP Relay on by default or not).
Here is my DHCP setup
https://i.imgur.com/ecLdpEU.png -
Tried something else - I put the AP back on the LAN network on it's port, and changed the Wireless network called Company-guest to use the 105 VLAN.
Nope no go...
Removed the VLAN setting, which as far as I can tell, tells the AP to put the wireless client on the same network it's on.
and now my laptop is working.
I'm out for tonight, pick this up tomorrow.
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So what is the difference between the Unifi Switch and EdgeSwitch? Apart from the management from the Unifi Controller ?
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@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
Tried something else - I put the AP back on the LAN network on it's port, and changed the Wireless network called Company-guest to use the 105 VLAN.
Nope no go...
Removed the VLAN setting, which as far as I can tell, tells the AP to put the wireless client on the same network it's on.
and now my laptop is working.
I'm out for tonight, pick this up tomorrow.
This is why I went with an EdgeSwitch. The controller seems really limited, so unless you do everything through cli, it looked like it would be a pain. Here's the VLAN configs for mine:
The config for VLAN 20, which is all of the non-server home stuff like laptops, rokus, etc.
And here's the summary:
The APs are on 07 and 08.
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@stacksofplates said in Unifi Switch adventures:
@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
Tried something else - I put the AP back on the LAN network on it's port, and changed the Wireless network called Company-guest to use the 105 VLAN.
Nope no go...
Removed the VLAN setting, which as far as I can tell, tells the AP to put the wireless client on the same network it's on.
and now my laptop is working.
I'm out for tonight, pick this up tomorrow.
This is why I went with an EdgeSwitch. The controller seems really limited, so unless you do everything through cli, it looked like it would be a pain. Here's the VLAN configs for mine:
This is a time where a CLI would probably be much more straight forward. I decided I would toss myself to the wolves and give ML a review of someone actually using the Unifi switches (cost was nearly the same as EdgeSwitches).
It really hasn't been that bad so far. I have to account for the learning time in this process as well.
FYI, if the GUI doesn't have what you need - Unifi does download a json based file from the controller as well that you can put GUILess commands into.
I've done this in the past for a USG (the Unifi Security Gateway). -
OK, first thing this morning I setup a static IP address on the 105 VLAN on my laptop, configured the switch port for untagged 105 on that port and it is working.
So at least I know traffic is passing.
Now to get the switch to forward the DHCP request.
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OK I found my issue.
I have several VLANs but I'm only providing DHCP for two of them, As it turns out, my Cisco 4400 wireless controller was handling the IP Helper -address portion, not my router.
My router didn't have a helper at all.
Once I added the helper IP to the router, all is well, at least on the laptop. Now to test wireless.
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@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
FYI, if the GUI doesn't have what you need - Unifi does download a json based file from the controller as well that you can put GUILess commands into.
I've done this in the past for a USG (the Unifi Security Gateway).I wondered if this was the case. That's nice, so you can copy your configs to everything just like with the EdgeSwitch.
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@stacksofplates said in Unifi Switch adventures:
@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
FYI, if the GUI doesn't have what you need - Unifi does download a json based file from the controller as well that you can put GUILess commands into.
I've done this in the past for a USG (the Unifi Security Gateway).I wondered if this was the case. That's nice, so you can copy your configs to everything just like with the EdgeSwitch.
Sure, I suppose you could, but the GUI makes it really so you don't have to.
You build networks in the GUI that are site wide, so all switches will pull in the defaults of those networks you create. Then you go and adjust the ports as desired (see my picture above of a port config).
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@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
Sure, I suppose you could, but the GUI makes it really so you don't have to.
Unless you have stuff in there that you can't do in the GUI. Like with the ERL, you can't set zone policies through the GUI, it's all cli.
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@stacksofplates said in Unifi Switch adventures:
@Dashrender said in Unifi Switch adventures:
Sure, I suppose you could, but the GUI makes it really so you don't have to.
Unless you have stuff in there that you can't do in the GUI. Like with the ERL, you can't set zone policies through the GUI, it's all cli.
Exactly. You'd have to copy the cfg file to each device folder on the controller.
More reading this morning - some options in the cfg file overwrite, other options append - that makes dealing with cfg files a huge hassle.
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@hobbit666 said in Unifi Switch adventures:
So what is the difference between the Unifi Switch and EdgeSwitch? Apart from the management from the Unifi Controller ?
There isn't suppose to be much difference. Beyond that, I really can't tell you.
