I bought into the ecosystem while taking my networking cert classes back in 2017. They were much cheaper than Cisco gear for business-grade networking, and overall I’ve been happy with them.
Their security offerings are locally managed, and you can make local accounts, but I just bought a NAS from them and I had to sign in with my ubiquiti account first before I could make a local account, and it seems the cloud account has some privileges that you can’t give to local super admins.
So now I’m having second thoughts. I figure since it’s enterprise-grade stuff they can’t really make it cloud-dependent like you see on the consumer side since a lot of companies need air-gapped networks. On the other hand, on those occasions that I didn’t have internet access and hadn’t yet made a local-only account, I was locked out, so…
Regarding the NAS specifically, I use a TruNAS system at work and it works well enough on a rack server, but since it uses ZFS I don’t know it would be good for home use. What alternatives are there?
Are there any truly FOSS networking options? I figure especially on the switching side you need purpose-built hardware, right? There aren’t generic motherboards with 48 network ports you can buy.
I like my Unifi setup, I’m just scared of a rug pull.
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People seem to love it. But it’s highly proprietary and there seems to be planned obsolescence built into their model
For large networks with over 20 devices, I find them acceptable not because they are good but because other options are more expensive.
For small networks? I despise them
- The UI keeps changing and moving around settings for no good reason after each update
- You can’t setup devices directly if you have a device or two, you are required to setup a control center
- The control center is already slow and sluggish, but the real nightmare starts when you start having 100 or more devices
- Last couple of years they have been releasing batches with serious issues, software and hardware. The way they accepted recall for unfixable devices was so limited that many people are left with broken APs that will kill their network occasionally and the poor consumer has no idea why.
- Honestly fuck 'em. there’s more but I don’t wanna give them any more rent space in my head on a Sunday lol
What annoys me most is people mindlessly promoting Unifi. Sure it has its advantages but no one wants to talk about disadvantages
Anecdotal: I like like my OG UDM. Bought it the year it came out. No issues in almost 7 years.
Unifi is one of those brands where this phrase applies: “when it works, it works really good.”
People will see those comments, buy the hardware, and some of them will have bad experiences. You will hear about those bad experiences way more often than someone who hasn’t had any issues with the same hardware in the same timeframe.
That’s how it is with pretty much every consumer-focused network equipment brand.
Not a fan. Absolutely not.
They had multiple security incidents which they kept under the rugs for a long time, they have the tendency to EOL devices without warning (which then means you need to replace your sometimes 9month old device or your whole enviroment can’t be updated), their lock-in into their ecosystem is much more complete as they can’t be used properly without their enviroment.(e.g. Omada devices can work without the Omada stuff, with Unifi you will always need a controller for some functions).
So if you realy need SDN features like Unifi look at Omada,otherwise Mikrotik is a solid alternative. (And OPNsense for firewall)
TPLink had security issues all the same
Absolutely, but unlike Ubiquiti they did not keep them under the rug that long. (Nevertheless: Both are shit for firewalling. Put a OPNsense before it?)
Actually unified got a new firewall package that works great
Still mediocre compared to OPN/pfsense, IPfire, VyOs,etc.
I agree, but it’s waaaaaaaay better than it was
My biggest gripe with them is consistency. They release products without all the features they promise. They have been known to just abandon entire lines (I’m still salty about their mFi gear).
I like my UDM pro however the SE came out and for almost a year they basically ignored the Pro.
Good hardware that’s usually made or broken by their software.
The switches did get L3. Eventually.
Their PDU-PRO has three network ports on the front and I believe only one of them works. They even gray the other two out on their site. I don’t know what they thought they would do with it but they sure failed.
OpenWRT?
It isn’t really a vendor but it is Foss. It isn’t as robust as vendor solutions but the advantage is that it will run anywhere.
Wifi: Neat
Anything else: Havent tried.Abstracting so much away from the admin by automagically comnfguring everything is neat but also dangerous as you’ll never know what it has configured for you.
That’s not really how it works
How so?
Exactly how I have it at home right now.
I’ve been using Unifi APs since 2017 and they are fantastic. I control them with the Unifi Network Application via docker compose. Incredibly well priced APs that fit right into the ‘prosumer’ market for sure and still powerful enough to do SMB no problem.
As for FOSS Networking options - OPNsense FTW !!! It’s an open source firewall/router based on FreeBSD and extremely performant, feature rich, stable and secure… Absolutely love it, it’s the core of my network.
In regards to ZFS, I’ve been running a ZFS system of one type or another at home since 2013/2014… Totally valid & usable for home networks, many many do use ZFS storage systems. I’m very preferential to OpenMediaVault which is a NAS OS, but based directly on Debian! Debian is basically the Linux OS you want for reliability but paired with OMV’s gui - makes having a custom NAS easy.
I run Ubiquity AP (used to be flashed to OpenWRT but now stock) as well as Mikrotik, all local. Firewall is opnsense. NAS is FreeNAS, but not really use it at the moment. zfs is great. If you really need 48 port L3 switches, look into whitebox. I use used enterprise gear for lab, too much noise and power draw and no real use for terabit L3 at home.
We use it exclusively at work, it’s great for almost anything
Try stay away from their cheap consumer side stuff, they underspec the hardware and fill it with (useful) bloat that the hardware can barely run.
I only use their WiFi because I got some in- and outdoor ap’s for free. The Wifi manager is selfhosted and has no internet access. For upgradesi downoad the deb file, trasnsfer and install. It’s not the best out there, but works for me and i’m still happy with it.
I have a UCG-Ultra driven network infrastructure with 3 switches and 7 APs at home. I wouldn’t use their NAS options though. For NAS I just have 20TB of spinning disks sitting there attached to my ProxMox for all my data, and have all services in VMs or LXCs. I set up an UnRaid (before it was a subscription) in my brother’s house to backup off-site and sync it once per week.
I’ve run OPNsense, PFsense, OpenWRT, and high end consumer routers and I’ve found Unifi the most stable. I’m also less able to screw it up and I’ve had to divert functions to VMs because I couldn’t do it on my UDM. But having Internet service fail over with notifications that the normies in the house can understand is helpful. Then being able to find the WI-FI password for the Iot network from the app is helpful. VLANS by port through a pretty simple WebUI is helpful. Their handing of power (do they support NUT yet?) and redundant links is less good. I get errors when I have two routes between switches like I broke something. I’ve brought the network down due to STP not stopping loops but I also don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I’d do it again though.
For NAS, ceph storage plus NextCloud plus WebDAV has been good lately but I’m sure I’m leaving performance on the table. It’s just hard to break.
I like them. Got the whole house set up with it. Yeah, big corp IT gear will have security risks. I used PoE setups to not need to run electrical to the WAPs, used an AirMax directional antenna to get wifi at an outbuilding without needing to run cable or a powerful outdoor WAP for mesh or whatever broadcasting my wifi all over the neighborhood. Works great, stable, a bit fiddly to set up but once it’s set up it’s golden. I recommend buying used off ebay for all gear except the cloud key controller.
I’m in the process of updating m homelab. Threw out the qnap nas, replaced it with a homebuild nas on Truenas (4x8TB HDD, 4x1TB SSD). Replacing my ubiquity edgerouter pro 8p with a Mikrotik hEX refresh. About a 10x speedup for throughput, 20x smaller, 1/4 power consumption. Next I’ll be looking to replace my edgeswitches. I can run them stand alone, so there’s no rush.
I am not going to buy myself deeper into ubiquity. I’ll just try to optimize for the current needs.
If you want true foss, run pfsense or opsense on your own hardware.
