Choosing the Best Hosting for Your UniFi Controller: Hostifi, UniFi, or CloudKey?
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- čas přidán 15. 07. 2024
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Self Hosted UniFi Controller Tutorial: Managing Multiple Sites & Migrations with Ease!
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Chapters
00:00 Where to host your controller
00:16 Self Hosted Multisite Controller
01:33 Using a Cloud Key at each client
02:21 UniFi Cloud Hosting
04:12 HostiFi Cloud Hosting - Věda a technologie
After watching your video on Self-Hosting I used to “Glenn’s” script to install the controller on a Ubuntu VM I already had setup for writing Python. Many Thanks for that! New U7 Pro AP connected to a Cisco cat1000 going out a Fortigate. Those New U7 APs are nice and not expensive.
No thnx, I hate Subscriptions
We used to have an onsite controller and we moved away from them after some updates corrupted them, and we needed to reconfigure the site.
Now self-hosting and couldn't be happier
one thing to note: it's a bit more cumbersome to adapt compared to the onsite controller, but it's not a big deal.
Thanks for the Video Tom 🎉😊
Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. Oh a wise guy! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Spread Out!
Glad someone noticed that
Self hosting with Truenas scale. No issues. Not a fan of their routers. But I enjoy the switches.
I run mine up in Azure for clients. More flexibility. With Ubiquiti offering undercut pricing compared to Hostifi it has to hurt them long term.
How many devices do you have? We have 900 and couldn't make it stable with large site tweaks and all.
Once the devices stopped talking to the controller it's now stable again. So frustrated, support was worthless. Bringing it back on-prem.
At home I upgraded from CK gen 1 to the gen 2 plus. Works well. The battery is cooked and the 2.5 inch drives are terrible so it can do with an upgrade.
two huge fails.
My battery failed, but it looks like a pain to remove.
They should have made space for a 3.5" HDD. That would have significantly prolonged the service life of these devices. Buggest 2.5" drive that I've found was a 5 TB Seagate (SMR).
Put that money into a NAS and self host. Easy to build Unifi docker container and Watchtower to keep it updated.
Good evening, congratulations for the videos you upload, can you help me with what is the most economical solution for an outdoor access point to cover 20-25 mobile devices at the same time for internet browsing (they are rooms for rent).
The internet in the area is max 100mbps and until now I had a nanostation m2 but it does not handle more than 10 devices with anything and the person who sold it to me told me that it is for 40 devices!
I got a question, im upgrading my devices and i know that the udmse is easy with the controller and the drive to record video but I feel like im wasting a drive bay going this way so im looking at the UXG-Pro to pair with the cloudkey+ and the 4 bay nvr. will that setup work even better than the udmse? I saw in a video you mention that the firewall settings are the same due to the same controller software, but the UXG-Pro supposed to be like some kind of hardware firewall? I dont care about the money all I want to know which setup is more robust and powerful? 10gig and 25gig bandwidth is a big deal. ooh I know the cloudkey+ also got a hard drive in it also but I love the display on it, I got a vison, but this will let me know if it's a better option. thanks.
Ah man i had no doubts going with hostifi. Unifi had the service before and decided to just one day drop it. Not cool. So hostifi all the way. Moved my company to hostifi and can't be happier!
I'd like to see some sort of data showing that a local network controller maxing out or what happens at 40 devices and why someone like me who avoids monthly subscriptions as often as possible would use these services when I have room for a 1u in my rack available for this sort of stuff... Does hostify offer any sort of network assistance? Can't the 4k enterprise cloud key be justified if you figure the device should last more then two years?.... I'm not saying these things to be rude I'd just like to understand the headspace for these decisions
My cheap DO droplet that has run for years and years.
Self-host is the way.
Are there any features within the controller that are missing/added when self hosted vs cloud key/etc?
Nope
if i have a lot of devices, i just build a powerful server and manage them all. Or i go with the 5k server
Can you have one Unifi console such as a Cloud Key or UDM act as a multi site controller?
Nope
One major benefit of using your own domain that you didn't mention is that it allows you to move the controller without needing to go back and set-inform every single device. Just update the dns and you can change where you're self-hosting, hop over to hostify, hop from a hosted service to a self-hosted, move to a VPS, etc.
It's probably obvious to you but might not be to some of your audience, especially the self-hosters. It's really easy to just use an IP when setting up self-hosting but then you decide to move the controller from your NAS to a VM and all of the sudden you have a headache. You should almost always use your own domain if you have one imo.
Only self hosted for Home / Small business
I am a self hosting 👌
What does it mean if I am missing the "Site Management" option on my UDM-SE? Is this option only available on Hosted UniFi option?
This option is only available when you are running a self-hosted controller
Thanks for the video Tom, sorry for the basic question but what is it about devices that cost so much additional $? And to be clear this is for Unifi Devices not client devices right? Thanks again!
I don't understand the question.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Thanks for the quick response, Tom! To clarify, I'm trying to understand why adding more UniFi devices to a network increases costs significantly. Is this due to the additional network management overhead, hardware requirements, or something else? Essentially, I'm curious about what factors contribute to the increased expense when scaling up the number of devices on a UniFi network. Thanks for helping me understand this better!
@@blitzio Yes, each individual device talks to the controller which is why it scales that way.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Got it thanks for the answer!
Tommy, how can you get the serial number of a Unifi device from a controller?
Not sure, never looked into it.
How about the Unifi Network Server that you can download and run on Windows/Mac/Linux? Isn't that a good alternative?
Yes it is a perfect solution. I self host on a vm using pfsense as the fw/router.
I'm using that to run a 150 device network (switches and AP's) where we have frequent changes with short term clients. I just set it up on a dedicated PC and it's been no problem.
@@diceman199 Well, I took the plunge: I bought some Unifi AP and switches and I am giving a try at the Official Unifi Hosting that Unifi offers now. Well, I am pleasantly surprised I must say. My lab experiment involves a Sophos firewall as my router (I still have my Fortigate and pfsense on my other WAN links) and if all goes well, I might make the switch over a year to see how it handles. The reason is I am testing the manageability of the firewall and Unifi switch/AP all from the Cloud from a MSP point of view and it is pretty slick up to now. No more Cloud Key (that breaks out of the blue) or stuck with a Dream Machine router that is just not designed for real firewalling.
And to top it off, I even opened a ticket with Unifi and they replied and solved my issue! Unifi is really stepping up lately and I really love them for that because they have a nice offering, but with poor support. If they can fix that, they might just be able to print money with their products. And their new Unifi mobile app is a charm + WiFiMan too is great for troubleshooting. WiFi 7 (Gbps wireless access across the floors anyone? And no more messy network cabinet with 100lbs of entangled wires?) will change how we works wirelessly, so better to start now to adapt businesses and Unifi is right there, at the right moment with the right tools.
This is from a guy who works professionally to replace Unifi, CiscoSG/Meraki, SonicWalls, WatchGuards, Junipers, & pfsenses and replace them with a Fortinet ecosystem...
With the advent of O365 Defender end-point protection (and other well known ones), things have changed for the better for the (small and medium) enterprise crowd. Having hardware to decrypt/encrypt packets to inspect and flag them - and the headaches that goes with it when things go wrong + the hit on network speed unless you shed a lot of $$ on high-end firewalls has shifted for smaller businesses.
It’s a great alternative. Mine is running on Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi 3b+
After the recent deprecation of the CK gen1's, I started self hosting. I don't know if I'd ever buy one of their standalone controllers again at $200.
Agreed, I happen to have a CK-Gen2 in inventory, but for the last 10+ build-outs we have used UDM-Pros which have the controller built in.
That was the sole reason I moved to the new Express from the USG+ CK gen 1. I was self hosting on my server for awhile, but I had too many random issues.
1000 devices for 100 per month is good for businesses if support is included. It's a good deal.
So, not a problem on my UDM-SE? Right?
It has a built in controller.
For the average home user a dream machine is the most appealing route. Hostify came across as too expensive for me. Managing multiple sites that have like 3 devices in them at the most, for $30 a month you can't beat unifi hosting.
my controller runs on my UDR and i couldnt be happier, does everything i want it to and more. works well with my starlink. what more can i ask for.
Single company, multiple sites, whats the best option for captive portal?
You can use third party one, but I avoid captive portal if possible.
I prefer self hosting it in a docker container
I am always in doubt how long those cloudkeys remain supported. They seem like legacy solutions to me. They haven't been updated in ages.
I am currently self hosting (still on 7.something), but I hate their mongodb implementation.
Local docker controller for me
I have it barely running on a Raspberry Pi B.
I was running it on a raspberry pi 4 8GB ram model it was running perfectly but not all functionalities are available compared to dream machines. I switched to dream machine se and it's an overkill for my needs
@@SimoAtlas It would run fine on a Pi 2. The single slow CPU core of the Pi B causes some operations to time out the first time.
Running mine in a Raspberry Pi 4b for the past 4 years. It was the cheapest option compared to a Cloudkey.
@@thecrimsonraven707You can also run it on an old cellphone
Self hosted for me. One site with about 150 devices between AP's & Switches
What are you hosting on ?
@@sicilianbambino I have a PC dedicated to running the software. Nothing special in terms of spec, pretty much mid range, off the shelf PC
Good lord these are all crazy expensive for anything that is not some large enterprise system
I've commented on a couple of your videos stating that you should cover the scale out part of TrueNAS scale.
It looks gluster is dead.
So if you could make a mental note to announce or cover whatever they replace it with that would be awesome!
Also I have requested and I feel like others would like to see it as well covering XCPNG XOSAN.
Or XOSANv2 or whatever they're calling it these days
Pretty please! 😂
I am running my unifi instance in a FreeBSD jail 😊
Thinking to start using Cloud Key for my home network. Have been having trouble using self-hosting software on pc with more recent controller software updates in fall 2023
Someone who has Unpoller working on the official UniFi CloudOS Hosted controller?
I haven't had a unifi controller running for years now as I just can't be bothered anymore after the database got corrupted twice.
If you self-host, you should have a backup/snapshot of the DB or instance.
it is also built into a lot of hosting companies like Vultr, digitalocean, etc..
@@DekelAshertrue because dream machine and cloud key have backup so you too if you want to self host you should do backups.
Host ours in docker on site... Easy to upgrade and back up.
@@DekelAsher I self host and i've got it set up to back up every night at midnight (lot's of changes on this site) and i've only ever used it when upgrading controller software but it's good to know it's there.
first
My work uses Unifi alot -- i hate it
The Cloud Key G2 is pure trash. It's a shame Unifi hasn't upgraded the product in several years.
I Don't care for third-party hosting companies, plain and simple. This video was really just a plug for your mates Hostify....
Simple advice, unless you have very low number of UniFi devices (WAP's, Switches & Gateways) then cloud based is fine. If you have a lot of devices, local/onsite controller needed. Assumptions of eveyuone having big internet services, UBNT are guilty of. Cloud access to sites with limited or busy internet services will see you drilling into the site painfully.
For those looking at controllers, use the UBNT tool then devide claims by half or 2/3rds as the claimed number will see slow controller and likely borderline crashing. UDM-Pro/SE well known for being junk at bigger networks and start struggling at just 50 devices.
Not a use case for you doesn't mean it's not a good use case for others
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I should have been cleraer, businesses who are managing clients should be skilled enough to have their own cloud-host servers instead of third-party or even UBNT's paid hosting. Put a Cloud-Key/controller onsite and be done with it. If you have a site that is more than 50 odd UniFi devices, build your own.
Where do you draw the line, should they also be able to write assembly code? It's all about finding the right balance of what you should do, and what you should outsource because others will do it better.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS Yeah, I get what you are saying but considering we are still having issues of UniFi falling over so quickly with failing DHCP on a network flood that has still be resolved all these years later... Now we get a ton of new products and still have suck with these simple, underlying failures. Controllers are no better, under-powered and bloated GUI that still does not offer same functions as the classic. Try diagnosing optical issues and SFP transceivers....