Finally updating my Ubiquiti gear

[Brons2]

So I finally got a Cloud Gateway Ultra, which should arrive tomorrow. I would like to back up my current USG-3P and cloud key and move the configuration over to the Gateway Ultra. What's the best way to do that? I see that you can download backups, or just export the site configuration. Which is better or more appropriate to do?

I've had a pfsense Netgate with a paid subscription in front of my Ubiquiti gear so I don't feel too unsafe about running it up until now, but I'm getting to the point to where the mobile app doesn't work any more because it's expecting a newer network software version and device firmware too I'm sure. Cloud key 1 is limited to 7.2.97 network and they're on 9.4 now I think. It's time.

 

[Jeffrey Behr]

Ya got me! This could be a joke, as I have NO idea, about a single thing, what you're writing about.

 

[Rand]

@OVERKILL @wwillson @rijndael
Might have some ideas.

I've never had to. So I won't offer detailed advice on it.

I did google this and the AI advice seemed pretty good but we dont post that here.
google search link

 

[rijndael]

Like @Rand, I've never done it.

I'd start with the link he provided, and this document:
https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/360008976393-Backups-and-Migration-in-UniFi

 

[wwillson]

Make sure your USG-3P firmware is current and do a configuration only backup. Power up the Cloud Gateway Ultra and connect to it from a laptop via ethernet. Point your browser at 192.168.1.1 and set up a temporary admin account. Update the Cloud Gateway Ultra firmware. Restore the backup to the Cloud Gateway Ultra. Boot the Cloud Gateway Ultra while connected to your ethernet switch. Open the configuration page again and make sure the Cloud Gateway Ultra adopts the APs, cameras, etc.

 

[Brons2]

This worked well. It didn't keep the same network name but that doesn't really matter, all the devices were adopted and the policies on WiFi and so forth transferred over. I did have to turn on remote access again for my mobile app to work, and I assume for offsite management, but that was no big deal once I figured out where the setting was. Some things have moved around and there is a learning curve as to where something might be.

This thing is fast compared to the USG-3P. Speedtest shows well above what I thought my Internet connection speed was, I thought it was 300 and I'm getting 400. Application latency on devices like TVs is notably reduced. Possibly because I had the IDS active on the USG and it does say that it reduces your bandwidth to do that. The new device is said to do IDS/IPS at 1Gbps. I believe it, I turned every rule on and the Internet was just as fast as before.

The new device also has way, way more features, some of which I'm just starting to dig into, goal for the first day was just to get everything up and stable.

I recommend this upgrade if you are still rockin the old school Ubiquiti USG. It's way better in almost every quantifiable way.

 

[Rand]

I'd like to see a refresh of the udm pro line.. they are still rocking quad core a57's

Its hard to recommend the base "pro" unless you can catch it on fire sale.

but its very nice if you want to use it with a few cameras (supports upto 7 4k cams)
just drop in a 3.5" HDD.

The CGU is hard to beat for most home installs.. although they have a few variations now.
and the new "non-pro" UDM which seems interesting.

The protect app for the cameras is actually quite amazing.

 

[Merek]

I just purchased the ucg-fiber about a month ago, realistically for the money you really can't beat it. I was running pfSense using a Moginsok unit that I purchased from Amazon but started having issues with it and wasn't recognizing the m.2 drive showing no bootable devices. I had an existing cloud key but wasn't able to ever get it to transfer over so I ended up starting over from scratch. They really want you to use the app on your phone to set all this up but I still have issues even logging into it with that, the cloud key was fine but since I've switched over not so much. I have a mixture of Omada and Unifi devices on my network.

 

[Brons2]

I just purchased the ucg-fiber about a month ago, realistically for the money you really can't beat it. I was running pfSense using a Moginsok unit that I purchased from Amazon but started having issues with it and wasn't recognizing the m.2 drive showing no bootable devices. I had an existing cloud key but wasn't able to ever get it to transfer over so I ended up starting over from scratch. They really want you to use the app on your phone to set all this up but I still have issues even logging into it with that, the cloud key was fine but since I've switched over not so much. I have a mixture of Omada and Unifi devices on my network.

It works fine with a laptop, not sure why you say this.

 

[Merek]

It works fine with a laptop, not sure why you say this.

Sorry I should have been more specific, I meant using the app on my phone to connect to the cloud gateway router. The cloud key and my router used different versions so the settings would not transfer over. The app just showed searching for devices but then it never finds it. I just tried again and was able to cancel the search and proceed to manually input the IP address, also I don't use their online acct which is what they want you to use. I finally got the app to connect to the router but I just use the web browser anyways to login.

I just got new fiber connected to the house and online I chose the option that I had my own router but the tech brought one anyways and said that everyone that gets the 5gb plan gets their router. I asked him about bridged mode because I wanted to use my own that it supports up to 5gb... he actually called another tech for me and I explained a lil bit about my router and that it has 10gb wan and sfp+ connections and he said then just plug it into that. I don't really know what they tried to give me but it was filthy and they didn't really even try to clean it up before they tried pushing it off on me.

 

[Brons2]

Sorry I should have been more specific, I meant using the app on my phone to connect to the cloud gateway router. The cloud key and my router used different versions so the settings would not transfer over. The app just showed searching for devices but then it never finds it. I just tried again and was able to cancel the search and proceed to manually input the IP address, also I don't use their online acct which is what they want you to use. I finally got the app to connect to the router but I just use the web browser anyways to login.

I had no problems getting my APs to re-adopt, but I took my backup on a laptop and restored it using the same laptop. Plugged the new router in where the USG-3P was previously, unplugged the cloud key. Powered everything up and then accessed via the new IP from the backup (not 192.168.1.1) and everything adopted. Sorry it didn't work for you.

These f'n isp techs always think their router is faster. Don't listen to them. It isn't always about faster anyway. I want maximum management capabilities and security, and I will give up a little top end speed to get it. But most times you don't have to give up any speed anyway.

That said I'm sure they deal with a lot of customer issues, so that's probably why they insist theirs is faster. For your average joe sixpack, it probably is.

 

[Brons2]

Meanwhile, on another front, I've had to do a fair amount of WiFi tuning. My old settings that "just worked" on the USG-3P and cloud key, were causing lots of issues with devices that were kind of in-between the APs.

I turned down the WiFi settings from "Maximum Speed" to Conservative and then Apply to all APs, which pushed the 5Ghz channel width down to 40mhz wide on my UAP-AC-PRO APs. That's fine because my internet plan is only for 300Mbps and I'm still getting well above that on a Speedtest. I was still having some issues with certain devices so changed the per-device antenna power from Auto to High on all my APs, since I am in a single family residential area and I didn't see that as too over the top to do. Now my in-the-middle devices are all working great with nothing showing above mid 60s RSSI.

However, now the roaming between APs is not working as good on the phones. I noticed that this morning when I went upstairs to get my kid out of bed. I may push down the minimum RSSI to the mid-lower 70s, not sure yet. All the fast roaming options are already turned on.

I should probably just break down and get some newer APs at some point. We do have some devices that support WiFi 7. However, the concensus on the Ubiquiti forums and the Ubiquiti Reddit seems to be that the 6 Pro APs are the devices to get because they support 4x4 MIMO and have rock solid firmware. We'll see.