It's rare that I make the effort to comment on a TH-cam video, but this introductory playlist is absolutely superb. Perfectly pitched to those who are new to Unifi such as myself, and gave me the confidence to place an order for around $5k worth of kit today. Apologies that due to my not living in the US I wasn't able to use your affiliate links, but hopefully many others will do so. I'm not quite finished yet - just the final three to go, and no doubt I will watch them through all again before my kit arrives! I'll also be sure to check out your other videos!
Excellent video(s)!!! Ive been looking to move from my Orbi setup to Unifi and landing here was exactly what I needed. Ive been sitting in my home office watching a variety of your videos for 3 hours 😂 excellent content!!
Of course! General question - if I have a use case for the mesh route (unfortunately the builder only ran cat6 downstairs) will one AP suffice to create the wifi for the mesh to join? Ideally I'd have ceiling APs but I'll need to start with 1 wall mount. By the way, thanks for your video on the design center was a huge help as well!
So you plan on meshing a Unifi AP to the wall mounted hardwired one? Have you looked into Moca adapters? If you have Coax in your home, you can use those to extend your network via Coax cable... Much much faster than mesh... Probably won't be able to do ceiling APs, but you could sprinkle self standing ones like the U6 Mesh... As a matter of fact, as soon as I finish my next video, my next video after that will be about using Coax to extend your network... Thanks for the idea!
@ethernetblueprint I think I had a misunderstanding that I NEEDED a wired AP in order to create the wifi - I should just be able to adopt the mesh without the need for that correct? Unfortunately ceiling mount isn't an option so wall mount is where I have to go, and mesh for upstairs. By the way, my wife and I live in TX but she's from Scottsbluff- Go Big Red!
you would need at least 1 hardwired AP for the mesh to work... You adopt the hard wired AP and then the other Unifi APs just need power and can mesh to the hardwired one...
Just started watching te series and I can say that based on what I will be running in my home I have no need for the switch or the cameras. All I need when it comes to LAN ports is what they offer on the cloud gateway ultra. I only need 2 or 3 access points and i might grab an extender. Basically small network with not alot of hardwired stuff but I am interested in the vlan aspect as I do have IOT things I want to keep on their own network and limit their ability to talk to anything on the network as a whole. Keep up the good work,
Thanks for your comment. Make sure you think through powering your APs. I do t think either the Max or Gw Ultra have POE. May want a small switch to be able to power and remotely manage your APs. Just a thought. Good luck. Let me know if you have questions.
Thank you so much for this video! I've been doing much research for the past month and this video succinctly deals with the confusing array of products Unify has. This is a great roadmap of how to get started in the Unifi ecosystem!
Looking forward to watching your series. I’ve been a UniFi user for about a year now. Most interested in your firewall rules video as I’m still a newbie in that area. Thanks for creating this series. Definitely helps us newbies succeed with our home UniFi deployments.
It has been my pleasure. This series was a lot of work but I enjoyed making it. On the down side, Unifi has released new products after many of these videos were created so they may be missing some of the newer devices, but that is how it goes I guess. Let me know if you ever have questions. I am here to help!
The way you released these videos show you want to help and teach rather than get views and rir that reason you got my sub. Please dont become a bigger channel then just pump out veiled ads. Like many others do. Thanks for the great content.
Thank you. I do love to help and plan to keep that as my focus with my channel. And, from what I can see, that seems to make it stand out in the white noise of TH-cam. However, I will also admit that I want to make money with this as well. I promise to do my best to keep my soul with my videos and always make them to help others. Thanks for watching and for the Sub! It means a lot.
becoming a bigger channel is not a bad thing, as long as the creator remembers their roots. It's the peopel who decide youtube is their full time job and then completely change their videos from what people originally loved that is an issue in my mind. Grow the channel, but never forget your roots
Thanks for the series. This helps a lot. One thing I believe you are mistaken on (unless I am) is that the U6 Pro doesn't support WiFi 6Ghz. Only the U6 Enterprise does, according to the specs of each product.
Cloud Gateway Max is out since a few days, same as Cloud Gateway Ultra but with optional m.2 SSD slot, Unifi Protect Support, and 5x 2.5 GbE Ports. That fills the hole between CGWU and the Dream Machines.
Actually, a whole bunch of new gear came out after I created that video. (figures) I like that new Max device. Only thing it is missing is WiFi like the UDR... Should be a great seller for Unifi!
Thanks for the video series! I’ve been looking the Cloud Gateway Ultra and I’m considering adding a firewall. Do you know if this device includes updates for the first year or until it’s retired?
All updates are included until the device hits end of life and is no longer supported... which should be years down the road. And FYI, the CG Ultra is a firewall so I don't know that you would need to add an aditional one unless you had a specific need.
Really enjoy watching your videos - thank you. I'm thinking of replacing my Orbi with UniFi - but i'm not seeing anything in the UniFi SW that gives me the same parental controls the Orbi does. Do you have any recommendations? It looks like there are options that I can layer on top of the UDM (Circle, etc.) but I was hoping not to go down that path. Thanks.
I need to do a separate video on this. The short answer is no. Unifi isn't going to work like the Orbi, however, depending on the level of parental control, there are definately things you can do in Unifi to help with the parenting aspect. Personally, I use a device called Firewalla for my parental controls. There is no subscription and it is pretty easy to use once you learn the interface. I have a firewalla purple on my main VLAN where my kids devices are at and I can do all sorts of things to control them. (similar to circle but without the expensive subscription.) I plan on doing a parenting video very soon and will cover both Unifi and Firewalla.
@@ethernetblueprint Thanks for the reply! Yes, I saw the Firewalla in your network and thought you might be using it for parental controls. I'd be very interested in a video of how you layer the Firewalla on top of the UniFi. Thanks!
My ISP in the new house will be in the office where I plan to hard wire my computers. There's a network box that runs from the office to my closet where my whole home network cables are housed. I'll have no APs in my office but will need POE+ in the closet to power my APs. Do I just need a GbE switch for the office and a POE+ switch for the closet?
Which ever area is powering the APs will need POE, yes. Based on your comment, it sounds like that may be in the whole home cabling closet. If your office equipment does not require POE, then you can get a non-poe switch for that area and it will work just fine. Sounds like you are on the right track!
Hi Im building my home at the moment, can I get help in picking the right products please? I wanna setup a simple to moderate home network and maybe some Unifi Cameras. Thank you.
I’m starting out and wanted to get clarity. If the UDM SE is purchased is there a need for a switch? Would the IDM act as gateway and switch? Looking to get one and set up an AP and a camera to start.
Its not something you think would be a big deal. But for many, aesthetics is actually important lol. Unifi hits the mark on this. I really just like their switches and NVR/cameras for the price. Its not much compared to other vendors who software leaves a lot to desire. Other than that I use my own pfsense router and self host the controller.
People get pretty creative with this. I typically recommend someplace fairly cool and clean. If you are going to put it in a closet of some kind, make sure there is some ventilation. However most of the Unifi equipment is pretty quiet so an office type location works too. I have a write-up on this that I would be happy to share with you if you like. Email me at tim@ethernetblueprint.com and I will email you a free copy... Just mention this message.
I don't see a need for a bridge very often. I will set up a wireless bridge to extend service to an outbuilding or something. Basically that is a pair of devices (one on the house and one on the outbuilding) that create a wireless connection between them and allow you to extend your network from the house to the outbuilding. I don't use a bridge or hub inside a home very often... Not to say there isn't any circumstance for that. Do you have a need for one?
I want to get started with Ubiqiti, specifically unifi protect. I’d like to keep it as compact as possible. Will this set up work, cloud gateway max with a CloudKey+ (upgrade to 5TB hard drive). I need it to handle (1) AI Pro or (2) G5 Pros and potentially (2) G5 Flex and (1) AP. I’ll be adding switch lite 8 POE and switch flex. Lastly, am I able to integrate my ASUS router I currently use for WiFi access
A couple of things here.... So the Cloud Gateway max may not be the right router/gateway for you. I would maybe just look at the cloud gateway ultra and then adding the cloudkey+ to that for Unifi protect part. The reason I say that is because the Max offers storage for cameras (just not much at the moment - Up to 2Gb by August 2, 2024) and 2.5Gb networking... However, with setup you mentioned, you won't be taking advantange of any of that so the router may be overkill. The switches you listed are 1Gb switches... So, from a router standpoint, I would maybe look at the Gateway Ultra ($129) which will handle all your network needs and then add the CK+ for your camera needs. Secondly, I don't think you have enough POE with the devices you list out here. The 8 Port Lite only has 4 ports that delivery POE+ and you list out 6 devices that require it (7 if you drop the ASUS and get another AP)... The Flex mini doesn't have any POE so it won't be able to power the devices.... You may need to look at the 8 port Ultra 60W switch ($159) to ensure you can power all of your devices. As far as your ASUS router, you may be able to use it if it has an AP mode, however, you will lose visibility (in Unifi) of the devices connected to it and would need 2 seperate systems to manage your devices. Personally, I don't know if I would do that. Thats my 2 cents... Hope it helps!
No NVR on the cloud gateway ultra... You would have to buy the brand new Ultra Max for that. The original doesnt' do Unifi Protect, but the new one does.!
@@ethernetblueprint Unfortunately, I actually had to search for it on your channel. It was the one on routers. I was trying to get schooled up on UDM because i'm prepping to deploy first network...
At the end of each of these videos is a link to get to the next video in the series. I will also add all the links in the description so people can find them there too!
You don't need a Unifi switch... However, if you want to do VLANs, you do need a managed switch that is capable of that. There are lots of benefits to having all Unifi gear when it comes to managing the network and visibility, but you can mix and match switches.
I'm not as familiar with Omada... and their cloud licensing is not free which is a huge bummer. I think if they want to truly compete in this market, they have some changes to make.
If you have a camera VLAN, you would want the port that the NVR is plugged into to be in the camera VLAN. You don't need anything specifically done with the camera VLAN to use a different brand of NVR like Reolink. However, many NVRs have a static IP so you may want to make sure you camera vlan has some static IPs available.... Maybe start your dhcp scope at 192.168.1.30... for example. Hope that helps
It's rare that I make the effort to comment on a TH-cam video, but this introductory playlist is absolutely superb.
Perfectly pitched to those who are new to Unifi such as myself, and gave me the confidence to place an order for around $5k worth of kit today. Apologies that due to my not living in the US I wasn't able to use your affiliate links, but hopefully many others will do so. I'm not quite finished yet - just the final three to go, and no doubt I will watch them through all again before my kit arrives!
I'll also be sure to check out your other videos!
Thank you very much... and Congrats with making the leap. I hope the rest of series helps you get things setup. All the best!
Excellent video(s)!!! Ive been looking to move from my Orbi setup to Unifi and landing here was exactly what I needed. Ive been sitting in my home office watching a variety of your videos for 3 hours 😂 excellent content!!
Thanks so much. That is super kind of you! I hope you subscibed ;)
Of course! General question - if I have a use case for the mesh route (unfortunately the builder only ran cat6 downstairs) will one AP suffice to create the wifi for the mesh to join? Ideally I'd have ceiling APs but I'll need to start with 1 wall mount. By the way, thanks for your video on the design center was a huge help as well!
So you plan on meshing a Unifi AP to the wall mounted hardwired one? Have you looked into Moca adapters? If you have Coax in your home, you can use those to extend your network via Coax cable... Much much faster than mesh... Probably won't be able to do ceiling APs, but you could sprinkle self standing ones like the U6 Mesh...
As a matter of fact, as soon as I finish my next video, my next video after that will be about using Coax to extend your network... Thanks for the idea!
@ethernetblueprint I think I had a misunderstanding that I NEEDED a wired AP in order to create the wifi - I should just be able to adopt the mesh without the need for that correct? Unfortunately ceiling mount isn't an option so wall mount is where I have to go, and mesh for upstairs. By the way, my wife and I live in TX but she's from Scottsbluff- Go Big Red!
you would need at least 1 hardwired AP for the mesh to work... You adopt the hard wired AP and then the other Unifi APs just need power and can mesh to the hardwired one...
Just started watching te series and I can say that based on what I will be running in my home I have no need for the switch or the cameras. All I need when it comes to LAN ports is what they offer on the cloud gateway ultra. I only need 2 or 3 access points and i might grab an extender. Basically small network with not alot of hardwired stuff but I am interested in the vlan aspect as I do have IOT things I want to keep on their own network and limit their ability to talk to anything on the network as a whole. Keep up the good work,
Thanks for your comment. Make sure you think through powering your APs. I do t think either the Max or Gw Ultra have POE. May want a small switch to be able to power and remotely manage your APs. Just a thought. Good luck. Let me know if you have questions.
Thank you so much for this video! I've been doing much research for the past month and this video succinctly deals with the confusing array of products Unify has. This is a great roadmap of how to get started in the Unifi ecosystem!
Thanks for watching... Good luck with your quest!
Looking forward to watching your series. I’ve been a UniFi user for about a year now. Most interested in your firewall rules video as I’m still a newbie in that area. Thanks for creating this series. Definitely helps us newbies succeed with our home UniFi deployments.
It has been my pleasure. This series was a lot of work but I enjoyed making it. On the down side, Unifi has released new products after many of these videos were created so they may be missing some of the newer devices, but that is how it goes I guess. Let me know if you ever have questions. I am here to help!
Thank you for your effort. I think your series is really helpful, even more helpful than all other more popular channels and videos.
I appreciate your kind words. Its great to hear that I could help you out!
The way you released these videos show you want to help and teach rather than get views and rir that reason you got my sub. Please dont become a bigger channel then just pump out veiled ads. Like many others do.
Thanks for the great content.
Thank you. I do love to help and plan to keep that as my focus with my channel. And, from what I can see, that seems to make it stand out in the white noise of TH-cam. However, I will also admit that I want to make money with this as well. I promise to do my best to keep my soul with my videos and always make them to help others. Thanks for watching and for the Sub! It means a lot.
becoming a bigger channel is not a bad thing, as long as the creator remembers their roots. It's the peopel who decide youtube is their full time job and then completely change their videos from what people originally loved that is an issue in my mind. Grow the channel, but never forget your roots
Thanks for the series. This helps a lot.
One thing I believe you are mistaken on (unless I am) is that the U6 Pro doesn't support WiFi 6Ghz. Only the U6 Enterprise does, according to the specs of each product.
That is true... sorry if I led you to believe otherwise... I may have mispoke.
Cloud Gateway Max is out since a few days, same as Cloud Gateway Ultra but with optional m.2 SSD slot, Unifi Protect Support, and 5x 2.5 GbE Ports. That fills the hole between CGWU and the Dream Machines.
Actually, a whole bunch of new gear came out after I created that video. (figures) I like that new Max device. Only thing it is missing is WiFi like the UDR... Should be a great seller for Unifi!
"Thank you so much for this valuable information related to the UniFi ecosystem."
You are most welcome. I hope you found it helpful.
Thanks for the video series! I’ve been looking the Cloud Gateway Ultra and I’m considering adding a firewall. Do you know if this device includes updates for the first year or until it’s retired?
All updates are included until the device hits end of life and is no longer supported... which should be years down the road. And FYI, the CG Ultra is a firewall so I don't know that you would need to add an aditional one unless you had a specific need.
awesome video series. Thank You
Glad you like them!
Really enjoy watching your videos - thank you. I'm thinking of replacing my Orbi with UniFi - but i'm not seeing anything in the UniFi SW that gives me the same parental controls the Orbi does. Do you have any recommendations? It looks like there are options that I can layer on top of the UDM (Circle, etc.) but I was hoping not to go down that path. Thanks.
I need to do a separate video on this. The short answer is no. Unifi isn't going to work like the Orbi, however, depending on the level of parental control, there are definately things you can do in Unifi to help with the parenting aspect. Personally, I use a device called Firewalla for my parental controls. There is no subscription and it is pretty easy to use once you learn the interface. I have a firewalla purple on my main VLAN where my kids devices are at and I can do all sorts of things to control them. (similar to circle but without the expensive subscription.) I plan on doing a parenting video very soon and will cover both Unifi and Firewalla.
@@ethernetblueprint Thanks for the reply! Yes, I saw the Firewalla in your network and thought you might be using it for parental controls. I'd be very interested in a video of how you layer the Firewalla on top of the UniFi. Thanks!
Thanks for this
My pleasure!
My ISP in the new house will be in the office where I plan to hard wire my computers. There's a network box that runs from the office to my closet where my whole home network cables are housed. I'll have no APs in my office but will need POE+ in the closet to power my APs. Do I just need a GbE switch for the office and a POE+ switch for the closet?
Which ever area is powering the APs will need POE, yes. Based on your comment, it sounds like that may be in the whole home cabling closet. If your office equipment does not require POE, then you can get a non-poe switch for that area and it will work just fine. Sounds like you are on the right track!
Hi Im building my home at the moment, can I get help in picking the right products please? I wanna setup a simple to moderate home network and maybe some Unifi Cameras. Thank you.
I do consult on that sort of thing... no problem. Email me at tim@ethernetblueprint.com and mention this comment!
I’m starting out and wanted to get clarity. If the UDM SE is purchased is there a need for a switch? Would the IDM act as gateway and switch? Looking to get one and set up an AP and a camera to start.
(Sorry for the delay) Yes. The UDM SE has an 8 port managed Poe switch. So yes. That would work great without having to buy and additional switch.
Do you happen to (could could you please) create a vide guide regarding how you approach mounting throgh vinyl siding?
I’m sorry I don’t have specific experience with this. Hopefully some who does, reads the comment and can offer better insights.
Its not something you think would be a big deal. But for many, aesthetics is actually important lol. Unifi hits the mark on this. I really just like their switches and NVR/cameras for the price. Its not much compared to other vendors who software leaves a lot to desire. Other than that I use my own pfsense router and self host the controller.
I agree... They do make some nice looking equipment that blends in and is not an eye sore... Great call out!
how important is the location of the network gear? cooling, access, expansion, racks? interested in you thoughts..
People get pretty creative with this. I typically recommend someplace fairly cool and clean. If you are going to put it in a closet of some kind, make sure there is some ventilation. However most of the Unifi equipment is pretty quiet so an office type location works too. I have a write-up on this that I would be happy to share with you if you like. Email me at tim@ethernetblueprint.com and I will email you a free copy... Just mention this message.
When choosing a switch could you possibly still need a bridge? And what exactly does a bridge doand or go?
I don't see a need for a bridge very often. I will set up a wireless bridge to extend service to an outbuilding or something. Basically that is a pair of devices (one on the house and one on the outbuilding) that create a wireless connection between them and allow you to extend your network from the house to the outbuilding. I don't use a bridge or hub inside a home very often... Not to say there isn't any circumstance for that. Do you have a need for one?
I want to get started with Ubiqiti, specifically unifi protect. I’d like to keep it as compact as possible. Will this set up work,
cloud gateway max with a CloudKey+ (upgrade to 5TB hard drive). I need it to handle (1) AI Pro or (2) G5 Pros and potentially (2) G5 Flex and (1) AP. I’ll be adding switch lite 8 POE and switch flex.
Lastly, am I able to integrate my ASUS router I currently use for WiFi access
A couple of things here.... So the Cloud Gateway max may not be the right router/gateway for you. I would maybe just look at the cloud gateway ultra and then adding the cloudkey+ to that for Unifi protect part. The reason I say that is because the Max offers storage for cameras (just not much at the moment - Up to 2Gb by August 2, 2024) and 2.5Gb networking... However, with setup you mentioned, you won't be taking advantange of any of that so the router may be overkill. The switches you listed are 1Gb switches... So, from a router standpoint, I would maybe look at the Gateway Ultra ($129) which will handle all your network needs and then add the CK+ for your camera needs.
Secondly, I don't think you have enough POE with the devices you list out here. The 8 Port Lite only has 4 ports that delivery POE+ and you list out 6 devices that require it (7 if you drop the ASUS and get another AP)... The Flex mini doesn't have any POE so it won't be able to power the devices.... You may need to look at the 8 port Ultra 60W switch ($159) to ensure you can power all of your devices.
As far as your ASUS router, you may be able to use it if it has an AP mode, however, you will lose visibility (in Unifi) of the devices connected to it and would need 2 seperate systems to manage your devices. Personally, I don't know if I would do that.
Thats my 2 cents... Hope it helps!
@@ethernetblueprint thank you so much for the reply. I will take a look into the equipment you mentioned. Have a great day.
Can you use the nvr with the cloud gateway ultra? Or would you just get the udm se?
No NVR on the cloud gateway ultra... You would have to buy the brand new Ultra Max for that. The original doesnt' do Unifi Protect, but the new one does.!
Looks fascinating. But I do wish you had links to your other videos on the screen so we don't have to search for them.
I have a play list to help with that.
@@ethernetblueprint Unfortunately, I actually had to search for it on your channel. It was the one on routers. I was trying to get schooled up on UDM because i'm prepping to deploy first network...
@ethernetblueprint did you come back and add links below? SUPER helpful. Thank you! :-D
At the end of each of these videos is a link to get to the next video in the series. I will also add all the links in the description so people can find them there too!
I added links in the description of each of the series videos to make them easier to find...
Do you need a Unifi POE Switch or can you use a different manufacturer?
You don't need a Unifi switch... However, if you want to do VLANs, you do need a managed switch that is capable of that. There are lots of benefits to having all Unifi gear when it comes to managing the network and visibility, but you can mix and match switches.
Can u make a similar 8 part series for omada. Thank you
I'm not as familiar with Omada... and their cloud licensing is not free which is a huge bummer. I think if they want to truly compete in this market, they have some changes to make.
Thank you. If I connect a reolink nvr to the switch do I need to make changes to the camera vlan.
If you have a camera VLAN, you would want the port that the NVR is plugged into to be in the camera VLAN. You don't need anything specifically done with the camera VLAN to use a different brand of NVR like Reolink. However, many NVRs have a static IP so you may want to make sure you camera vlan has some static IPs available.... Maybe start your dhcp scope at 192.168.1.30... for example.
Hope that helps
Thanks
Happy to help. Thanks for watching!
UGG arrived this week & picked up U6pro from Microcenter tonight. HOW ... DID ... YOU ... KNOW ?!?
Good luck with your project. Hopefully this series will help you.