USW-Flex-Mini
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 เม.ย. 2020
- The USW-Flex-Mini is a $29.00 5-port managed Gigabit Ethernet switch from Ubiquiti Networks. In this video, we take a look at the hardware, and then discuss some of its limitations vs. other larger Ubiquiti switches.
USW-Flex-Mini (non-affiliate): store.ui.com/collections/unif...
Buy me a beer! ko-fi.com/crosstalk
Or donate some Crypto! crosstalksolutions.com/contact/
----------
Crosstalk Store on Amazon - RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS: www.amazon.com/shop/crosstalk...
Crosstalk Discord: / discord
Amazon Wish List: a.co/7dRXc67
Crosstalk Solutions offers best practice phone systems, network design and deployment, and UniFi Video camera systems. Visit CrosstalkSolutions.com for details.
Crosstalk Solutions is an authorized Sangoma partner and reseller.
Connect with Chris:
Twitter: @CrosstalkSol
LinkedIn: goo.gl/j2Ucgg
TH-cam: goo.gl/g4G58M - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![[Full Episode] MasterChef Junior Thailand มาสเตอร์เชฟ จูเนียร์ ประเทศไทย Season 3 Episode 5](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g5wpgeAIzMs/mqdefault.jpg)
Also being in the UK I don't think yoru afiliate links would work if I buy through Amazon in the UK. Is there another way of offering something back for the house of tutorials I have watched which have been hugely helpful in building my set up. Do you have PATREON or similar?
Thanks! Check out ko-fi.com/crosstalk and buy me a beer!
@@CrosstalkSolutions lager
@@CrosstalkSolutions Beer bought.
Great idea rob!
@Crosstalk Solutions Cheers Chris! Thanks for your work!
A
This guy turned a simple 5 port switch review into an essay on home networking. So much appreciation for your content! Keep it up!
No one on the internet explains these devices and processes better than you. Thank you so much for your hard work!
I totally agree 👍🏾
I love when a video about a simple device teaches me something new that inspires a couple of new projects. Tends to happen a lot with your videos because you go into the interface details and present practical uses. Thank you so much man!
Cheers - thanks!
Cool review, it cleared up the Vlan capability confusion. I got two of these a few weeks ago and it was really simple to get them adopted by my off-site controller, as I had previously set the unifi controller ip in my Edgerouter dhcp. Keep up the good work!
I bought 3 of these switches a few weeks ago and they're pretty awesome - I'll be buying a few more when they come back in stock.
That DHCP setting saved my butt!!! thanks Chris!!!
Thank you Chris. I just bought 2 of these and spent 3 days trying to adopt them into my controller on a different network without success. Adding the Unifi Controller option to the EdgeRouter DHCP settings did the trick for me :)
This little switch just popped on my radar, looking for a simple POE powered switch to stuff under some counters in a business. Sounds perfect! I don't even need it to be managed, but still cheaper than anything else I can find that is good quality. Thanks for the video!
I love that your IoT vlan is called IDIoT. As a software developer we had a code for people who didn't understand how our software worked, ID10T errors. Another common one was PICNIC, problem in chair, not in computer.
7:58 And I love how he says this with such a straight face! 😂
Nice presentation. I would enjoy more vlan talks. You eluded to a custom vlan but that just leave me wanting to learn more.
ya i also want to know more on how this thing works with vlans
@@eightbitoni Me too!!!
I have just realised that untagged vlan ports are actually ports that would allow all traffic from a certain vlan .. fuck me ... Vlan is quite complex ..
I actually understood everything (for a change). Thanks !
just picked one up, can't wait to set it up.
Great video. I bought 2 and they work perfect for my servers VLANs.
love these, so cheap and easy to deploy as a tap..
Funny you should bring up the TV example, this is exactly why I was planning to buy this product x)
Excellent review due to the vlan explanation. That’s the key feature to me.
VLAN is a little difficult to understand, but when you understand you can do many good things on your network. Congratulations Chris.
Nice device.
I had done something similar a few years back by configuring an ER-X as a switch only and powered it via PoE behind my Kitchen TV so it is on a UPS in another room. Power goes out and everything keeps running.
This will make a much easier to manage device as it will be updatable via Unifi.
Chris, A big thumbs up for your detailed explanation about the USW-Flex-Mini not being able to handle both native LAN and tagged VLAN traffic on the same port. It won't be a factor in my networks but sure a good fact to keep in the back of my mind.
To be clear though - it CAN do native LAN + VLANs using the built in ‘All’ profile. It just can’t do custom VLAN profiles.
i bought 2 of them! love them for such a small package.
she said otherwise 😉
Nice video and explanation. Keep up the great work.
Thank you! I just got Flex Mini and was wondering why I can't assign a group of VLANs to a port, and end up doin "all" for one port. This explains it, and it's good to know that I didn't do anything wrong (I don't have Ubiquiti switch, so this interface is new to me). But for $29 I love this device!
Yah I think the inability to do custom vlan groups is due to hardware limitations, but I can't complain, it's price is so low for what it can do
Hi Chris, thanks for this video. I think your DHCP option 43 comment is sending me in the right direction. I have a pfsense firewall and a cloud controller so it has taken a bit of reading to get me on the right track.
Quick update a few minutes after my first post. It's done it was easy.
I had to go into my Dhcp server
Go to additional options
Enter option 43
Select string
In the value type 01:04: then my cloud controllers ip entered in hex.
Super intimidating at first super easy in the end.
I had to adopt them (hosted unifi controller) through DHCP option 43. Before i did this, I created a (virtual) machine with a temporary local controller. This controller i used to upgrade to the current FW (1.6.3.574
). Next i removed them from the local controller, and removed the power. Then i used a paperclip to press the resetbutton (bottom of switch), and then aplied power (again). I held the button until the led start flashing blue and white. At that moment they were ready to adopt to my hosted cloud controller. (this worked for both of my USW-FLEX-MINI switches)
Exactly the use case I want it for- my tv, Xbox, switch, and receiver I guess.
Your videos are awesome! Thank you!!!
Thanks for such a good explanation.
Interesting device , if it really support port mirroring and can be powered from USB and PoE I'm in love!
Great video, was interesting using the raspberry pi for vlans.
i love the Flex-mini!
Thank you for the great video! Not sure what I am missing by not having the option to use custom Vlans
Thank you for someone finally explaining a cloud adoption method. My USW-Mini came with old firmware so had to adopt locally first, the firmware update failed and semi-bricked the device. It then would work as an unmanaged switch showing as a client in the controller, but could not be adopted. On top of this the reset button would restart the switch, but never reset the settings. Lack of SSH is a big thumbs down for me as I had to RMA that unit.
@T,J. Parker This is a known issue with Firmware cached on the controller. UBNT-Glenn send me this link to the KB how to "rescue" the Switch:
help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045001914-UniFi-USW-Flex-Mini-Recovery
@@Strogge_1988 This is great, only wish I found it last week.
**Verified Fix** This fix is a necessity as the firmware upgrade to 1.6.3.574 bricks this switch every time. This was a pain to add to a cloud hosted controller, but once I did the firmware upgraded failed and I had to start over. Can only hope future upgrades go better as it's ridiculous need a server dedicated to manage the pitfalls of this little switch.
Love the spaceballs shirt.
Awesome video Chris 👍
Great vid! Thanks for highlighting the interesting and disappointing limitation - I wonder what would happen if you custom profiled the port that's the uplink to the Flex to just carry just the 2 VLANs (1xUntag, 1xTag) you wanted and then set the Flex's port to All...
Perfect for my shed so I can get an ap and a couple of computers or there. 👍
HI. Just installed a Flex Mini into my home network with controller version 5.12.66 running in a Raspberry Pi 4. I had no trouble adopting and upgrading the unit.
store UI has some flex mini's in stock. Just bought two of them!
So security wise it makes most sense to set the port to that vlan right? If it's done on the device itself then it's possible the device gets exploited and the intruder removes the vlan?
i leave dhcp option 43 set all the time, i am running PFsense to set the option you have to convert the ip to hex and add a bit to it to identify this info is for unifi device. as long as the controller is running on default ports it has been a rock-solid option for me and my friends as we a hosted controller
Good point. There's no way to specify a port number in DHCP option 43. If you're using non-standard ports, the only supported non-local controller adoption method won't work.
Thank you, Very informative. I am planning to buy 2 usw flex mini for my home network. I have a silly question. If I use 1 flex mini with tagged VLANs as All on port 5 and connect port 5 to another usw flex mini in my other apartment then I'll be able to get all VLANs on the 2nd flex mini and then I can untag them to individual ports. Can I do this ? Also, FYI I am using pfsense as my firewall. Thanks again.
I discovered another odd thing with the Flex Mini, I have 2 of them and for all my Switches an AP I assign Static IP address when I first adopting the device. I was unable to assign a static IP address to the flex. It turns out the I needed to plug-in some other device (any device) to the Flex Mini then I was able to assign a static IP. Thanx for all the content
Thanks for the informative video. Can this be used like an unmanaged switch (I assume after configuring the downstream ports to be plain old LAN with DHCP from the router)? I am having solar equipment installed and I need two ethernet ports. I have pulled in one cable and I'm out of available ports on my router. I have already installed a TPLink PoE unmanaged switch on one router port inside my house. From this switch I'll need to use a PoE switch at the solar equipment to get two ports (rather than pulling another cable... ugh, not fun.) Unmanaged PoE-powered switches are at least twice the cost and, if it will work in this scenario, seems to be a good way to go. Your thoughts?
best shirt ever!
Hey Chris. I’m trying to use it at a remote site and adopt it on my hosted controller. As you said, dhcp 43 is the option but my controller is hosted on my NUC at my lan and I don’t have a fixed ip. Can you remember other options to use it on a remote site ? Thank you
So I received mine a couple of days ago and had an absolute terrible time setting it up.
But in the end got it working, here is what I did to adopt the Flex mini to a remote controller without DHCP option 43 or dns changes:
1. Install a local controller on your machine
2. Set up a static IP for your local controller in the 192.168.1.0/24 range
3. Verify that device shows up in your local controller
4. Go to the controller settings and set your controller hostname (setting) to your remote controller and check the box override inform url.
5. Go back to the flex in the local controller and click adopt.
6. Check your remote controller to see device show up and you can then adopt it.
Do not update the flex from a cached firmware version it bricks your device and you’ll have to manually update the firmware via a webserver.
If the coloured light on the device breathes between blue, white and off your device is bricked (still works as a dumb switch). Follow the manual firmware update guide on ubiquity’s website.
Hi Chris ..great video ..one quick question ...I was under the impression from my salesperson that one would be able to configure Mac filtering on individual ports on the use 5 flex mini . I have not been able to do so ..have I done something wrong or terribly misled by the salesperson ?
Hey Chris on the topic of your TV phoning home, I have an LG and it does the same thing. But since I've setup Pihole I've found their phoning home is blocked by default on pihole. So you can stop or hugely reduce the phoning home by using pihole.
I setup a DNS entry "unifi" pointing to the controller to get it to work.
interesting, I tried option 43 and that didn't work for me. I have a UDM so I use the controller that's built in, how would I do that in my scenario? Where do you set DNS entries?
Nice video, thanks Chris. Would it be possible to use this switch between an internet modem and a USG or UDM-Pro? I would like to have different devices connecting to the modem and getting a public IP. Do you have a video on such a setup?
Great video as always. Can you do a review and install of the UniFi LTE and use of a indoor antena to get better reception on it
Maybe one coming soon.
I had 5 of then for about a week for a project we picked up. Simple adoption as usual but vlan limitations killed it. They went like hot cakes when I posted them up for sale. If they fixed the vlans these wouldn't be to bad.
What was your need for the VLANs?
Does it have the capability of doing port aggregation?
Thank you for the detailed review of this interesting product. I would like to know if this device can be powered by using the PoE passthrough port on the EdgeRouter X.
Hi, can you cexplain, how do i make a vlan trunk on a port of that equipment ? With you video from 23/11/2016 UniFi Switch 8 Follow-Up and VLAN Config , I am not being able to do it
Super video, thanks! Do you think you can power this switch over usb-c cable connected to USB port on a router?
Hey Chris, Thanks for the video! I was really looking to get my hands on one of these! You had said in the video that layer 3 adoption had to be done with DHCP Option 43. Would using the UBNT Discovery app for chrome be another solution in lieu of DHCP option 43? I've read/heard that option 43 on a Ubiquiti device is not the same as option 43 on a non-ubiquity device.
Option 43 is just "vendor specific" in dhcp specifications, dont think the flex cares as long as option 43 points to a ip adress.
Option 43 works great if your controller has a static IP in the cloud. In my case I use a URL to get to my controller, neither the Unifi Controller option 43 or Edge Router x will allow a URL in the DHCP settings. Have you figured out a work around to adopt the flex mini to a controller with a URL?
I recently went from an edgemax Sfp to the usg pro as I got myself a rack and with that I have also got some good deals on a usw-24-poe and us-8-60 now just got the usw flex mini ...
The last two scattered through the house I really like the topology shown in the controller ..
I used to run untangle which I'm still running in bridge just due to the variation of info untangle shows ... However I have noticed after installing my usg pro that I can't see my other sites hosted in my controller ... So I had to allow all traffic inbound from the usg ... Not a problem as I have untangle behind ..
I would probably get rid of untangle but I've tried several ways to open ports behind usg without success ..
Perhaps some more firewall rules vids would be great .. I know you are an edge fan when it comes to routing though ..
Can someone tell me why this is happening, my UCK-G2-PLUS does not see my UniFi Switch Lite 8 PoE, it identified it for the first time, then when I make a reset of the Cloud Key it stopped to detect that switch
Sorry for my Chinglish
Very cool, maybe it will support custom tags..
I'm sure you've mentioned it somewhere before, but I couldn't help but notice your digital picture frame in the background. Which model is it please? It looks amazing.
USW-Flex-Mini Giveaway? awesome!
I soo need one but amazon hasn’t had it but I don’t wanna pay like 50 bucks to get it shipped to my house from ui
Is the vlan profiles limitation inherent to the hardware, or could it be fixed in the future with a firmware update?
Great question - I have no idea.
How would you set this option in pfsense
For those that need POE passthrough, the regular USW-Flex is only slightly larger, $20 more, and as a bonus is weather resistant.
Great video
Thank you Chris for all the great content! I have an edgerouter x and 3 flex mini's. I want to dabble in my first vlan setup...have watched your videos on vlans etc. I have a beginner question for you...if my edgerouter has unused ports (eth 3&4) can I use those for vlan assignments also, like feeding two of my Unifi access points or do I need to place a flex mini in the router closet also...in other words can those unused ports act just like managed switch ports that are in use downstream of eth2? Sorry for such a noob question!
I'm thinking about ordering one of these. Should I be able to get this working with my Unifi Controller which is running on an Unraid Docker ver. 5.6.42? Same LAN.
Uhhh - at 5:32 the photo on the wall changed in front of my eyes, completely unexpected. I then saw the cable running down and realized it must be a digital photo frame. OMG that caught me completely by surprise!
Does this switch populate the Ethernet tab in UniFi controller, e.g. if I went (Supplied service provider router) to (Flex Switch) to (my current Poe switch) would I be able to see everything upstream of the router in unifi, doesn’t have a unifi switch at present but would like the stats.
Hi, one question, can this switch can be configured, managed via web ui as only one device in whole network ? Or should i buy another Unifi device(controller?)
I added dhcp option 43 and i still can’t adopt or upgrade my flex mini. My router is not an UniFi router is an orbi. Any ideas?
How would I connect ULED-AT, UDIM-AT and the USW-Flex-Mini? Do you have a video on this?
Wait wait wait... Can you do option 43 on other unifi devices? Can I run the option 43 that points to my hosted server off of my Windows Server DHCP?
Is it a standalone switch or do I need another piece of equipment to manage it? I'm not familiar with Ubiquiti products
Does it support VLANS with IGMsnooping? (IPTV box in mind...)
So does the Chrome utility not work to set the inform?
Does it show all the client stats in the controller? This is what I am missing from my dumb switches.
Hi, do this VLAN "Limitation" apply to all UniFi Lite switches?
Pretty interesting product, but might be a curse still need a controller, I wonder how it compares to MikroTik’s hAP lite.
Good day every one,
I just want to find out if it is possible to connect from one POE switch to another without any intermittent connectivity on the VOIP phones.
There is a client who has applied for business fibre and has 1meg of the bandwidth allocated to the VOIP and i want to know that if i need to connect all the phones to 1 switch and the PC'S to another or can every I run everything on one switch and the switch will route the traffic?
Do I get the same interface if I don't have any other Unifi product? can I use that switch still to make Vlans just to give it internet from the router?
What is its tested throughput?
Does the other flex switch have SSH?
Hey. Thanks for the nice video.
I can confirm, that is is '*not* working with UniFi Controller 5.6.40 :-)
The only thing that is missing for me, is wallmount holes.
I'm at a loss for words, HOW could you think this was going to work in 5.6? You are literally 6 MAJOR versions behind, you need to update fam!
@@maxherman11 was only interested if it would even see it. In my dads network i'm using a PicoStation M2. No chance to go further than 5.6.40 at that side.
At home i'm on 5.12.66.
Klumi Klima Thanks for confirming the lack of mounting holes (it wasn’t obvious in the video). I guess that would have made it a bit bigger.
Will this work with an Amplifi router? I have a mac mini server for hosting an Unifi Controller but I want to be able to use it for entertainment center. Any special port settings necessary?
Yes and no - while it can't be 'adopted' to Amplifi like you can do in UniFi world, it can function as just a dumb switch in an AmpliFi network infrastructure. You would still have to have a UniFi Controller to adopt and/or make changes to the USW-Flex-Mini though.
What about IGMP snooping? My ISP requires this to prevent flooding all my ports on the switch with multicast IPTV traffic.
If you just velcro or even use double sided tape, that will fall off overtime. Faster if you have a couple of wires connected to it. Since it's plastic, that thing will be all over the place. There's also no wall mount holes on them so that makes it ever harder to mount so they don't move. It's nice that they have more options, but man, having to manage so many features can be a pain. I get it why you have those, but still.
I have my UniFi controller and pi hole on same ras pi. Is it possible to put the raspberry pi on IOT Vlan on the flex mini for pi hole but still have it be on management vlan for controller, configuring the vlans on the ras pi some how?
Can this thing also handle VLAN and IGMP snooping? I would require that for my IPTV. Will it also work if I use it with my ISP router? E.g. to configure the VLAN parts which are in the ISP router.
Setting one of these up is almost impossible to adopt from a controller inside a docker container. Had to adopt all my gear and migrate it to the docker container to get the flex mini to be seen by the docker network. Usg,8-60 and uap lite adopt fine on the docker container. I am running this behind a traefik reverse proxy don't know if that's a issue with the flex.
Nice.. A could really use a few of these around the house. Too bad they are "Sold Out" :(
Easy work around.. adopt it to a local controller then export the site to Ur Cloud controller. And boom Mini switch is now on Ur cloud controller, then you can move it to what ever site you want on you cloud controller
Is it possible to adopt the switch using the discovery tool that comes bundled with the UniFi controller?
I tried to do that, but it didn't work for me.
Chris thanks for this I am in the UK and waiting for the distributor to get these, fingers crossed it will be soon. Cloud Keys do we need to port forward any IP’s for the cloud keys to talk to unifi accounts?
Nope - it’s an outbound connection, not inbound. Inbound connections require ports to be open in your firewall.
Hey Chris, have a few of these and some work fine and others I just can't get to adopt or become unavailable after update. Wondering if you have had similar experience? Can you do a followup on these switches for updating and adopting issues.
Can I use the one PoE port to power the Wifi6 Lite? or will I need to buy the power adapter for the AP?