Community discussions

MikroTik App
 
User avatar
anav
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Topic Author
Posts: 19107
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:28 pm
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Contact:

MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:56 pm

Apparently ubiquite, unlike real vendors does NOT allow one to fully setup an AP in stand alone. BOOO!
Let alone their stewpid need to hybrid port everything.

Scenario,
hex router with three vlans home, iot, guest
PC is on vhome
PC contains unifi controller

How does one successfully set this up?
Normally I would untag vlanhome to the PC
BUT the controller needs also vlaniot and vlanguest as the APs talk to the controller
BUT the pC has a single nic card not three of them??

Nothing makes sense in this equation.
If you are not challenged yet, then add (put intended) an adguard server on the PC just for kicks.
 
llag
Frequent Visitor
Frequent Visitor
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2018 12:12 am

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:07 pm

Your post reads more as a rant and less a help request.
But anyhow: the PC does not need access to the IOT and guest VLANs. the HEX can doe the routing and firewalling as required.
The Unifi APs however may need access to IOT and Guest VLANs (assuming you want separate SSIDs for those VLANs).
So configure the SSIDs in the controller for the appropriate VLANs and create a hybrid trunk to the APs with home as PVID and the other VLANs tagged.
It is that simple
 
User avatar
cfikes
Member Candidate
Member Candidate
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2014 9:14 pm
Location: Texas
Contact:

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:10 pm

Apparently ubiquite, unlike real vendors does NOT allow one to fully setup an AP in stand alone. BOOO!
Let alone their stewpid need to hybrid port everything.

Scenario,
hex router with three vlans home, iot, guest
PC is on vhome
PC contains unifi controller

How does one successfully set this up?
Normally I would untag vlanhome to the PC
BUT the controller needs also vlaniot and vlanguest as the APs talk to the controller
BUT the pC has a single nic card not three of them??

Nothing makes sense in this equation.
If you are not challenged yet, then add (put intended) an adguard server on the PC just for kicks.
The controller does not need to be located on the same VLAN/network as the devices its managing. This just makes the initial adoption simpler. So long as the ports the access points are connected to have all the tagging needed for the Wi-Fi networks assigned to them, you wont have any issues with configuration.

If you want the official article it is below, but basically you either setup an option 43 to the ip of the controller, setup a DNS record that resolves to unifi, or if it is a few devices, just ssh into them and change the inform url to the controller.

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/2 ... n-Layer-3-
 
User avatar
andkar
newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:20 pm

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:35 pm

" hybrid port everything"

Default management is untagged. This can later be changed so AP only communicates through tagged VLANs (if desired).
The important point is that AP needs initial connection to controller in order to be adopted. Then it is possible to assign management to a tagged vlan (that can reach controller).
 
User avatar
anav
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Topic Author
Posts: 19107
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:28 pm
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Contact:

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 6:03 pm

BIts and pieces, bits and pieces, the logic is almost there.

The initial question was how does the UNIF controller if on a PC getting untagged vlan home data, setup and manage two Access points lets say, both of which need to output data on vlaniot20/vlanguest.
Yes I can assign those MT ports to the APs as trunk ports that is not a problem physically but it breaks connectivity between the three devices as least for setup. Ass you say this may be only possible later (trunk ports)

The hard part -->What I cannot wrap my head around is how the unifi controller is going to reach/find/communicate with those APs. Seems solved by doing as stated, hybrid all around.
I'm assuming the untagged vlanhome to the PC and thus unif controller will work AS LONG as the access points are also getting hybrid ports..
aka untagged vlanhome and tagged vlaniot vlanguest.

So in effect the two APs are also in the same subnet as the unifi controller.
IF thats all I need to do thats easy.

If the above is the successful path, then is there a need to do anything else or simplify or just leave as is???
 
User avatar
andkar
newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:20 pm

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 6:25 pm

AP contacts controller for managment, not the other way around. This makes it possible to move AP to another network as long as it can reach the controller.
This is one of the functions that is good about Unifi. I do not like the other stuff (no to be discussed here).
 
User avatar
anav
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Topic Author
Posts: 19107
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:28 pm
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Contact:

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 8:14 pm

Thanks, i think I got it.
So once the controller is used to setup the APs, the controller is not needed anymore right?
So if the APs are expecting a hybrid port setup untagged managment (from unifi) tagged vlans for data, and the unifi does it thing,
theoretically one could moved the APs to trunk ports for vlans data and they would work??

The only time they would need to be hybrid ports again is if you wanted to change settings??
 
User avatar
andkar
newbie
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 9:20 pm

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:28 pm

Yes, as long no configuration changes are needed Unfifi AP's will still function. Of course configured hotspot etc.will not function if controller is offline.
On UI controller you define vlan only network and tie those to SSID's (Wireless networks). Once AP's have provisioned they will bind SSID to vlan tag (on AP ethernet port) and off you go.
If you have forced AP to use VLAN for management, only tagged VLANs will be required. Only new unconfigured AP will need untagged (until you have forced them to use VLAN).

Now, this is a Mikrotik forum and I think this is out out of scoop on this forum. Maybe Unifi forum is better place for help?
 
User avatar
anav
Forum Guru
Forum Guru
Topic Author
Posts: 19107
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2018 11:28 pm
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Contact:

Re: MT to unif controller to Uniifi APs

Sat Mar 04, 2023 6:41 pm

thanks andkar, completely valid, it determines what kind of ports on the MT device I need going to such APs.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 63 guests