Hello, I want to put 1 or 2 U7-Pro antennas from the Ubiquiti brand in my house, the intention is to be able to configure two networks (guest and main) for each antenna, but I have two questions:
1.- The Ubiquiti addon (Link to Add-on: dashboard – My Home Assistant) replaces the clud key or Does it only complement it? I’m interested to know if I have to buy the clud key or it is not necessary.
UniFi Network Version 8.0.26 and later
UniFi OS Version 3.2 and later
Since it is a third-party plugin, I ask it here first…
I clarify that there are two “options” for ubiquiti in home assist, the “device” and the “complement”, in this case I am referring to the complement, since the device if I am not mistaken is a link to an already existing cloudkey
The Addon is like running the Unifi Network Application on your own server, just packaged to make it easy.
That is equivalent to buying a cloud key and plugging it in. Perhaps there are edge features that a cloud key provides, but I’ve self-hosted the network application for years and never had a reason to think about buying once I figured it out.
Personally, after running the add-on for a couple weeks I did switch to hosting the network application outside of Home Assistant so that it would stay up when Home Assistant was restarting, along with anything else that was important to keep up.
I’m not really sure how to answer your second question. I don’t fully understand it.
If you have a Unifi device adopted by another instance of Unifi network application, I believe you will have to readopt it. There are probably instructions on the Unifi website to do this.
Alternatively, if you have access to the cloud key you could probably back up your settings and then restore to the home assistant add-on.
Cloud key is basically local hosted remote service. The compute is local. Technically the hardware for the unifi controller is local but UI is remote I think. This was never clear to me. The login and UI is remote. That is my understanding. I think it was meant for users with multiple location installs so they dont have to manage compute at their site and have customers connecting to them but instead have compute at customer site and have login handled by ubiquiti. I dont think thats quite correct explaination by probably close enough. I never liked the cloud key as I prefer to manage network locally with no external access and definetly dont want to be group with a bunch of other users as a big juicy target.
The addon is the unifi controller managed in HA. A docker container controlled by HA supervisor with simplified setup UI through HA. This is better option.
The APs cannot do this alone. The APs can broadcast the 2 separate networks and SSID you desire.
The APs can separate the 2 SSID into 2 separate vlans
The APs cannot make your LAN devices respect the vlan traffic. You need a router and possibly a network switch for this. Get a used unifi USG off ebay for $40USD. If you want new get the UXG-Lite. The UXG-Max with ethernet wont do since it doesnt have POE and you will likey need a switch (vlan aware) to power your APs. Any of the latest unifi switches with POE will do or any decent switch that has POE.
My network grew a little large for my USG and about 2yr ago I took an old server I had and installed opnsense. I still have Unifi switches and AP but routing is opnsense. I prefer this and much more flexibility and ease. I still have unifi controller but have little use for it after devices are setup
The add-on replaces the Cloud Key’s function for running the Unifi Network application. The Network application is what is used to manage the devices. For your specific use-case, this should fit the need.
The latest version of the add-on is running Unifi Network version 8.1.127 so it should support the U7s.
There’s a mixed bag of misinformation here.
The Unifi CloudKey is a cloud sourced appliance meant for running Unifi applications. So it’s capable of doing more than just managing network gear:
Specifically, the Unifi Network application which can be used to manage Unifi network equipment is one use-case. The add-on allows you to run the Network application for gear management.
This are all local services with an option to enable remote access/cloud-based logins. You can purchase a CK, setup a local user account, and block it from the internet. The only function you’ll lose is updates from the UI.
To @tmjpugh point…you can use the add-on to setup the SSIDs and VLAN tags on the APs, but you’ll need to also setup the same VLANs/networks on your switches/router to fully build an isolated network.
Hello, regarding the wording of my question, I was not referring to VLAN, but simply configuring the APs to provide 2 Wi-Fi networks. It is not an independent network, the idea is to limit network access to people, that is, under the same network (No VLAN), have an unlimited Wi-Fi network and another limited to 150Mbps for example, but as far as I go. the clud key is necessary
Regarding the first question, OK, I was not clear about the structure of the addon itself, I have already installed and configured several CKs, both Gen1 and Gen2, it was to confirm and request it if necessary
Finally, regarding the second question, thank you for confirming, I was not clear which of the two values I had to take for this case, I previously tried to configure a pair of UAP-LR that they lent me to test and I was unable, I don’t know if it is because they were damaged (in the box they were both with a single 48v poe using these 24v to work) or because they were so old that the addon did not recognize them.
These days I will try to buy and configure the first U7-Pro AP and I will confirm it here.
Thanks to all three, for now this thread is waiting, at least from me, for confirmation of its operation or any questions about its configuration, greetings
Yep, this is what threw that flag. So, just two separate SSIDs where one has WiFi bandwidth limitations set.
The rest was more meant as clarification for future readers as there are differences between the add-on and an actual Cloud Key device (like being able to run the other applications).
