UniFi Setup

[MCT]

Hello.

I'm looking to purchase around 30 access points from UniFi, especially the AC-AP-Pro and AC-AP-Lite.
I'm also looking to purchase a single 48 Port PoE Switch, or multiple 8 Port PoE Switch.

Are you able to recommend me some switches that work with all of this at once, and if it will work at all?
Is there anything I have to configure in the switch?

Thanks.

[Windows7ge]

For something like this the switch can remain unconfigured if you plan to make one bulk network but with 30 APs you could easily exceed 253 clients depending on what type of network this is going to be supporting (business/school/public area)

 

You will also need something to control the AP's and seamlessly transition devices between them as people move around. Kind of like a Cloud Key but I don't think that will suffice for 30 APs.

 

If you want to isolate chunks of these into independent subnets/networks you'll need to setup VLANs and trunk ports which will require configuring the switches & router(s).

 

You'll need switch(s) that support PoE and with this you're limited to 180f of Cat5e/Cat6 cable so unless the facility is built entirely out of thick concrete walls you'll need more than 1 switch to spread out the APs more or alternatively use less APs if the premises doesn't really need 30. With multiple PoE switches you could utilize fiberoptics to drastically increase the range of where you can place the APs.

 

This would be quite the undertaking. Can we get some more detail as to what you need this many for?

[MCT]

3 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

For something like this the switch can remain unconfigured if you plan to make one bulk network but with 30 APs you could easily exceed 253 clients depending on what type of network this is going to be supporting (business/school/public area)

 

You will also need something to control the AP's and seamlessly transition devices between them as people move around. Kind of like a Cloud Key but I don't think that will suffice for 30 APs.

 

If you want to isolate chunks of these into independent subnets/networks you'll need to setup VLANs and trunk ports which will require configuring the switches & router(s).

 

You'll need switch(s) that support PoE and with this you're limited to 180f of Cat5e cable so unless the facility is built entirely out of thick concrete walls you'll need more than 1 switch to spread out the APs more or alternatively use less APs if the premises doesn't really need 30. With multiple PoE switches you could utilize fiberoptics to drastically increase the range of where you can place the APs.

 

This would be quite the undertaking. Can we get some more detail as to what you need this many for?

Are you able to maybe speak on discord as it's instant instead?

This is going to be used in a business.

We can also go lower and maybe only use 16 or 24 APs, but I'm unsure if it's going to cover everything.

We have Cat6a throughout the walls, with a few in the ceiling and on the walls.

Would this work?

[Windows7ge]

18 minutes ago, MCT said:

Are you able to maybe speak on discord as it's instant instead?

This is going to be used in a business.

We can also go lower and maybe only use 16 or 24 APs, but I'm unsure if it's going to cover everything.

We have Cat6a throughout the walls, with a few in the ceiling and on the walls.

Would this work?

I cannot.

 

Alright.

 

Well you have to test the coverage of each AP and compare that to the square footage of the facility. You then want to make sure it overlaps at th edges of each AP so there isn't any dead zones.

 

Looking a little deeper Cat6 is preffered over Cat5e for PoE/PoE+ however I don't know the technical difference between Cat6 vs Cat6a besides being able to push 10GBASE-T over the full 328f length like standard gigabit on Cat5e. Looking even deeper it gets more technical where the voltage output and voltage demand of the PoE device will further limit how long the cable can be.

 

It seems a 24V supply will only power a OM series AP up to about 50M (100~150f) while the 802.3af and 802.3at standards claim to be able to do the full 100M(328f) so you would have to do research on your specific APs but the general accepted distance (at least according to CISCO) is 180f. So in short Cat6a as far as I am reading should work if not is preferred over Cat5e for this type of application.

[MCT]

None of the cables are longer than 75 m, if I'm right.

 

[Windows7ge]

Don't forget to quote me or else I won't get notified that you replied.

5 minutes ago, MCT said:

None of the cables are longer than 75 m, if I'm right.

 

So ~246f. Then you're going to need to be careful what AP you chose or else some of them may not get enough power. You'll end up installing a PoE injector/booster somewhere along the line or running AC power right up to the AP in the ceiling/wall.

 

How many clients do you estimate this wireless network needs to support? Do these clients need to be able to talk to anything else on the network (or each other) or do they only need internet access? Is this going to be on a Domain? When setting up something like this for a business it's important to restrict what the clients have access to to mitigate any potential attacks.

 

Again you also need to consider the number of client which would make it desirable to setup VLANs (which would having you configuring the switch(s) & router. Not only would this increase security but it would also shrink broadcast domains helping the overall performance of the network and making troubleshooting easier if something stopped working.

[MCT]

I think we'll have around 200 people on the network.

[MCT]

Also, the company I'm doing this for has a website, yes.

[brwainer]

Have you looked at the Unifi switches? The benefit of them is you can administer the switches and the APs in the same interface.

 

What are your plans for running the Unifi Controller? The Cloud Key Gen 2 can support up to 50 APs. Don’t bother with the Cloud Key Gen 1, even if it is cheaper - it has serious issues. You can also run the controller on almost any computer, or in the cloud. The controller software is just a Java program that runs an HTTP/S server. They have binaries for Windows and Linux - I recommend running it on Ubuntu Server or Debian.

 

You need the controller running 24/7 if you want the guest login portal to work, or you want to log users and events. If you don’t care about that then you only need it running when you make changes. However, DON’T just run the controller from someone’s individual computer. If the controller is lost and you don’t have a backup of it, there is no way to make network changes without defaulting all of the equipment.

[MCT]

What's the difference between the CloudKey V2 and V2+?

[MCT]

Are there any UniFi Switches you recommend?

 

 

[MCT]

Also, I just talked to the company, and they said that 20-16 access points are enough and that's what they're planning on.

[scottyseng]

2 hours ago, MCT said:

What's the difference between the CloudKey V2 and V2+?

The plus has a hard drive, meant to be used with UniFi Security Cameras for camera DVR capabilities. You don't need it in this case. Also, if you have a company server, I would recommend installing ubuntu in a VM and installing UniFi controller on that.

 

2 hours ago, MCT said:

Are there any UniFi Switches you recommend?

I'm unsure of how many wired devices you'll have, but I would say to get the 48 port UniFi PoE switch (US-48-500W). If you have a company NAS, you might consider getting a 10Gb switch as well (US-16-XG)

 

Also, I don't think you mentioned it, but what router are you using?

2 hours ago, MCT said:

Also, I just talked to the company, and they said that 20-16 access points are enough and that's what they're planning on.

It depends on the square footage, material of walls, etc. Only way to really tell is to do a WiFi survey to check signal coverage. Also, try your best to keep the APs in a triangular truss pattern on the ceiling.

[Eniqmatic]

Agreed, Unifi controller on a VM would be a good choice. Having said that, the Cloud Key Gen2 will give you access to the new Unifi Protect solution for the video cameras. You can install Unifi NVR on the same VM also though.

 

And yes you should also do a site survey as mentioned above, you can also use Unifi's map feature which allows you to upload floor plans, insert walls and place AP's and will give you an indication of how the the signal will be throughout the building.

[MCT]

They use the USG Router/Firewall from UniFi right now.

They will also be having a few UniFi Security Cameras, but are not planning on recording.

[Scheer]

Something to keep in mind is the Unifi Switch takes 2-3 minutes to reboot everytime you make a settings change. Our IT kept taking the network down and had a lot of really upset employees until they realized it did that. Became a big enough problem they replaced it with a Ubiquiti Edgeswitch, which apparently doesn't do the same thing.

[MCT]

It restarts if you change something?

[Scheer]

Just now, MCT said:

It restarts if you change something?

Yep, you queue up changes, then when all done you hit apply changes. Once you know that reboots the switch you can plan for it, but it doesn't let you know that... so for the first few days they were constantly rebooting it lol. I haven't worked with a ton of L2/L3 switches, but I've never seen another one that needed a reboot like this does.

 

[MCT]

Hmm. Okay.

[brwainer]

There are some changes that cause the switch to reboot, and some that don’t. Cycling the POE on a port, or enabling/disabling it, does not restart it. Likewise changing the profile of a port (which is how you control which VLANs are tagged or untagged) does not make it reboot.