Too Many Web Interfaces (Management Software options)

[LapsedMemory]

I've been upgrading my network over the last few years, and I finally have some descent hardware configurations.  Now I have the problem that pretty much everything I have on the network has some sort of web-based management interface and it's getting rather annoying going thru all of them.  Eventually, I will trim this down as I upgrade more hardware to be in the same 'environments' but here's the current list off the top of my head:
pfSense

Proxmox

PiHole

Unifi Controller (Network Switches)

Omada Controller (Wireless APs)

Synology

OctoPi

..and a few other odds and ends.

 

I'm looking for options on how to wrap all of these into single interface with a single log-on.  I know I can create a menu of all the addresses and credentials for the interfaces onto yet ANOTHER web server, but I was wondering if there was already something like this available without me having to put in the work to do it myself.  I've spent all weekend getting everything running, so I may be burned out a bit, and my google searches have not yielded any successful results.  I don't care if I can access any of this outside the network, in fact, I'd rather not.  Just looking for a simple, one-stop-shop for managing the multitude of network devices.

 

Anyone seen anything like what I'm looking for?  I was kinda hoping the Unifi controller software would have a feature where I could just click on the device in the tree and have it send me to the appropriate management page, but if it has it, I haven't found it.

[LapsedMemory]

Just as I finish typing this all up and hit 'send' I get a flash of lucidity and find an answer or two.

 

Currently digging into the requirements for Heimdall Application Dashboard and Organizr to see which one fits my needs better. 

 

I'll leave this post up in case anyone else's brain stops functioning like mine did. 

[whispous]

 

I mean...

 

"I set up five thousand web interfaces and it's too many."

[LAwLz]

Even if you were able to find some management interface for this (something like Ansible might be able to, but it's not a GUI), I feel like it is best to just keep everything separate.

You shouldn't have to touch the things you have set up that often, and the risk of the management software messing up in some way seems like a somewhat likely scenario, especially if you keep all the servers and such up to date.

[brwainer]

This isn’t what you asked for per se but this is a serious recommendation: consider consolidating your routing, wireless, and DNS on Unifi. I am a professional network engineer and my homelab needs and expectations are high. 

• Pfsense - Unifi routers have come a long way in the past 2-3 years, there is very little PFSense can do that a Unifi router won’t. I was personally using Untangle and Mikrotik for my home and family routers for years but this month I’m cutting over everything to Unifi and  currently setting things up, and there’s nothing in my setup that I have to compromise or implement a different way (OK, I’m using Site Magic instead of manually setting up site-to-site tunnels, but that’s an improvement!). For my house I’m doing a UDM-SE, my brother is getting a UCG-Max, my parents are getting a UCG-Ultra, and my grandmother is getting a UX. Note that all the products I listed run the Unifi controller locally, you would migrate your Unifi switches to your new gateway. Or you can get one of the “UXG” products which is managed by a self-hosted controller.
• Pihole - UniFi Network 8.3 completely removed my need for pihole - Including the local DNS entries and domain-based redirects that I was using. Version 8.4 is only going to continue this trend.
• Wireless - Omada started out as a UniFi clone, they clearly took the user manual for UniFi controller 5.6 (the only version UniFi made a proper manual for) and used it as a development guide. They even use the same UI framework toolkit, so it even looked identical. The only benefit of Omada is a significant undercut on price. They did do some cool things with their routers before UniFi got to it, which I think is part of what kicked off the recent router improvements, but the wireless side has never had any significant improvements to it, just keeping up with the general industry Wi-Fi standards. Meanwhile UniFi has pushed the performance and stability they are able to get out of the APs, and improvements are coming even way back to generation 2 APs (AC Wave 1). Wireless is what Ubiquiti started with and the genesis of the entire Unifi line. Unless you’re willing to spend money on Ruckus Unleashed for best in the industry radios (and then you would have a separate interface for wireless), I completely recommend UniFi wireless.

By the way, I did at one time look into the centralized home server jumping point options available. I know things have changed in the couple of years since I did that but what hasn’t changed is running one interface that is basically links to others. Maybe some of the other interfaces get embedded inside the page, but a lot of things won’t work in an iframe. Either way, it didn’t beat just keeping a folder of bookmarks in my browser and letting the browser sync that between my computers.

[LapsedMemory]

14 minutes ago, brwainer said:

This isn’t what you asked for per se but this is a serious recommendation: consider consolidating your routing, wireless, and DNS on Unifi. I am a professional network engineer and my homelab needs and expectations are high. 

• Pfsense - Unifi routers have come a long way in the past 2-3 years, there is very little PFSense can do that a Unifi router won’t. I was personally using Untangle and Mikrotik for my home and family routers for years but this month I’m cutting over everything to Unifi and  currently setting things up, and there’s nothing in my setup that I have to compromise or implement a different way (OK, I’m using Site Magic instead of manually setting up site-to-site tunnels, but that’s an improvement!). For my house I’m doing a UDM-SE, my brother is getting a UCG-Max, my parents are getting a UCG-Ultra, and my grandmother is getting a UX. Note that all the products I listed run the Unifi controller locally, you would migrate your Unifi switches to your new gateway. Or you can get one of the “UXG” products which is managed by a self-hosted controller.
• Pihole - UniFi Network 8.3 completely removed my need for pihole - Including the local DNS entries and domain-based redirects that I was using. Version 8.4 is only going to continue this trend.
• Wireless - Omada started out as a UniFi clone, they clearly took the user manual for UniFi controller 5.6 (the only version UniFi made a proper manual for) and used it as a development guide. They even use the same UI framework toolkit, so it even looked identical. The only benefit of Omada is a significant undercut on price. They did do some cool things with their routers before UniFi got to it, which I think is part of what kicked off the recent router improvements, but the wireless side has never had any significant improvements to it, just keeping up with the general industry Wi-Fi standards. Meanwhile UniFi has pushed the performance and stability they are able to get out of the APs, and improvements are coming even way back to generation 2 APs (AC Wave 1). Wireless is what Ubiquiti started with and the genesis of the entire Unifi line. Unless you’re willing to spend money on Ruckus Unleashed for best in the industry radios (and then you would have a separate interface for wireless), I completely recommend UniFi wireless.

By the way, I did at one time look into the centralized home server jumping point options available. I know things have changed in the couple of years since I did that but what hasn’t changed is running one interface that is basically links to others. Maybe some of the other interfaces get embedded inside the page, but a lot of things won’t work in an iframe. Either way, it didn’t beat just keeping a folder of bookmarks in my browser and letting the browser sync that between my computers.

The Unifi Network Switches are the newest addition to my network, and I really like the interface.  My end goal is exactly what you have listed here, moving APs, router, and anything else over to the Unifi environment over the next year or two.  I just have to budget my expenses carefully.  pfSense, Proxmox, pihole, and Unifi controllers are all running on free industrial iBase fanless PCs I was able to snag from work.  I won't be able to justify the cost of replacing 2APs and a router for a bit yet.  

[LIGISTX]

I have practical a dozen tabs on chrome dedicated to homelab WebUI’s… but I only use 1 or two of them more than once a week. You shouldn’t need to be touching them all that often once things are set up and running. Off the top of my head, I have 8 VM’s and over a dozen docker containers running and as I said, I routinely use 2 webUI’s. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

On 7/22/2024 at 10:36 AM, LAwLz said:

Even if you were able to find some management interface for this (something like Ansible might be able to, but it's not a GUI), I feel like it is best to just keep everything separate.

You shouldn't have to touch the things you have set up that often, and the risk of the management software messing up in some way seems like a somewhat likely scenario, especially if you keep all the servers and such up to date.

That's my feeling too.

 

A lot of people go for Ubiquiti so its all integrated, but I see it as an advantage personally that all my devices are independent.  Means there's not some central management that can go wrong and bork all the devices.

 

The biggest problem for me is I use good old SNMP to monitor those devices and the reliability of that seems to be all over the place.  For example my Zyxel AP SNMP outright crashes at random, and they do not expose detailed client statistics such as link rate.

I don't think manufacturers care to make it reliable as they want you to use their cloud management so that you only buy their products, doubly so if its a subscription service.  I wish someone would clamp down on this anti-competitive behaviour and force them to do a full, reliable, SNMP implementation.