5 ms·

Could anyone help explain what this is. Is it just a fancy WiFi router?

lopkeny12ko 3y ago
> What is UniFi Express? > UniFi Express is a complete UniFi Networking stack in an ultra-compact, plug-and-play form factor. It runs UniFi Network and features a powerful gateway engine and built-in WiFi 6 with seamless meshing.
- handy2000 3y ago
  Read this several times. Still don't know what I am looking at. What is "UniFi Networking stack", what is "UniFi Network"? Is it a WiFi router? I use a TP-Link router at home, and they don't sell it as "TP-Link Networking stack".
  - gotbeans 3y ago
    A "network stack" should be a somewhat relatively familiar concept if you are acquainted with networking in any way.
  - BHSPitMonkey 3y ago
    More complex networks (e.g. in commercial settings, or the homes of I.T. nerds) will often consist of a router plus one or more switches and/or wireless access points, probably spread out across a site with multiple ethernet drops. A typical router sold for home consumers (like yours I'm guessing) is a combination of all three of those in one convenient package, which is enough for most home use cases. Companies like Ubiquiti (under the UniFi brand), Meraki, etc. make these products such that they can all work together as an ecosystem, e.g. so you can log into a single dashboard and manage the network as well as every individual device's configuration from one place. This is the difference between a so-called "managed" switch (or wireless access point) versus an ordinary dumb one. UniFi also makes PoE security cameras that are managed through their ecosystem in the same manner. This sort of ecosystem is useful for people doing I.T. in commercial settings. You can use a single interface to manage a network in a huge office building with hundreds of devices, or to manage lots of smaller networks spread across different sites. This "UniFi Express" product seems more suitable for the latter, e.g. in cafes or small retail settings where you might just use it on its own or add a small number of additional switches/APs. It's similar to your home router+AP combo, but it also contains the management software I described before which is capable of adopting more UniFi devices and provides remote administration. Edit: If you're curious, TP-Link's equivalent to UniFi is called Omada: https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/ https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/
  - gooseyard 3y ago
    I am not much of a networking guy but decided to try the Unifi stuff several years back after some frustration with one of the consumer mesh wifi things. I found the Unifi stuff incredibly confusing when reading about it prior to buying some. Some friends at work who are more networking savvy were very keen on Unifi were very helpful though, and it turns out not to be as strange as I thought, although coming from the garden variety consumer wifi router boxes, it seemed bizarre at the time. I'll try to give an explanation along the lines of what they gave me. In a wifi router like your TP-Link, the control plane software is running on the box with the the switching hardware and wifi ap, so you've got a little single board computer running web server for the UI, and all the random dhcp/dns/etc and other doodads that can run on them. In the Unifi world, you've got all the same functions, routing/switching/wifi etc, but instead of sharing one box, the functions are spread across a number of different devices. As with a combination router/wifi/switch, the important part to a user like you or me is that control plane software- you plug the thing in, point your browser to 192.168.1.1 or whatever, and set things up. The Unifi world has this too, but that software component doesn't need to run in any specific place in your network. So for example, you could buy two Unifi Access Points which do nothing but talk to wifi clients, then you would need some kind of device capable of going your routing, and you might need a switch as well. Ubiquiti sells a variety of little routers and switches that can perform those network functions, but which don't have any compute or storage resources that would be necessary to run the control plane software. However, they also sell little gizmos like the Cloud Key which can run the control plane software- it's just a tiny server with some flash storage and an ethernet port. I'll refer to that thing as The Controller. When you change some settings on your TP-Link, the web UI app is twiddling with the the routing/switching/wifi/etc hardware or software on the device. In the Unifi world there's a web ui as well, running on the controller, but when you change a setting in the web ui, the controller decides which devices need to have their configuration updated, and sends out new configuration to them over the network. Here's where I think things get confusing. The Controller software package can run on a wide variety of devices which are so different that the whole thing will seem nonsensical if you're used to regular wireless routers. You can buy a CloudKey and connect it to your network. You can download a copy of the Controller that will run on a Linux box on your network. Or you could do the same thing but have the Controller running on a machine that isn't on your network at all, like an EC2 vm. Or, Ubiquiti also sell some devices which combine two or more functions into a single device, like some of the "UDM" family of devices have compute and storage resources in addition to the switching/routing/wifi hardware, and have The Controller software installed in advance. To give you an example of how flexible the controller placement is, I have a little Synology NAS that is able to run Docker, and on it I have an image that contains the Unifi Controller, so when I go the web ui for my network, I'm talking to a containerized web server on the NAS, which is managing the configuration of my devices, which are a router (I just replaced my USG 3P with a UXG-Lite yesterday), a couple of their little inexpensive switches, and a pair of Wireless Access Points. What I like about this model is that I'm able to update pieces of it as I need to, and usually the individual pieces are fairly inexpensive. But what I dislike about it, as some other respondents on this thread have complained, choosing which devices you need is confusing as hell. They sell at least one machine which has a wifi AP, switch, router, and controller all in one box. Why not get that? The reason, I believe, is that many of the people who use this Unifi stuff are managing a bunch of networks at a bunch of different sites, like maybe at a bunch of retail locations or restaurants, where its way more convenient to have the controller running offsite, but then they decide to install some stuff at home and need a Controller which needs fewer resources so a Cloud Key or just running the stuff on your desktop would be ok. This flexibility means that there's no single right set of hardware, no single best product, etc. Especially if you don't need multiple APs, I think a single-box wifi router will provide equal or superior performance with much less trouble, but once you need multiple APs, the Unifi stuff can be compelling if you're comfortable with the architecture, but I think it's difficult to decide which hardware bits to choose and what the best place to run the controller will be. anyway apologies for the length- I found all this very confusing initially as well although I've grown fond of the Unifi stuff and thought it might be worth writing the whole thing out in case its useful to somebody considering this stuff.
  - jonathanlydall 3y ago
    While TP-Link offers simple routers and basic networking equipment (which I’ve found to be 100% reliable at home), they do also offer their Omada based products which seem to compete with Ubiquity’s products. All their Omada products can communicate with a controller which can auto configure the devices and actively coordinate handover of clients between WiFi APs. I’m running it in my house and I’m pretty happy. Through the controller web page UI you centrally define your VLANs and wireless networks and then it updates all your equipment configuration for you. I don’t think I’d ever bother with their gateway product as pfSense seems to be way more capable.
- spankalee 3y ago
  What is UniFi?
parasubvert 3y ago
Yes but Ubiquiti is very popular among Small Office / Home Office users due to their software that's integrated across their devices.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  It's a WiFi 6 box too, so it's got decent home throughput. Gig WAN, gig LAN and it's pretty decent for the majority of ISP customers.
CobaltFire 3y ago
Sort of, and sort of not. UniFi requires a controller that gives you a single pane of glass style interface to control everything. Most of their controllers can run multiple applications, the top two being Network and Protect. Network runs their Routing, WiFi AP's, and Switches and gives you in depth data about what's going on where. Protect is their NVR system, which also does some AI stuff and ties into a few other things like Ring does. This device is a bit low powered, so only runs Network; they do sell standalone NVR's that will tie into it and run Protect. The $50 more expensive UniFi Dream router is similar, but has a switch with POE built in to run a couple of AP's or cameras, and can run both Network and Protect (with caveats; it's not terribly powerful and it only saves Protect footage to an SD card). So you can think of it as just a fancy AP, but it's also the base building block of a much larger ecosystem. As a note, the weakest link of the system is, IMO, the routing. Running UniFi with a more professional router of choice is a common way to go.
- globular-toast 3y ago
  I don't get why anyone would want/need the Unifi controller but doesn't already have somewhere to run the controller. I just ran it on my NAS but presumably could be run on a Raspi or something.
- edmundsauto 3y ago
  I've seen this term used a lot lately, what does it mean? > single pane of glass style interface
  - CobaltFire 3y ago
    The simplest way to put it: Everything on one screen in a GUI with graphs. I THINK it comes from aviation, where the transition from steam gauges to MFDs to really big MFDs meant some massive UI changes. That may not be quite accurate, but it’s as close as my brain can do this late.
  - atomicnumber3 3y ago
    It just means a unified (sorry) UI that handles everything, instead of having say one system/UI for routing, another for LAN management, another for firewall, etc etc where nothing necessarily knows about the others.

> What is UniFi Express? > UniFi Express is a complete UniFi Networking stack in an ultra-compact, plug-and-play form factor. It runs UniFi Network and features a powerful gateway engine and built-in WiFi 6 with seamless meshing.

handy2000 3y ago
Read this several times. Still don't know what I am looking at. What is "UniFi Networking stack", what is "UniFi Network"? Is it a WiFi router? I use a TP-Link router at home, and they don't sell it as "TP-Link Networking stack".
- gotbeans 3y ago
  A "network stack" should be a somewhat relatively familiar concept if you are acquainted with networking in any way.
- BHSPitMonkey 3y ago
  More complex networks (e.g. in commercial settings, or the homes of I.T. nerds) will often consist of a router plus one or more switches and/or wireless access points, probably spread out across a site with multiple ethernet drops. A typical router sold for home consumers (like yours I'm guessing) is a combination of all three of those in one convenient package, which is enough for most home use cases. Companies like Ubiquiti (under the UniFi brand), Meraki, etc. make these products such that they can all work together as an ecosystem, e.g. so you can log into a single dashboard and manage the network as well as every individual device's configuration from one place. This is the difference between a so-called "managed" switch (or wireless access point) versus an ordinary dumb one. UniFi also makes PoE security cameras that are managed through their ecosystem in the same manner. This sort of ecosystem is useful for people doing I.T. in commercial settings. You can use a single interface to manage a network in a huge office building with hundreds of devices, or to manage lots of smaller networks spread across different sites. This "UniFi Express" product seems more suitable for the latter, e.g. in cafes or small retail settings where you might just use it on its own or add a small number of additional switches/APs. It's similar to your home router+AP combo, but it also contains the management software I described before which is capable of adopting more UniFi devices and provides remote administration. Edit: If you're curious, TP-Link's equivalent to UniFi is called Omada: https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/ https://www.tp-link.com/us/omada-sdn/
- gooseyard 3y ago
  I am not much of a networking guy but decided to try the Unifi stuff several years back after some frustration with one of the consumer mesh wifi things. I found the Unifi stuff incredibly confusing when reading about it prior to buying some. Some friends at work who are more networking savvy were very keen on Unifi were very helpful though, and it turns out not to be as strange as I thought, although coming from the garden variety consumer wifi router boxes, it seemed bizarre at the time. I'll try to give an explanation along the lines of what they gave me. In a wifi router like your TP-Link, the control plane software is running on the box with the the switching hardware and wifi ap, so you've got a little single board computer running web server for the UI, and all the random dhcp/dns/etc and other doodads that can run on them. In the Unifi world, you've got all the same functions, routing/switching/wifi etc, but instead of sharing one box, the functions are spread across a number of different devices. As with a combination router/wifi/switch, the important part to a user like you or me is that control plane software- you plug the thing in, point your browser to 192.168.1.1 or whatever, and set things up. The Unifi world has this too, but that software component doesn't need to run in any specific place in your network. So for example, you could buy two Unifi Access Points which do nothing but talk to wifi clients, then you would need some kind of device capable of going your routing, and you might need a switch as well. Ubiquiti sells a variety of little routers and switches that can perform those network functions, but which don't have any compute or storage resources that would be necessary to run the control plane software. However, they also sell little gizmos like the Cloud Key which can run the control plane software- it's just a tiny server with some flash storage and an ethernet port. I'll refer to that thing as The Controller. When you change some settings on your TP-Link, the web UI app is twiddling with the the routing/switching/wifi/etc hardware or software on the device. In the Unifi world there's a web ui as well, running on the controller, but when you change a setting in the web ui, the controller decides which devices need to have their configuration updated, and sends out new configuration to them over the network. Here's where I think things get confusing. The Controller software package can run on a wide variety of devices which are so different that the whole thing will seem nonsensical if you're used to regular wireless routers. You can buy a CloudKey and connect it to your network. You can download a copy of the Controller that will run on a Linux box on your network. Or you could do the same thing but have the Controller running on a machine that isn't on your network at all, like an EC2 vm. Or, Ubiquiti also sell some devices which combine two or more functions into a single device, like some of the "UDM" family of devices have compute and storage resources in addition to the switching/routing/wifi hardware, and have The Controller software installed in advance. To give you an example of how flexible the controller placement is, I have a little Synology NAS that is able to run Docker, and on it I have an image that contains the Unifi Controller, so when I go the web ui for my network, I'm talking to a containerized web server on the NAS, which is managing the configuration of my devices, which are a router (I just replaced my USG 3P with a UXG-Lite yesterday), a couple of their little inexpensive switches, and a pair of Wireless Access Points. What I like about this model is that I'm able to update pieces of it as I need to, and usually the individual pieces are fairly inexpensive. But what I dislike about it, as some other respondents on this thread have complained, choosing which devices you need is confusing as hell. They sell at least one machine which has a wifi AP, switch, router, and controller all in one box. Why not get that? The reason, I believe, is that many of the people who use this Unifi stuff are managing a bunch of networks at a bunch of different sites, like maybe at a bunch of retail locations or restaurants, where its way more convenient to have the controller running offsite, but then they decide to install some stuff at home and need a Controller which needs fewer resources so a Cloud Key or just running the stuff on your desktop would be ok. This flexibility means that there's no single right set of hardware, no single best product, etc. Especially if you don't need multiple APs, I think a single-box wifi router will provide equal or superior performance with much less trouble, but once you need multiple APs, the Unifi stuff can be compelling if you're comfortable with the architecture, but I think it's difficult to decide which hardware bits to choose and what the best place to run the controller will be. anyway apologies for the length- I found all this very confusing initially as well although I've grown fond of the Unifi stuff and thought it might be worth writing the whole thing out in case its useful to somebody considering this stuff.
- jonathanlydall 3y ago
  While TP-Link offers simple routers and basic networking equipment (which I’ve found to be 100% reliable at home), they do also offer their Omada based products which seem to compete with Ubiquity’s products. All their Omada products can communicate with a controller which can auto configure the devices and actively coordinate handover of clients between WiFi APs. I’m running it in my house and I’m pretty happy. Through the controller web page UI you centrally define your VLANs and wireless networks and then it updates all your equipment configuration for you. I don’t think I’d ever bother with their gateway product as pfSense seems to be way more capable.
spankalee 3y ago
What is UniFi?

parasubvert 3y ago

Yes but Ubiquiti is very popular among Small Office / Home Office users due to their software that's integrated across their devices.

I_Am_Nous 3y ago
It's a WiFi 6 box too, so it's got decent home throughput. Gig WAN, gig LAN and it's pretty decent for the majority of ISP customers.

CobaltFire 3y ago

Sort of, and sort of not. UniFi requires a controller that gives you a single pane of glass style interface to control everything. Most of their controllers can run multiple applications, the top two being Network and Protect. Network runs their Routing, WiFi AP's, and Switches and gives you in depth data about what's going on where. Protect is their NVR system, which also does some AI stuff and ties into a few other things like Ring does. This device is a bit low powered, so only runs Network; they do sell standalone NVR's that will tie into it and run Protect. The $50 more expensive UniFi Dream router is similar, but has a switch with POE built in to run a couple of AP's or cameras, and can run both Network and Protect (with caveats; it's not terribly powerful and it only saves Protect footage to an SD card). So you can think of it as just a fancy AP, but it's also the base building block of a much larger ecosystem. As a note, the weakest link of the system is, IMO, the routing. Running UniFi with a more professional router of choice is a common way to go.

globular-toast 3y ago
I don't get why anyone would want/need the Unifi controller but doesn't already have somewhere to run the controller. I just ran it on my NAS but presumably could be run on a Raspi or something.
edmundsauto 3y ago
I've seen this term used a lot lately, what does it mean? > single pane of glass style interface
- CobaltFire 3y ago
  The simplest way to put it: Everything on one screen in a GUI with graphs. I THINK it comes from aviation, where the transition from steam gauges to MFDs to really big MFDs meant some massive UI changes. That may not be quite accurate, but it’s as close as my brain can do this late.
- atomicnumber3 3y ago
  It just means a unified (sorry) UI that handles everything, instead of having say one system/UI for routing, another for LAN management, another for firewall, etc etc where nothing necessarily knows about the others.