Wireless Archives

Ubiquiti UniFi Review

Networking, Ubiquiti, UniFi, Wireless 10 Responses »

Jul 062019

Recently I had the pleasure of ordering, installing, and configuring some new Ubiquiti UniFi network products, including a switch, wireless access points, and more! Today, I will review the Ubiquiti UniFi line of products for you!

My company Digitally Accurate Inc. is an Ubiquiti reseller, and we have Ubiquiti product in inventory and stock in our Vancouver and Toronto warehouses. Contact us if you’re looking at purchasing any Ubiquiti gear in Canada!

There are plenty of pictures below! 🙂

Update – March 20th 2020

It’s been just over 8 months now and I’m still in love with and highly recommend the UniFi hardware! It’s been working great, I’ve had no issues with any firmware updates or UniFi Controller updates, and it’s been rock solid!

The only problem I’ve experienced is an issue auto-negotiating 10Gig links with the SFP+ to 10GBase-T module. Forcing 10G on the server resolved this issue permanently.

I’m excited to add even more UniFi equipment to my network! Please enjoy this Ubiquiti UniFi Review!

The back story

For some time I’ve been wanting to replace a bunch of aging networking equipment at my company. This includes switches and wireless access points, and I wanted to consolidate the number of pieces of networking equipment I used. No more daisy chaining switches!

Wireless
- First off, up to date I have been re-purposing consumer grade wireless routers as access points. While this has worked by disabling the router functions, DHCP, and DNS, it’s still not ideal. I wanted a true managed wireless solution. I always wanted proper coverage and no dropped connections.
Switching
- Secondly, I’ve also been using a number of cheap daisy chained 8-port network switches. The amount of cables I use is absolutely crazy, the power-bar space for the transformers is crazy, and this is just crazy dumb! I wanted a true business/enterprise class manageable network switch that could handle all the cabling requirements my business has with all it’s servers, SANs, NASs, and other equipment.
Multiple Networks
- Third, I’ve been using the multiple switches to maintain 4 different isolated networks across my virtualization stack. It would be ideal to implement VLANs on VLAN capable hardware, to consolidate, and ease management of the environment.
10Gb Requirement
- Fourth, I do require some 10Gb capabilities. While my servers are using multiple SFP+ DAC cables to direct-connect to the SAN, I still have numerous unused 10GBASET NICs and ports on my servers that I’d like to use. It would be fantastic if I could use this as a backhaul to a switch.

The Goal

Ultimately I wanted a business/enterprise class networking solution, that could handle all my wireless and networking needs, in an easy to manage way, and in an affordable way that wouldn’t break the bank.

After researching a number of vendors, weighing the pros/cons, I found the answer: Ubiquiti UniFi

Ubiquiti UniFi

Ubiquiti UniFi is a portfolio of enterprise grade products including wireless technologies, network switching, cloud management capabilities, and other hardware technology.

UniFi offers the latest technologies at affordable prices. They also allow you to integrate with the cloud, or keep everything separate and centrally managed on your own hardware and software.

The UniFi products support a number of enterprise technologies you’d normally find in enterprise gear, such as central management, VLANs, multi-SSID wireless, Guest WiFi access, Captive Portal, and way more!

They also have a beautiful switch line up consisting of numerous different port options, PoE options, and uplink options (SFP, SFP+, etc).

The Solution

So, after making the decision to switch to Ubiquiti UniFi, I spec’ed out the hardware I wanted to purchase. See below for the items I ordered:

1 x Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48 (Part# US-48)
1 x Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD (Part#: UAP-nanoHD)
2 x Ubiquiti 10GBASE-T SFP+ CopperModule (Part#: UF-RJ45-10G)

I ordered the equipment from my Vancouver warehouse (as mentioned before, my company has stock in Vancouver/Toronto), and waited!

2 days later, the equipment arrived…

I was very impressed with the packaging! Even opening the products, you were actually “presented” with the products. Very nicely done Ubiquiti!

Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48

UniFi Switch 48 Part# US-48 — Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48

The UniFi Switch 48, provides 48 x 1Gb standard ports, along with 2 x 10Gb SFP+ ports, and 2 x 1Gb SFP ports.

You can order this switch with multiple PoE options, however I ordered the non-PoE version.

Left view of UniFi Switch 48 Part# US-48 — Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48 Left Side

The switch has 70Gbps of non-blocking throughput, and 140Gbps of switching capacity.

The switch does have fans, however I haven’t heard them come on except for the initial power-up test.

Right view of UniFi Switch 48 Part# US-48 — Left view of Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48

The SFP+ modules do run hot (hot to the touch), however after doing research I found out this is completely normal. There is a number of SFP+ and SFP module options that you can populate the ports with on the switch.

Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD

UniFi nanoHD Wireless Access Point Part# UAP-nanoHD — Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD Wireless Access Point

The UniFi nanoHD wireless access point is a compact (smaller than the other UniFi APs) 802.11ac Wave2 device with MU-MIMO technology.

The unit is powered via PoE and is designed for roof mounting, although works great on a wall, or sitting on a desk.

Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD Wireless Access Point unboxing — Ubiquiti UniFi nanoHD unboxing

The single quantity SKUs (like the one I ordered) include a PoE injector as seen above, however the multi-quantity SKUs do not. You can either use the PoE injector, or power it via your switch if your switch supports PoE.

The unit also ships with a roof mounting bracket and a getting started flyer.

On the 5Ghz band, the unit has a maximum throughput of 1733Mbps (1.73Gbps), and the 2.4Ghz band has a maximum throughput of 300Mbps.

The nanoHD supports a maximum of 8 seperate SSIDs per radio.

Ubiquiti 10GBASE-T SFP+ CopperModule

The 10GBASE-T SFP+ CopperModule allows you to connect RJ45 10Gb copper ethernet to the SFP+ port on a switch. This allows you to connect devices or other switches that support 10Gb links over RJ45 ethernet.

Ubiquiti has a number of other SFP+ and SFP modules that you can use to populate your ports depending on your requirements.

UniFi Controller

The UniFi controller is the software (or hardware) that controls and centrally manages all the UniFi products. In my specific environment, I deployed a virtual machine running Ubuntu Linux, installed the apt repo’s for the UniFi Controller, installed the UniFi controller, and then configured it.

You can also purchase a UniFi Cloud key, which is a hardware device that runs the UniFi controller software. This removes the need to deploy a computer, VM, or additional hardware to install the controller on.

Inside of the UniFi controller, you create your wireless networks, network profiles, network switch port profiles, and other configuration, so that it can be easily provisioned to hardware as you add it and expand your network.

My Configuration, Notes, and Observations

Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48 (US-48) in use — Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 48

For my configuration on the UniFi controller, I configured 9 VLANs, 4 SSID wireless networks, and numerous switch profiles for aggregation (via LACP).

UniFi Controller Login Screen — UniFi Controller Login

When bringing the switch online, the profiles were provisioned and I could attach the profiles to individual network ports, or groups of ports. I could also override these profiles and manually set aggregation, VLAN IDs, trunking, etc if need be.

UniFi Controller Switch Information Screen — UniFi Controller Switch Information

Since I’m using VLANs and want to configure multiple SSIDs, I need to have the wireless access points connected to a VLAN trunk, so that each network is available to be broadcast by the nanoHD APs. Since I configured the VLAN and network profiles earlier, this was instantly deployed automatically as I powered them on. If you had a simple network and didn’t use VLANs, none of this would be necessary and you’d be up and running in minutes.

UniFi Controller Wireless Access Point Information Screen — UniFi Controller Wireless Access Point Information

Inserting the 10GBASE-T CopperModule in to the SFP+ ports on the switch, they were instantly detected. Connecting my 2 HPE DL360p Servers using Cat6, I was able to establish a 10Gb link with both servers instantly. The connection has been rock solid since for over 7 days. These connections are used as a VLAN trunks to my VMware vSphere instance. I also have a secondary connection from each server at 1Gb as failover (standby).

UniFi Controller Dashboard Main Screen — UniFi Controller Dashboard

Enabling Jumbo frames was easy, and Ubiquiti UniFi fully supports it. While I couldn’t find out the exact MTU, I do know it’s around 9000. I’m assuming they allotted slightly more to account for the extra bytes due to VLAN tagging.

Overall Review

Overall, I’m extremely happy and impressed with the product. I’d definitely recommend this to clients, as well as friends and family.

The features and functionality make this product perfect for any business. And with the price point and ease of management, this equipment would be suitable for home and power users as well!

Not only did I get up and running in no time with an extremely complicated configuration, but it’s been rock solid now for over 7 days. If you had a simple configuration, you could have the equipment deployed in minutes.

UniFi Controller Device List Screen — UniFi Controller Device List

What I liked the most:

Wireless Speed
Easy Switch Port Configuration
Easy Wireless/SSID Deployment and Configuration
Ease of Management (really easy yet extremely powerful)
Monitoring and Statistics inside of UniFi Controller
E-Mail notifications of rogue APs and other alerts
Visibly beautiful hardware
PoE injectors are included with single quantity AP SKUs
Product lineup available
Smartphone app for Android/iOS (Configure, Monitor, Deploy)
Reliable 10Gb on the CopperModule SFP+ 10GBASE-T Modules

Getting back to basics, the equipment has filled all the requirements I originally had and than some, I’m extremely happy!

And I almost forgot to mention, the wireless is FAST! Absolutely no complaints. I’ve posted a speed test below, please note I’ve achieved way faster accessing content internally, however this was limited by my internet connection at the time.

SpeedTest Results on Ubiquiti — SpeedTest

I’m actually looking forward to purchasing some more equipment, my shopping list includes:

More nanoHD APs for coverage
Possibly a couple UniFi HD In-Wall units for testing
2 x UniFi Switch 16 XG for SAN connectivity
4 x UniFi Switch 8 (150W) for remote cable drops and PoE

Hope this review helps if you’re considering Ubiquiti! And remember, I’m a re-seller so I can offer some very attractive pricing on this equipment!

Additional Resources and Blog Posts:

Manufacturer Product Links

Lenovo X1 Carbon 3rd Gen 2015 – How to add LTE (WWAN)

Mobile Computing, Wireless 3 Responses »

Mar 192015

So I picked up my new Lenovo X1 Carbon 2015 Gen3 laptop yesterday, and I absolutely LOVE it… I’ve been waiting for it to come in for a couple months now, and wanted to add WWAN as it wasn’t available as a preconfigured unit with the WWAN built in.

The unit I purchased was the 20BS0035US part number, which essentially is fully loaded with the exception of WWAN.

One big things for me is that I need to have LTE availability as I hate using USB data sticks. I did a bunch of research, and while waiting I went ahead and ordered the Sierra Wireless card that you can order as a configure to order.

I called IBM parts and placed an order for FRU Part# 04X6014 (Sierra Wireless Gobi5000 EM7345). When I received the laptop yesterday, I opened it to install the module, and thankfully the unit DID ship with the WWAN atennas built in. Installed the card, connected the antennas (orange is the main), popped in a SIM card and I was good to go!

The WWAN module is working great with Rogers on LTE in Canada!

Again, this laptop is SLICK!

For those of you that want to add it, place an order for the FRU Part# 04X6014. IBM notified me that this is a Wi-Fi adapter, however I can confirm this is in fact a WWAN adapter.

Samsung Focus – SGH-i917R from Rogers – Review

Reviews, Rogers, Windows Mobile, Wireless 21 Responses »

Dec 052010

A new device that I’ve been extremely excited to do a review on is the new Samsung Focus. We’ve long awaited the new release of the next generation of Microsoft’s mobile operating system platform, Windows Phone 7.

In the past, I’ve been an almost religious user of Windows Mobile Device. First the simplistic yet powerful functionality, the capabilities, and main reason being Exchange Push (Outlook Mobile).

Rogers, had a limited web release earlier this month, and due to the condition of my previous cell phone, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to upgrade. I went ahead and purchased the device. 5 days later I got my hands on it.

First Impression:

When receiving the phone, I liked the way it was boxed, the material that came along with it, and the general style of the phone itself. Simplistic, and thankfully I didn’t get the “I’m missing something” feeling I get when I usually receive new toys.

After popping in the SIM card, battery and plugging it in to charge, the phone turned on.

The initial configuration was very easy and friendly. I activated the phone with my Windows Live account, and Facebook details. I don’t like using cell phone providers proxy’d internet, so I pay for the “VPN” option which provide me a real external IP address on the internet, configuring the apn “internet.com” was simple, and I didn’t have to go fishing through the menu’s.

First configuration:

As soon as the initial configuration was done, WOW. This phone is slick. The menu’s, tiles, and all usage of the phone pretty much glided as smooth as could be. I have NO complaints when it comes to general usage.

First things first, I went into the settings menu, and tried to configure pretty much every setting I could. I did this with absolutely no problems and had the device completely configured to my liking, even with absolutely no experience with the phone.

I actually configured so much, that buy the time I was done; I felt I became an expert with the phone usage. I immediately was comfortable with the phone.

Real Usage:

After I was done configuring the phone, I went ahead and started to play. The phone interface was a pleasure, the “People” interface was a pleasure, and pretty much every single little feature that this phone shipped with was a pleasure. It even added all my Facebook contacts to the phone’s phonebook (I wasn’t so hot about this, but disabled it later).

The camera is amazing. Both picture quality and video quality is AMAZING. Camera app allows you to upload directly to Facebook, even add a caption.

One thing that makes me a little upset is the lack of ability to upload videos to the internet from the phone. You have to sync with Zune, and then upload using computer.

Marketplace:

First thing I wanted to do, was check out this “Marketplace” that everyone has been talking about. I’ve seen numerous other websites and reviews commenting on the applications that you can install, particularly the Facebook client, and Twitter client (I’m big on social media). I went ahead and installed both applications. After setting up my various accounts with them, they worked flawlessly. Both clients support ALL features of the two social media sites (except for Facebook places). The interfaces were easy to use, and I actually enjoyed using them on the phone!

One thing I’m choked about, is that Microsoft Marketplace doesn’t sell music to Canadians, we are stuck with applications, and video.

Wi-Fi:

After a few hours of continuous use, I realized I was probably eating away at my data plan (I installed 20+ applications, a game, and numerous other stuff). I decided to give Wi-Fi a try on the phone. Turning it on and connecting to my secured AP was super simple and super quick to do. I also have to add that there was a visible performance increase in applications getting information off the web faster.

Data speeds:

Both, internet access via the cell network, and Wi-Fi were extremely fast. This is very important when using applications that continuously access, or rely on information from the internet. The experience was so nice, that I had no complaints or problems with loading time of large amounts of information which I would have guessed would have taken a lot longer on the device.

Business/E-Mail Configuration:

The first and only major issue I had with this device was configuration of my Microsoft Exchange account. Since the new Windows Phone 7 operating system doesn’t really have a user-accessible file system, and also doesn’t have the capability to play with files, I had to find a way to install the certificate for my Exchange server on my phone.

There are two ways this can be done, either a) setup a different type of e-mail account (gmail, Hotmail, etc…) and e-mail yourself the certificate and run it to install, or b) upload the certificate to a website, and then navigate to it using the browser on the phone.

I don’t have any other types of e-mail accounts, so I just uploaded the certificate to my site, typed it in on Internet Explorer on the phone, and confirmed I wanted to install it.

After this, I configured my exchange account, and the configuration went very smoothly. It downloaded the messages, and it was all done.

Overall:

Overall, I love the device. I’ve been using it non-stop for the past 3 weeks and have no major complains. People have been complaining about the new way of using memory cards and their limitations, however with the amount of storage already shipping on the phone (I think 8GB); I don’t even really need a memory card.

The battery life is amazing on the device, and actually got better overtime. The general belief is to fully charge/fully discharge a cell phone to maintain the battery. In my opinion, I noticed batteries survive longer if you just charge it whenever you get the chance (whether once a day, or a few times every day). The battery with normal usage, and Exchange Push for e-mails I’ve noticed can last longer than 3 days, however I haven’t fully drained the battery yet. Without Exchange, and lighter usage, I can’t even guess how long it would last!

One thing I don’t like, is how light the device is, accompanied by the fact that the phone feels very plastic. I like heavy phones, the kind that have a metallic case, the kind that doesn’t feel like it’s going to slip out of your hand.

Another thing I would like to address is the complaints of the lack of multi-tasking and copy/paste. First off, this phone is so responsive that the lack of multi-tasking doesn’t really bug me. Applications load fast, information is always available, and even thought it would be nice to have multi-tasking, it’s not on my list of complaints. I can live without copy/paste, however it would be nice.

Overall, I’d buy this phone again if for some reason I lost or broke this one. I’d also recommend this phone to all my friends, INCLUDING clients. This is seriously the first phone I’ve owned that allows me to do both business, and social stuff!

Pros/Cons/Would be nice:

Pros:

-Very fast interface

-Battery life AMAZING

-UI is very intuitive

-Amazing speeds (over cell network, or Wi-fi)

-Supports Microsoft Exchange push

-On-screen keyboard easy to use, accurate.

-Facebook/Twitter run great!

-Applications are actually decent!

-Web browsing works great!

-Youtube works great!

Cons:

-If you type fast, chances are you’ll hit the “French” button on the on-screen keyboard, annoying

-Very light phone, plastic feeling

-Cannot upload videos to any type of site, must use your computer to sync, and then upload

-Skipping/Fast-forwarding support is horrible for music and video

Would be nice (please note these are NOT cons, and just exactly what they are, would be nice):

-File system access

-Copy/Paste

-Multi-Tasking

Installing BES Express on Small Business Server 2008

Mobile Computing, Small Business Server, Wireless 1 Response »

Sep 052010

One of the most annoying things I’ve had to deal with is installing BES Express on SBS 2008. Way back earlier in 2010, I was mostly dealing with the 5.0.1x release. There were soo many bugs, so many issues, registry hacks, SQL queries that had to be run, it was just ugly!

One word of advice, always download the latest version of the software. Do not take ANY shortcuts on installing it. Either use the video tutorial that RIM has on their BlackBerry site, or use the guide from http://www.smallbizserver.net/Articles/tabid/266/Id/343/How-to-install-BlackBerry-Enterprise-Server-Express-on-a-SBS-2008.aspx

I don’t know how much is fixed, however after installing a 5.0.2 this weekend it worked flawlessly after the first install (keep in mind I always use “Blackberry Administration Service Authentication” instead of Windows Authentication because of an old known issue).