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Unifi Dream Machine

T

tbone7467

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2007
210
57
Im looking to upgrade from my Airport Extreme. I have the last version that was sold. I feel like its just getting a little long in the tooth. I hate that apple exited this Market. While waiting for the Linksys MX5 velop to go onsale i saw this:

store.ui.com

Dream Machine

The Dream Machine (UDM) is an easy-to-use UniFi OS console with a built-in, high-performance WiFi access point. Designed for the UniFi Network application, the UDM offers an intuitive platform for home and enterprise users to build and manage small-scale wired or WiFi networks, monitor device...
store.ui.com store.ui.com

People are saying this is the closest thing to an apple evolution if they would have stayed in this market. Anyone with experiance they want to share?
 
tbone7467 said:
guess no one has looked into this...
Click to expand...

@tbone7467 I haven't used a UDM specifically yet (I have a UDM-PRO waiting to install) but I have quite a bit of experience with UniFi wireless and networking. They are fairly close to Apple in spirit (founder was a former Apple engineer in the AirPort line), you can see it in their marketing packaging, industrial design. The wireless radios themselves perform very well, though like with any WiFi setup individual performance can vary greatly depending on where and how they are installed. But they can handle fairly substantial traffic in home scenarios. Keep in mind this is based on Enterprise focused networking software - while this is an all in one device designed for simpler setup, the software admin exposes alot of advanced functionality.
 
The UDM is a pretty solid all-in-one router. I bought one in January and was using it up until a week ago when I replaced it with a UDM-PRO. The UDM-Pro seems to be getting firmware updates faster than the base version does.
 
I will be honest after looking into the UDM. I find the UDM-Pro seeming a lot nicer. I like that you can do cameras and such from it. I have heard a lot of horror stories about instability issues with the UDM and UDM-Pro. how are you guys doing with yours? can you give me some experience example of what you thought of the units and if youd do it all again. I have a Apple Airport extreme mounted high on the wall in my house centrally located. I was a little disappointed the UDM doesn't support AX.
 
The UDM Pro seems to be getting faster firmware releases. The UDM is a little too far behind imho given that they share the same base code and a lot of the same hardware. Outside of price, the main difference as you noted is that the base model comes with a built in AP where-as the Pro comes with a building option for the Protect video line. Depends which you need more of.

I currently have:
  • UDM Pro (in basement) which replaced the UDM Base.
  • Unifi NVR (for protect; supports Raid 5)
  • Two Unifi AC-HD's in the front and back of the house.
    • These two I bought YEARS ago.
This currently more than serves my needs. Eventually as Wifi 6 (AX) devices become more prevalent, I will swap one or both of my current AP's out with it. There are two WIFI 6 (not WIFI 6e?) AP's in the Early Access Program if you are in the US and feel adventurous. I would do so for the AP's but not necessarily the routers.
 
I have a UDM-Pro and really like it. Our network consists of:
  • 1 Gigabit cable from Xfinitiy
  • UDM Pro
  • Edgerouter 16, Edgerouter 8 - Data and POE for access points and other devices.
  • Unifi G4 Doorbell video (to be installed)
  • Unifi G4 Bullet cameras (to be installed)
  • 3 Unifi AC-Pro Access Points.
All of this is very stable, except for the cable from Xfinity. Unfortunately, no other high-speed options are available.

Still debating on whether to connect cameras to UDM Pro or get a UNVR. The UDM Pro is in my office 8 feet from my desk and I am worried about drive and fan noise. Currently, I cannot hear the UDM Pro, but a drive might be heard, as might the drive cooling fan in the UDM Pro.
 
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How large is your home?
Might you be better served by a multi-node "mesh" system?
 
Preview
Here is my current set up:

Airport extreme (central to home and up on wall to help coverage)
Netgear GS752TPS (POE+ for cameras when I get to that point)
Home Server WS2016 (I had it open to the outside and got Brute forced and everything was ransomware before I knew it happened)

id like to hear about experiances with Protect also might be a good all in one solution for me.
 
We already had the very stable Google wifi mesh in use, a fast internet fiber cable is connected to our house.

Instead of using the internet provider's poor quality plastic wifi router I bought a Unifi Dream Machine Pro plus a Unifi 8 port switch, the installation was simple for a noob like me just using the iPhone for the initial setup.

It has now been in use for 3 weeks, no issues, with currently 13 wifi clients connected, next step is to connect my other Mac by cable (in the same room as the UDMP).

My very simple setup: IP fiber-UDMP-Google wifi AP-Unifi switch. The switch is presently cabled to a WD NAS and a Philips Hue hub visible over the wifi network, no need for drilling holes :)

Good luck with your decision!
IMG_0805.jpeg
IMG_0818.jpeg
IMG_0791.jpeg
 
It got even better after I cable connected the UDM Pro to my old iMac, good speed and very stable :)

Skærmbillede 2020-09-25 kl. 13.24.57.jpeg
 
herp said:
@tbone7467 I haven't used a UDM specifically yet (I have a UDM-PRO waiting to install) but I have quite a bit of experience with UniFi wireless and networking. They are fairly close to Apple in spirit (founder was a former Apple engineer in the AirPort line), you can see it in their marketing packaging, industrial design. The wireless radios themselves perform very well, though like with any WiFi setup individual performance can vary greatly depending on where and how they are installed. But they can handle fairly substantial traffic in home scenarios. Keep in mind this is based on Enterprise focused networking software - while this is an all in one device designed for simpler setup, the software admin exposes alot of advanced functionality.
Click to expand...
Herp did you get this set up? Im looking to jump into mine soon. I just found out the are releasing wifi6. Which AP would you recommend?
 
jerryk said:
I have a UDM-Pro and really like it. Our network consists of:
  • 1 Gigabit cable from Xfinitiy
  • UDM Pro
  • Edgerouter 16, Edgerouter 8 - Data and POE for access points and other devices.
  • Unifi G4 Doorbell video (to be installed)
  • Unifi G4 Bullet cameras (to be installed)
  • 3 Unifi AC-Pro Access Points.
All of this is very stable, except for the cable from Xfinity. Unfortunately, no other high-speed options are available.

Still debating on whether to connect cameras to UDM Pro or get a UNVR. The UDM Pro is in my office 8 feet from my desk and I am worried about drive and fan noise. Currently, I cannot hear the UDM Pro, but a drive might be heard, as might the drive cooling fan in the UDM Pro.
Click to expand...
How do you like these:

  • Unifi G4 Doorbell video (to be installed)
  • Unifi G4 Bullet cameras (to be installed)
Im interested in both units. I thought going protect would be a nice feature. I heard the cameras arent great can you give your opinion.

I see they are doing wifi6 AP's. what is the difference in the full size ap and he Nano? I mean besides number of wireless connections.
 
tbone7467 said:
How do you like these:

  • Unifi G4 Doorbell video (to be installed)
  • Unifi G4 Bullet cameras (to be installed)
Im interested in both units. I thought going protect would be a nice feature. I heard the cameras arent great can you give your opinion.

I see they are doing wifi6 AP's. what is the difference in the full size ap and he Nano? I mean besides number of wireless connections.
Click to expand...
I ended up sending them all back.

Since we currently have the Ring doorbell and wifi-based chimes we removed the old mechanical chimes and associated wiring as part of a home remodel. Unfortunately, the Unifi system assumes you still have wires running to a chime. We have a 24 VAC transformer that provides power to the Ring Doorbell and would for the G4 Doorbell, but no physical wiring to a chime. Instead, we have multiple Ring chimes wireless connected throughout the house so you hear when someone presses the button both upstairs and downstairs.

I still love the UDM Pro, but the Unifi Doorbell system will have to be expanded before we consider it.

On Wifi 6 I think that technology needs to mature before we go that way. I will probably wait until I see Ubiquiti's line up of commercial network products support and manage Wifi6 devices. Right now we get 300+ mbps throughout the home and do not have any saturation issues that need to be addressed.

PS. Xfinity expanded their network and now we see 950+ Mbps down, but are still stuck with 45 Mbps up. I sure wish fiber was available. You would think being just outside Silicon Valley we would have fiber.
 
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that does make sense, I don't have a chime or wiring for the same reason. I got a ring for free and just gave up on installing it.

Yeah that does suck, I feel your pain. they have been talking fiber in my area for forever I still haven't seen it. I've seen the ditch witch laying cable all around my neighborhood just no increase in speeds. UGH CCI your killing me.
 
No video doorbells here, but upgraded slightly with a new 19" rack and Ubiquiti UniFi 16 port PoE switch :)
Next step will be the fairly cheap Ubiquiti wifi 6 access point which will be available in December.
Current cabled speed is excellent 940/939 Mbps on the Macs.

tempImageDvzjkR.png
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tbone7467 said:
Herp did you get this set up? Im looking to jump into mine soon. I just found out the are releasing wifi6. Which AP would you recommend?
Click to expand...
Yep the UDM-Pro is working well - firmware is 1.8.2-5, looks like 1.8.3 might be out soon. But its been stable for me so far.

I've used the AC-Lite and Nano-HD. The U6-Lite is supposed to replace the AC-Lite from what I understand, I assume there will be a 6 HD variant out at some point. Main difference would be how many clients you are expecting to be on the AP, Lites should be fine for most use cases IMO. The wifi6 variants are supposed to be out in a couple weeks.
 
I have 2 APs, a Beacon, an 8 port switch, Cloud Key and USG Pro 4 firewall. Love Ubiquitis stuff, and how easy it is to manage and scale.
 
Prorege1 said:
No video doorbells here, but upgraded slightly with a new 19" rack and Ubiquiti UniFi 16 port PoE switch :)
Next step will be the fairly cheap Ubiquiti wifi 6 access point which will be available in December.
Current cabled speed is excellent 940/939 Mbps on the Macs.
Click to expand...

What rack did you get? I'm looking for a decent one.
 
herp said:
Yep the UDM-Pro is working well - firmware is 1.8.2-5, looks like 1.8.3 might be out soon. But its been stable for me so far.

I've used the AC-Lite and Nano-HD. The U6-Lite is supposed to replace the AC-Lite from what I understand, I assume there will be a 6 HD variant out at some point. Main difference would be how many clients you are expecting to be on the AP, Lites should be fine for most use cases IMO. The wifi6 variants are supposed to be out in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
it looks like the antennas might be different in the wifi6 and wifi6 Lite aps? I thought I saw 4x4 and 2x2 in documentation.
 
The 19¨rack is a cheap 9 unit Deltaco brand, the cost was USD 90 here in Denmark. I modified it with LED strips :rolleyes:
The cables are standard Ubiquiti patch cables.
It's 1 Gbps fiber connected to UDM-Pro SFP+ port 10 using a Ubiquiti RJ45 10Gbps Module.

It's a real pleasure to have a stable/fast network, I'm very satisfied with this Ubiquiti setup.
5DACA35C-B382-4638-A873-FB4AFA1FAE3F.jpeg
4C0715E4-CDEB-472F-BF12-F3215785AE1D.png
 
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