Ubiquiti kit - home network.

[shadow_man]

I'm moving house shortly and I'd like to install 1-2 Unifi AP Pro's (depending on coverage - big plot 1000sqm). I understand they need 48v POE so i'll need a switch that can do this.

1.) I see Ubiquiti have Edgeswitch and Toughswitch switches that provide POE and should be able to power these units.
2.) I believe the Edgeswitch won't show up in the Ubiqiuti management software - is this because its supposed to be Layer3 and independently managed?
3.) Which would you recommend? If neither, then what else would you recommend?
4.) Do I need a CloudKey to manage these AP's or can I just use a VM to host the software?


This is for a small home network (handful of machines via WiFi) that will be streaming video as its most bandwidth intensive task.

Thanks!

 

[sajunky]

I am not sure about your needs. Is it about open space coverage? You need outdoor AP's.

1. AC-LITE/PRO units come with PoE injectors, so you can use any non-PoE switch.

2. Unify Controller software only suport Unify components: U-AP's, U-Switches and USG. Not the EdgeSwitch/EdgeRouter/ToughSwitch, these are different families. They decided to push for Unify components, a marketing decision, not a technical.

BTW, Unify switches are very basic, basically dumb switches with added pass-through QoS, VLAN aware. When I asked a similar question, some members suggested to get EdgeSwitch instead.

3. If you need a managed switch, TP-Link SG105E/SG108E (v2 or v3) may satisfy your needs, it is much cheaper.

4. No. Controller software does exactly the same. Check on which OS you can install it. It is optional after all, needed runing only for some advance features and statistics.

 

[shadow_man]

I am not sure about your needs. Is it about open space coverage? You need outdoor AP's.

1. AC-LITE/PRO units come with PoE injectors, so you can use any non-PoE switch.

2. Unify Controller software only suport Unify components: U-AP's, U-Switches and USG. Not the EdgeSwitch/EdgeRouter/ToughSwitch, these are different families. They decided to push for Unify components, a marketing decision, not a technical.

BTW, Unify switches are very basic, basically dumb switches with added pass-through QoS, VLAN aware. When I asked a similar question, some members suggested to get EdgeSwitch instead.

3. If you need a managed switch, TP-Link SG105E/SG108E (v2 or v3) may satisfy your needs, it is much cheaper.

4. No. Controller software does exactly the same. Check on which OS you can install it. It is optional after all, needed runing only for some advance features and statistics.

Ta - thanks for taking the time to reply.

As for space - it's a big plot (1000sqm) and most of it is open yard so I was going to start off with 1x PRO AP to see what that would cover and then expand as needed. Are the outdoor AP's also administered via the UniFi software?

1.) I'd like the PoE switch so that I can add camera's at a later date if needed.

2.) Noted - thanks - I'm not sure I want to be learning the switch CLI (even if more versatile - if I did i'd probably have
opted for the Mikrotiks)

3.) Thanks - i'll look at this. I was just interested in something the UniFi software could manage.

4.) Noted - thanks. The cloud key is cheap on Amazon so I may just grab one and ship it in.

 

[irBosOtter]

Scoop's UAP-AC-PROE by Ubiquiti is ideal for deployment indoors or outdoors, in wireless networks requiring maximum performance. Sporting a weatherproof design

Those Pro models are fine for outdoor use.

Switches, I would go for the Unify series so that you can control them through the same software as the AP's, they are layer 2 switches, don't think you need layer 3.
Or if budget is an issue go for what sajunky suggests. Also layer 2 switches.
No need to, you don't even need the software running 24/7, think only if you need to use their guest wifi feature the software needs to run 24/7. But you can also just create your own "guest" network with another SSID. Software can run on pc if need be, no need to spend money for a cloud key setup unless it's free of course.
What router are you going to use?