UNMS vs. Unifi.ubnt portal

[HCHTech]

While I'm thinking about Ubiquiti stuff: For those folks that are using UNMS - a couple of questions.

Is UNMS only self-hosted? The ubnt portal is free, so changing would add the cost of a hosted server somewhere.

Have the capabilities of UNMS grown enough so that it can replace the standard unifi.ubnt portal? I'm just wondering if we should switch. We've only got 12 or 13 setups out there, so they all fit on a single screen with the unifi.ubnt portal. We have it as one of the rotating tabs on our big display in the shop so we can see if anyone goes offline, but other than that, we open the portal on individual computers from time to time to do firmware updates, configuration changes & the like. It would be nicer to have a system to tell US when something needs done - that's the main reason I'm wondering.

 

[Sky-Knight]

They aren't the same thing...

Unifi.ubnt.com, and Unifi Controllers manage UNIFI devices, UNMS is for the non-Unifi stuff, airMAX, EdgeMAX, and airFiber.

 

[Markverhyden]

I've setup a UNMS controller to play with. I thought that they did have a paid option through Ubiquiti for their hosted UNMS but I could be wrong. That's the problem when I can't get any upgrades on this chassis.

 

[Mike McCall]

Apparently, UNMS Cloud is now free:

Ubiquiti - Blog

Discover the latest in networking and IT innovation. Stay updated with product launches, expert insights, and tutorials from UniFi’s official blog.

blog.ui.com

 

[HCHTech]

They aren't the same thing...

Unifi.ubnt.com, and Unifi Controllers manage UNIFI devices, UNMS is for the non-Unifi stuff, airMAX, EdgeMAX, and airFiber.

Oh, ok - that makes more sense, then. (puts dunce hat on and sits in the corner)

 

[Sky-Knight]

Oh, ok - that makes more sense, then. (puts dunce hat on and sits in the corner)

I wouldn't say that... Ubiquiti made this harder than it needs to be. Unifi being its own thing makes some historical sense, but why UNMS cannot manage Unifi devices is beyond me...

But if you never tried to centrally manage any of the EdgeMax stuff... you'd never know. This is all the VyOS based junk, at least I think it's VyOS...

Whatever... now you know!

 

[MichaelBits]

I've been using UNMS quite a bit the past few months. I must say I like it for the most part.
If you have a large network with lots of Ubiquiti gear, it makes trouble shooting issues and monitoring stats significantly easier.

 

[trevm999]

I wouldn't say that... Ubiquiti made this harder than it needs to be. Unifi being its own thing makes some historical sense, but why UNMS cannot manage Unifi devices is beyond me...

But if you never tried to centrally manage any of the EdgeMax stuff... you'd never know. This is all the VyOS based junk, at least I think it's VyOS...

Whatever... now you know!

If I remember correctly it's Vyatta based, and VyOS is separate Vyatta fork

 

[Sky-Knight]

If I remember correctly it's Vyatta based, and VyOS is separate Vyatta fork

You're correct, Ubiquiti purchased Vyatta and necessitated the creation of the fork when they bought Brocade.

But as a result Vyatta no longer exists as such, whereas VyOS does... and I'd be rather shocked if Ubiquity wasn't siphoning code off the open source project to improve the platform.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Back in the early days UNMS was self hosted...I spun one up years ago.
Ubiquiti made it free ...they host. You create an account for your devices and you enjoy it.
I migrated all our Edge 'n Air stuff to their hosted one back then.

It's painfully slow in development. Last I knew they were to allow monitoring of Unifi stuff through it...sort of cross over a bit.
Management of devices is still minimal
But it's handy to monitor devices..monitor connections (like airmax or airfiber point to point links) and push firmware updates.

 

[glennd]

I just set up an account and it seems to be ok. I notice the following notice:

Device Limit

In order to use the free UNMS Cloud, you must connect and maintain:

At least 1 active Ubiquiti device within the first 24 hours of using this service.
At least 10 active Ubiquiti devices in total after 30 days and onward.

 

[SAFCasper]

They have some new UNMS branded gear in the Early Access store.

UNMS Router Lite
UNMS Router Pro
UNMS Switch Lite

Don't know much info but wouldn't mind getting my hands on some for testing. Hardware specs are decent for the pricing. Not sure what software they run though. Is it EdgeOS/VyOS or something completely new?

 

[Markverhyden]

Obviously can't tell until one can access the device. But all of the Ubiquiti config.boot files I've seen, at the very end, reference vyatta.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Just the latest evolution of Edge. Meant to be managed via UNMS.

 

[SAFCasper]

Well that would be interesting to see as the new UNMS routers run ARM chips. To date EdgeOS has only ever ran on MIPS. Certainly a welcome change if they can pull it off... and might open the gates to an ARM based EdgeRouter in the future.