Ubiquity config problems

[Ham]

My brane hurts.

I've got a 7 year old Unifi that's been fine for ever, so I've not had to touch the config.

But, lately, I've been getting dropouts. Sure enough, there are two other networks on Channel 11 (which must have been empty when I set up), so changing channel seems like a good idea.

Only.

The VM I had with the control software installed is long gone - I think it died in the 2019 disk crash.
I can't remember WHY even I set it up on a separate VM - there must have been some reason. Maybe it was a Linux app?
I do have my username password combo saved. Maybe.
But the new control software (browser based, so I can't even point it at the IP, says bog off
Even the historical software on the Ubiquity site looks too modern, but at least there is a 2021 firmware update for the UniFi UAP-LR that I have.

I can probably do a complete reset, but that should be a last resort.

There may be people wot can help, there should be a simple answer, I just don' know what it is.

ETA. Created a Ubiquity account, lets me sign in, AAAAAND I can see the AP.... "Managed by another controller. Obsolete" Well, thank you.

EATA. "To resolve, log in to the controller managing the device or perform a factory reset". did I mention I can't remove it, having located it underside of a stair which prevents me non-destructively removing it from the baseplate? No? Oh. That's how it is.

[Kim]

The controller is indeed a Linux application.  Once configured, the access points are happy to chug along without it (though you obviously lose the monitoring features of the controller).

I *think* you might be able to configure a AP without a controller using the mobile app, but I've not attempted this.

*pokes around*

Looks like you need the AP to be in a factory reset state, connected to a network with DHCP.  You can then scan the QR code on the AP to identify it...

(If you don't have the original controller, I don't think there's any way to un-adopt it other than by factory reset?)

[Ham]

Ah, thanks. See my "ETA"

I think I can identify the Ubuntu VM - now to see if there was EVAH a snapshot or copy  or something.

I suspect the crowbar is going to come into its own

[Kim]

EATA. "To resolve, log in to the controller managing the device or perform a factory reset". did I mention I can't remove it, having located it underside of a stair which prevents me non-destructively removing it from the baseplate? No? Oh. That's how it is.

Can you log in to the AP over ssh?

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/205143490-UniFi-How-to-Reset-Devices-to-Factory-Defaults

[Ham]

oooo thank you .... and as an additional grr if I wanted to upgrade, i'd have to get an new PoE injector - existing one is the oddity 24v.....

[Ham]

OK, successfully connected on ssh  (although not using their instructions, that had me going for a while, just ssh-ing in), and one of the 4 available commands is to reset to factory.

All I need to do now is to schedule an appropriate change window.

[Ham]

Well that was an interesting experience.

I decided I might as well use my poor sleeping patterns to bite the bullet. As a backup I could always fall back to the Virgin hub.

SSH in and factory reset - it just does it, no checking to see if I'm sure. You big boss man wiv ssh? You know what you're doing. Or else.

Wait nervously to see it reappear, and it does. Wait a bit longer.... "Waiting for adoption" .....click button. It works.

Reload.  Everything is still on channel 11. What happens if I just click "Auto configure"? Oh, yes, that seems to work. Channel 1 it is now, with no other AP in range.

If I needed a reason to use Ubiquiti, this is it. It works. Even with a device out of support for some time.

[Kim]

SSH in and factory reset - it just does it, no checking to see if I'm sure. You big boss man wiv ssh? You know what you're doing. Or else.

In a normal configuration with a controller, resetting an AP is no big deal.  'tis about a minute's work to re-adopt it, at which point it will be automagically provisioned with the appropriate settings.

If I needed a reason to use Ubiquiti, this is it. It works. Even with a device out of support for some time.

They've made themselves unpopular by announcing that they're dropping support for some older devices in the latest controller version.  Presumably you can still use an older version of the controller, but that's deeply suboptimal compared to being able to easily manage everything in one place.

Also the controller's gone evil and phones home.  But so does everything these days.

The hardware continues to be excellent.

[Morat]

When the time comes, I've found these U6 lite to be really useful. I'm using them to replace UAP-Pro and UAP-LR one for one and they're doing really well. I do have 5GHz "Band Steering" enabled and that does seem to help. I only use the new UAP-AC-PRO for really busy areas where I'm expecting >100 clients.

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products/41188-ubiquiti-u6-lite-cloud/?gclid=CjwKCAjw3cSSBhBGEiwAVII0Z-Y9S7AS6efpdr3nCPJHB6irxVr-pENHNYMmZWX3EkioHoRnY1W64hoCBZ0QAvD_BwE

That price includes 3 years use of a cloud based Unifi controller which I haven't used myself (we host in a VM as you do/did) and therefore I can't recommend it but I suspect it might be worth researching for your situation.
Good luck!

[Ham]

The time came. The old LR was several generations behind WiFi6 (and, most of my devices are W6 capable), so it seemed like a good move. Taking Morat's advice  , the U6-Lite was duly acquired and pressed into service with a single "Adopt" click on the controller, my, that's cool. I haven't enabled any Band Steering, as (1) I only have about max 20 devices connecting, only 4 or 5 taking any bandwidth and (2) I appear to be the only 5Mhz AP in the vicinity - everything else is stuck on 2.4, which is a welcome (if, likely temporary) bonus. The performance benefits of the new AP are clear, as is the rapid drop off of the 5Mhz signal.

That drop off can be dealt with and bettered by deploying  the old LR at the back of the house. Plug it in, and after a few minutes it just decides to work as a repeater.

[Kim]

I find the band steering is useful to encourage 5GHz-capable devices (which also tend to be the ones that use actual bandwidth, rather than smart-things sending the odd MQTT packet) to not sit on the extremely congested 2.4GHz band when there's basically nothing on 5GHz.