Moving from Cloud Keys to hosted controllers for Ubiquiti UniFi

[dontknowjack]

Trying to figure out what to do. I've got about 9 sites with UniFi Cloud Keys. One of those is about to add a new location with a new USG and we'll be setting up a site to site VPN. Also about to install new UniFi gear for an existing customer and they may have two sites as well (a retail location and a remote warehouse).

In the past I'd take the easy route and order a $99 Cloud Key for each setup. Now that's not so easy as it looks like the basic Cloud Key is not readily available. There are Gen 2 editions, one at $179 (currently sold out) and one at $199 that's available.

What should I do?

I think the right path is to run my own controller in the could or in house. Not really liking running it in house, I don't have any servers that I'm running 24/7 in house and really don't want to have to fool with that. So I guess the hosted idea is better. HostiFi comes up in Google but $99 / month is not on my radar right now. I'm sure they're good but and I could pass that on to customers but not interested in going that route yet.

I do have a Digital Ocean droplet running online for one service. Since I'm already working with them maybe that's a way to go.

I hear about AWS a lot for this, but I'm not plugged in to that either.

My concerns:
1) Ongoing cost
2) Security
3) Ease of use

Any guidance you guys can provide is appreciated as always!

I have worked with 3 different setups for Unifi controllers. Ranking these by the most recommended down.

1. Hostifi - Hostifi is worth every penny. Riley Chase and his team manage the entire backend of the controller for you.
2. Hosted my own server on Vultr for $6 a month - this was great and all, but I spent a lot of time in the CLI working on updates. If I had been paying myself by the hour this cost 3 times as much as a year with Hostifi.
3. Unifi installed on a pfSense router - same as Vultr - how many hours have you spent figuring out broken updates @thatdude?

Having a cloud-based controller with all of your sites attached to it is really the way to go.

 

[bdeustis]

Trying to figure out what to do. I've got about 9 sites with UniFi Cloud Keys. One of those is about to add a new location with a new USG and we'll be setting up a site to site VPN. Also about to install new UniFi gear for an existing customer and they may have two sites as well (a retail location and a remote warehouse).

In the past I'd take the easy route and order a $99 Cloud Key for each setup. Now that's not so easy as it looks like the basic Cloud Key is not readily available. There are Gen 2 editions, one at $179 (currently sold out) and one at $199 that's available.

What should I do?

I think the right path is to run my own controller in the could or in house. Not really liking running it in house, I don't have any servers that I'm running 24/7 in house and really don't want to have to fool with that. So I guess the hosted idea is better. HostiFi comes up in Google but $99 / month is not on my radar right now. I'm sure they're good but and I could pass that on to customers but not interested in going that route yet.

I do have a Digital Ocean droplet running online for one service. Since I'm already working with them maybe that's a way to go.

I hear about AWS a lot for this, but I'm not plugged in to that either.

My concerns:
1) Ongoing cost
2) Security
3) Ease of use

Any guidance you guys can provide is appreciated as always!

Same here.

I have several cloud key clients. I would love to put them up on a virtual host like namecheap (let's not get into wars over hosting)

I did attempt to test a debian/mongodb VM locally (3Q20). I never got past versioning issues and lost interest.

I believe I also read that the DMs only work through the UniFi cloud that they can't be otherwise hosted but that was back when the DMs were brand new... there were a lot of issues.

 

[bdeustis]

I have worked with 3 different setups for Unifi controllers. Ranking these by the most recommended down.

1. Hostifi - Hostifi is worth every penny. Riley Chase and his team manage the entire backend of the controller for you.
2. Hosted my own server on Vultr for $6 a month - this was great and all, but I spent a lot of time in the CLI working on updates. If I had been paying myself by the hour this cost 3 times as much as a year with Hostifi.
3. Unifi installed on a pfSense router - same as Vultr - how many hours have you spent figuring out broken updates @thatdude?

Having a cloud-based controller with all of your sites attached to it is really the way to go.

@dontnow... You took it to the next step. What / how are you recovering Hostifi $$. Monthly fees?

 

[timeshifter]

Same here.

I have several cloud key clients. I would love to put them up on a virtual host like namecheap (let's not get into wars over hosting)

I did attempt to test a debian/mongodb VM locally (3Q20). I never got past versioning issues and lost interest.

I believe I also read that the DMs only work through the UniFi cloud that they can't be otherwise hosted but that was back when the DMs were brand new... there were a lot of issues.

I had good success getting my cloud controller using the video I linked in post 13 in this thread. Have two clients on it. First was migrated from a Cloud Key, the other was a new UniFi user.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

@dontnow... You took it to the next step. What / how are you recovering Hostifi $$. Monthly fees?

We put our managed clients (that are on either our Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 plan)...on Hostifi. Clients on either of our managed plans, have a monthly invoice...and at the top of that invoice is our "Core" line item, which..depending on which plan, and what size of clients, is a fixed fee from 125 to 250 bucks. It's just there to cover the costs of our tools (RMM, HUDU, helpdesk, the right to get an SLA with us, etc etc).

For clients not on one of our managed plans, we actually have a tiered line item for "Network Management". Covers our time going into to do updates, covers the cost of Hostifi, using our resources.

I did the "roll your own hosted Unifi controller" for many years. Wrote one of the first guides on setting one up back when Unifi first went multi tenant. But I don't want the liability and maintenance, security upkeep (so many people never think about that last part...you have the keys to your clients network there!!!) Hostifi is just a no brainer.

 

[bdeustis]

Nice. Yes the liability is something I consider all the time. So that's a make sense reason to go with Hostifi.

For the same reason I want no contracts that either explicitly or implicitly suggest an SLA. Though I have hundreds of clients (generally, a few Unifi) I have been able, so far just to use a T&M model but I certainly understand, a monthly annuity stream is very valuable and something I may consider to sell and exit business in about 5 years