Chore/Feat: Reset & Document `@home` Wifi Network

[nelsonic]

I've procrastinated on this task for months because:

1. resetting the network requires a decent chunk of time; probably a couple of hours, but unknown! 🤷‍♂️
2. setting up and testing the new additions to the network (2 new cameras, a doorbell and wifi access point) requires a decent amount of configuration ... ⏳
3. I can only do this when nobody is using the network i.e. not on a week/work day 🧑‍💻
4. we've been away from @home most weekends the past few months due to family illness or visits ... 👨‍👧‍👦
5. there's always something else to do ... 🙄

Related issues:

• [x] Wifi Quality Issues: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/222
• [x] Outdoor Wireless Access Point: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/207
• [x] Doorbell: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/201
• [x] Video: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/169 & https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/130
• [x] UPS: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/167
• [x] Pi Hole: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-raspberry-pi/issues/26
• [ ] Guest Network: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-computer-networking/issues/8

I expect this to take around T4h including reset, re-configuring/adopting, testing and documenting During that time the @home WiFi network will be unavailable for about T1h. At the very least we will will resolve the intermittent WiFi issues.

Todo

• [x] Login to the Ubiquiti Network using MacBook that has the agents running on it.
• [x] Document the "As is" as much as possible before performing the reset.
• [x] Setup from Scratch!
• [ ] Setup home-guest WiFI network: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-computer-networking/issues/8

Stretch Goals

• [x] Setup UPS next to the main switch
• [x] Disassemble wall-mount so that we can tidy it up!
• [ ] Setup place for Pi Hole https://github.com/dwyl/learn-raspberry-pi/issues/26

[nelsonic]

This is the current network "hub":

The ISP router, Ubiqiti USG & Switch are all just mounted to a plywood board on the wall:

It's not pretty. But it's functional and allowed us to put the gear somewhere. I'm going to reconfigure it and add a few more components. This is just documenting the "As is" from a physical hardware perspective. 👌

[nelsonic]

Firstly, going to add this inline UPS that will ensure the Security Systems have 12h of power in the event of a power cut/failure:

[nelsonic]

Current topology:

Only two of the Access Points (out of 5) are working... We have our darling toddler to thank for this. And our own naiveté at putting the Access points at his level ... i.e. by placing the RJ45 ports within reach of children, we practically guarantee that they will mess with the APs. 🙄

Going to see if the APs are recoverable. Or if I just have to do a full reset. 🔍

[nelsonic]

The Unifi 16 Port PoE Switch only has 4 ports active:

[nelsonic]

Trying to see if we can re-adopt the DiningRoom AP:

Both Locate Device and Restart Device are unavailable. I suspect it's been disconnected and then incorrectly replaced ...

[nelsonic]

These are the CAT6 cables connected to the switch:

removed everything from the wall mount to start from scratch with the layout:

reconnected the ISP router / AP so that we still have some internet in the house … 🛜

moved it to the top-left to make space for the rest of the gear.

then got interrupted so need to return to the rest of the setup later … 💭

[nelsonic]

The UniFi Devices page: https://localhost:8443/manage/default/devices gives a good overview:

Attempting to adopt the U6-Mesh:

adopting ...

[nelsonic]

UPS installed and working well: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/167 🔋 ✅

Going to continue trying to get the @home network working now... 🧑‍💻 ⏳

[nelsonic]

@home network wasn't working because the USG (firewall) failed to adopt:

There is a firmware update so I'm applying it:

Don't worry, all these IP Addresses will be changed before the network setup is done.

[nelsonic]

Not much I can do while this is updating ...

Heading to lunch. 🥗

[nelsonic]

Adoption failed (again) ...

Reading: https://community.ui.com/questions/SOLVED-USG-3P-adoption-failed/dd87c48a-eade-4f25-9141-6b8a73ee7d4e

[nelsonic]

Nothing I read on the UI forums was minimally useful. So I did a manual reset. 💥 But nothing in the docs warned me that I had to "forget" each device before doing each reset ... 🙄 Anyway, still not able to connect to the internet. ⏳

[nelsonic]

The good news is: after resetting the MEO router which cleared all the historical clients the speed while connected to WiFI is much faster again:

[nelsonic]

Good news the @home network is now operational:

Decent speed:

Ok. I'm back to square 0. 👌 Now I can attempt to connect the new AP #207, Sec Cams #130 and Doorbell #201 ... 🤞

[nelsonic]

All APs restored and U6-Mesh (outdoor AP #207) working: https://localhost:8443/manage/9ex79d6p/devices

[nelsonic]

MEO Modem / Router only has one Client the UBNT USG (firewall):

The router now has a strong password (not default) and is well configured. ✅

[nelsonic]

Next is to create a new CAT-6 Cable to connect the 16-port switch to the 8-port PoE switch because the cable we made a few weeks ago is dead 😢

Side quest: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/230 ⏳

[nelsonic]

Everything:

[nelsonic]

Wall mounting for 2 cameras and 1 outdoor Access Point finally installed:

the reason for this design is to protect the gear:

Cameras still working:

all APs “excellent” signal quality:

progress 🚀

[iteles]

So cool! I'm of course concerned someone is just going to come along and rip out that expensive camera though, especially with those gates open.

I'll call magnivertente tomorrow and follow up on the control for opening the gate automagically.

[nelsonic]

@iteles indeed. The automatic sliding (locking) gate is the final piece of the puzzle 🧩 but if we could get it moving forward it would be excellent! 👌 ref: https://github.com/dwyl/home/issues/202

as for this issue, the next item on my list is the Pi Hole: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-raspberry-pi/issues/26

[nelsonic]

Suuuuuuper annoyingly the Unifi Controller automatically configures all APs to "Meshing" by default.

As you can see in this screenshot of the controller, the DiningRoom-19 was meshed and therefore dependent on the UpstairsCorridor-21 which meant that if the "upstream" AP went down the dependent would too. This is the default behaviour for Unifi Networks and it really shouldn't be for APs that are PoE!

So ... I had to reset the whole network just to disable the meshing which wasted another chunk of time!! Anyway, it's "fixed" now. ✅

[nelsonic]

Visiting the Topology tab in the Unifi Console: https://localhost:8443/manage/9ex79d6p/topology

We see that there are 3 devices connected to the USW-Lite-8-PoE:

1. SouthGarden-G3-Flex
2. Driveway-G3-Flex
3. Outdoor-U6-Mesh

The Outdoor-U6-Mesh in turn has two devices connected:

1. FrontDoor - the entrance security camera
2. G4-Doorbell #201

This is exactly as it should be. ✅

[nelsonic]

Pi-hole working a charm: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-raspberry-pi/issues/26 ✅