Introduction
First of all, Unifi Controller software is a management tool for switches, access points, etc. made by Ubiquiti. I tried several brands and stuck with Unifi as it seems to be the easiest tool with all the features I want. It is quite advanced and is widely used in the enterprise space.
You can either buy a cloud key ($150-250 USD) that runs the Unifi controller software or set it up yourself. Since I don’t need protocols or a captive portal in my environment (home user setup), I don’t need management software running all the time and only use it from time to time for new device adoption, updates, etc. (general administration).
Therefore, the controller software running inside a qube is perfect for me as it is isolated, doesn’t annoy me and is accessible at any time I need it.
The Unifi controller software relies on some broken dependencies and is hard to install manually. Fortunately, there is a nice, convenient install script that is strongly endorsed by the community (it works like a charm). Many thanks to Glenn R.!
https://community.ui.com/questions/ccbc7530-dd61-40a7-82ec-22b17f027776
Problem
My Unifi controller in a standalone Debian 11 minimal template (the regular Debian 11 template doesn’t work either) is unable to connect (find) my Unifi devices. I suspect it has to do with some QubesOS firewall settings, but I’m too much of a noob in this area to know. It would be absolutely great if someone would be able to troubleshoot this issue with me.
My observations so far:
- My IP address is in the correct address space (the Unifi controller qube is basically a second sys-net VM with direct access to the home network).
- The Unifi controller update script works fine. Right now I am running it on an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS server and it works.
- I am able to run the Unifi controller on my qube (it works). The specific problem is that no devices are found. So I suspect a firewall communication problem between the controller and the devices.
Please help me to solve this. As I said in the introduction, I think Unifi has the best current networking devices and I think it would be great if this community could find a way to use them in a QubesOS friendly way.