Solved Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax
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I need to deploy a few new switches very soon and heck, Ubiquiti offers a lot of bang for the buck.
Checking their models I found two switches that might fit: US-48-500W and ES-48-500W.
Now... what the heck is the difference between the EdgeSwitch and the UnifiSwitch line? They seem to be pretty much identical, even on the datasheet. Is there a different software feature set? Which one would you buy when you want to connect a bunch of client machines and maybe 2 or 3 APs?
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EdgeSwitch = More specs, more features, individual boxes, no single pane of glass management.
Unifi Switch = Less specs, managed by a controller with less features.
Which one should you buy?
If you want traditional switch management, go with an EdgeSwitch. If you are happy to trade off features and config options, Unifi.
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Or.....
Edge = Managed (SNMP)
Unifi = Smart -
I have a fully Unifi setup at home - it's pretty nice seeing all the reports in a single pane of glass.
The GUI doesn't offer all of the features of the software yet, but you can often get them directly by updating the JSON files on the Unifi Controller until they become available.
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I don't need a fancy GUI, but a central management interface for all my switches would be nice. At least all access switches. Would be about 6-7x 48 ports at the new robo
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@Breffni-Potter said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
EdgeSwitch = More specs, more features, individual boxes, no single pane of glass management.
At the moment
there is a thing "UNMS" in development -
@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
I don't need a fancy GUI, but a central management interface for all my switches would be nice. At least all access switches. Would be about 6-7x 48 ports at the new robo
SaltStack or Ansible
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@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
I don't need a fancy GUI, but a central management interface for all my switches would be nice. At least all access switches. Would be about 6-7x 48 ports at the new robo
SaltStack or Ansible
I was more thinking about a non-IT colleague compliant interface
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@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
I don't need a fancy GUI, but a central management interface for all my switches would be nice. At least all access switches. Would be about 6-7x 48 ports at the new robo
SaltStack or Ansible
I was more thinking about a non-IT colleague compliant interface
That's scary. You want to keep those people as far from the switches as possible to keep the system up!
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@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@thwr said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
I don't need a fancy GUI, but a central management interface for all my switches would be nice. At least all access switches. Would be about 6-7x 48 ports at the new robo
SaltStack or Ansible
I was more thinking about a non-IT colleague compliant interface
That's scary. You want to keep those people as far from the switches as possible to keep the system up!
true, but I'm always planning for the day when I (literally) catch the train...
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That's actually a reason that I dislike GUIs on all kinds of things from switches and routers to servers or whatever - GUIs encourage people to "mess around" with things that they don't know enough about.
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@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
That's actually a reason that I dislike GUIs on all kinds of things from switches and routers to servers or whatever - GUIs encourage people to "mess around" with things that they don't know enough about.
Like re-naming a production server in the middle of the day because they decided it would be fun to use a lord of the rings naming scheme.
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@Breffni-Potter said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
That's actually a reason that I dislike GUIs on all kinds of things from switches and routers to servers or whatever - GUIs encourage people to "mess around" with things that they don't know enough about.
Like re-naming a production server in the middle of the day because they decided it would be fun to use a lord of the rings naming scheme.
That's either a very good but random example or someone has a great story to tell.
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@Breffni-Potter said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
That's actually a reason that I dislike GUIs on all kinds of things from switches and routers to servers or whatever - GUIs encourage people to "mess around" with things that they don't know enough about.
Like re-naming a production server in the middle of the day because they decided it would be fun to use a lord of the rings naming scheme.
Seen that... A colleague many years ago googling "How to rename a DC +force"
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@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@Breffni-Potter said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
@scottalanmiller said in Ubiquiti switches: UniFi vs EdgeMax:
That's actually a reason that I dislike GUIs on all kinds of things from switches and routers to servers or whatever - GUIs encourage people to "mess around" with things that they don't know enough about.
Like re-naming a production server in the middle of the day because they decided it would be fun to use a lord of the rings naming scheme.
That's either a very good but random example or someone has a great story to tell.
Yes. The leadership of the company thought it would be a good idea.
So one of them logged in and did exactly that.
BOOM. Helpdesk got flooded with calls.
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OK, back to topic. @hobbit666: What's UMMS? Because google leads exactly to our thread here
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He's probably talking about UNMS, Ubiquiti Network Management Solution, https://www.ubnt.com/software/
Manage all of your EdgeMAX
and U Fiber devices.- Centralized devices configuration, backups and mass FW upgrade
- Performance charts with real-time graphs
- Outage notifications and custom alerts
- Map of your network sites and endpoints
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@thwr What he said
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Just played around with https://demo.ubnt.com
It feels a bit... odd. There's too much "magic" going on behind the scenes and I don't like the way they manage VLANs in the UniFi series - just compare this to this. Overall, it feels like someone is holding your hand and doesn't allow you to cross the street at all. Probably OK in most cases, but that's not what I want.
So I'll take a closer look into the Edge line.
BTW: Does anyone know a rough price for an SFP+ transceiver?
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@thwr that is definitely the purpose of the Unifi.
