Unifi AP - IP address changed

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Unifi AP - IP address changed

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#228914 30-Jan-2018 08:24

Hi all,

Have a UAP AC LR device... and it's still doing its AP job just fine. However I wanted to setup some controls on it so the kids would get booted off at bed time. When I went into the web Unifi management tool it shows the AP as disconnected. The IP address listed is not the IP address I see allocated to it in our modem/router's LAN management page. The IP address Unifi thinks it is at cannot be pinged. The address the router says is a ubnt device does answer ping.

Has the AP gone and got itself a new DHCP address? The Unifi management page doesn't seem to know about that. I tried to manually edit into the AP the new address as a static IP for the AP but it doesn't seem to have updated to it and still shows the old address.

Is there a proper way I should deal with this? I think I should allocate a static IP address outside the routers DHCP range and set that up on the AP. I'm kinda blundering around trying stuff at the moment without any success.

TIA

JohnO

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638
Inactive user

#1948399 30-Jan-2018 08:34

Where is the controller? Most likely is your controller is running a different IP address to what it was when you set the AP up. This really screws with the AP as its inform URL is sending updates to the completely wrong place.

Two suggestions:

1) Log in to the AP directly with SSH, and run the set-inform command to update the AP's inform URL to where the controller is running now.

2) Ask @michaelmurfy to set you up on the Geekzone Unifi controller and you won't have to worry about this happening again.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1948404 30-Jan-2018 08:42

chevrolux:

Where is the controller? Most likely is your controller is running a different IP address to what it was when you set the AP up. This really screws with the AP as its inform URL is sending updates to the completely wrong place.

Two suggestions:

1) Log in to the AP directly with SSH, and run the set-inform command to update the AP's inform URL to where the controller is running now.

2) Ask @michaelmurfy to set you up on the Geekzone Unifi controller and you won't have to worry about this happening again.

Hi chevrolux and thanks for the quick reply. As understand it there is no controller. I just got it going with the Unifi web based management tool and off it went. And it's still working fine, but I just can't manage it.

I'll try SSH when I get home. Will it require a user id and password and if so will that be the same as the userid and password I setup on the Unifi management app?

Cheers

JohnO

hairy1

3352 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 644

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1948408 30-Jan-2018 08:58

Check your firewall on the controller as well. I had dramas after the controller software updates to a new version and the firewall blocks the AP until a reboot of the controller machine.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

hairy1

3352 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 644

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1948410 30-Jan-2018 08:59

Oops. Disregard. I see you are not using the controller.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1948412 30-Jan-2018 09:00

Hi guys - can you please confirm - by 'controller' you mean some piece of server software, not just the PC that you ran the Unifi setup/management web page on?

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638
Inactive user

#1948413 30-Jan-2018 09:02

kryptonjohn:

chevrolux:

Where is the controller? Most likely is your controller is running a different IP address to what it was when you set the AP up. This really screws with the AP as its inform URL is sending updates to the completely wrong place.

Two suggestions:

1) Log in to the AP directly with SSH, and run the set-inform command to update the AP's inform URL to where the controller is running now.

2) Ask @michaelmurfy to set you up on the Geekzone Unifi controller and you won't have to worry about this happening again.

Hi chevrolux and thanks for the quick reply. As understand it there is no controller. I just got it going with the Unifi web based management tool and off it went. And it's still working fine, but I just can't manage it.

I'll try SSH when I get home. Will it require a user id and password and if so will that be the same as the userid and password I setup on the Unifi management app?

Cheers

JohnO

yep so that "web based management tool" is the unifi controller. And it sets the inform URL in the AP to point to the IP address of the controller.

Yep just SSH with the same user/pass you used on the controller. then run "set-inform http://<ip address>:8080/inform". Where IP address is the IP address of the PC running the controller - or as above, get set up on the geekzone controller and never worry about it again.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1948414 30-Jan-2018 09:03

Great stuff - thanks for the info, guys.

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1948464 30-Jan-2018 10:06

If you're running the controller on a PC I would suggest moving this to a cloud based controller - it is far more reliable.

Ping me a DM and I can set you up with this.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1948855 30-Jan-2018 20:47

Fantastic - reset the device and reconnected to the Geekzone Unifi Controller and all back in business - thanks especially to @michaelmufy and @chevrolux...

On to next project... setup the kids devices on a time schedule...

Cheers

JohnO

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1948882 30-Jan-2018 21:54

@kryptonjohn fantastic to hear! Glad it helped.

You could have a SSID turn on and off based on a schedule (and have an adults only SSID). It seems you're quite familiar with the controller software however :)

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1948888 30-Jan-2018 22:07

Getting there... getting there :-)

Yep now have two SSIDs one of which is scheduled and password given to kids and the other with hidden SSID unscheduled and setup on parent devices, my laptop and Roku streaming device. Awaiting 11pm with trepidation to see if there are howls from downstairs...

Fiddling around with the 2.4/5 bands... Not sure if I should give them separate ESSIDs within the WLAN... if that makes sense. On the initial SSID (now kids) I setup two ESSIDs one for 2.4 and one for 5GHz. On the second SSID both bands have the same SSID. Not sure if there's any benefit to separating them - I guess it allows you to lock to one or the other whereas leaving them the same allows steering to whichever is best?

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1948891 30-Jan-2018 22:13

Essentially how I do this is set up 2 networks. Have one running on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio (with band steering) and the other just activated on the 5GHz radio like so:

I connect laptops, Chromecasts etc to the 5GHz network and leave phones on the dual band network. Works quite well. It means if a device has the capability to do 5GHz and if it is in range of the 5GHz network also the UniFi will push it over else it'll camp on 2.4GHz.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 953

Lifetime subscriber

#1949817 1-Feb-2018 08:19

It's a beautiful thing, to sign into the controller in the morning, and see "last seen" on the kids' devices at the scheduled cut-off time!

Now if only Windows Family screen time restrictions would work properly as well...

webwat

2036 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 145

Trusted

#1955145 11-Feb-2018 12:20

kryptonjohn:

Hi all,

Have a UAP AC LR device... and it's still doing its AP job just fine. However I wanted to setup some controls on it so the kids would get booted off at bed time. When I went into the web Unifi management tool it shows the AP as disconnected. The IP address listed is not the IP address I see allocated to it in our modem/router's LAN management page. The IP address Unifi thinks it is at cannot be pinged. The address the router says is a ubnt device does answer ping.

Has the AP gone and got itself a new DHCP address? The Unifi management page doesn't seem to know about that. I tried to manually edit into the AP the new address as a static IP for the AP but it doesn't seem to have updated to it and still shows the old address.

Is there a proper way I should deal with this? I think I should allocate a static IP address outside the routers DHCP range and set that up on the AP. I'm kinda blundering around trying stuff at the moment without any success.

TIA

JohnO

Allocate the address Unifi thinks its supposed to be getting into the router's DHCP settings as a static IP, so the same IP is used whether or not the Unify tries to get a new IP address from the router.

Time to find a new industry!