Switching from Edgerouter to Unifi gateway but using same controller

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Switching from Edgerouter to Unifi gateway but using same controller - how?!

phrozenpenguin

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#319162 28-Mar-2025 23:54

I’m wanting to change router from an Edgerouter to a Unifi UXG Lite for my router. Keen on some advice to check I’m not going to make a mess of this - as it hasn’t seemed straightforward on first attempt.

The rest of my core network includes:

2x Unifi APs, controlled by a local Unifi controller
A couple of switches
A synology NAS
A Home Assistant box

The above are all set to static IP on the devices. The Edgerouter does DHCP for all the other devices, inc phones, laptops, Shelly’s etc.

I disconnected the Edgerouter and put the UXG Lite in its place. It popped up in the controller to adopt, but after adopting goes offline. My suspicion is that it is converting to a loopback address as it is getting confused with some of the devices with a static IP - but I don’t have any info to prove that.

I was hoping not to have to rebuild the network from a blank controller, but I’m not sure how I get the new UXG Lite adopted to the existing controller….any ideas?

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#3358389 29-Mar-2025 06:43

I was in same position, I needed to rebuild the whole thing…I was not happy.

Jon

phrozenpenguin

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#3358390 29-Mar-2025 07:34

jonherries:

I was in same position, I needed to rebuild the whole thing…I was not happy.

Jon

What order did you do things in, and do staticly set (on device) IPs matter? trying to get my head round the right order and getting the UXG access to the controller.

jonherries

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#3358392 29-Mar-2025 07:48

Uh - took me a while to dredge it up I think I suppressed that afternoon from my memories. The Bluetooth bit ended up being tricky but set up and used my MacBook over lan to mange the config on the web interface rather than app. Took three goes to get the actual box running and connected to Spark.

Not sure the static IPs mattered - my sense was the APs being on the old controller was the problem (apart from the Bluetooth issue above) so I set up the wired core and sorted it then did vlans and then had to reset the APs. Had no wireless network for a few hours though…

The app is now how I manage it and seems good - much easier to manage firewall/ports/ip addresses etc.

Jon

CYaBro

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#3358396 29-Mar-2025 08:31

If you had no router in the controller previously then adding a new one to it will default to the 192.168.1.0/24 range.
So the UXG lite will be set to 192.168.1.1.
what ip is your edgerouter using?

You should be able to change the default network in the controller before adopting the UXG lite, to match your existing IP range that your edge router is configured for.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

jonherries

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#3358402 29-Mar-2025 09:08

CYaBro:

If you had no router in the controller previously then adding a new one to it will default to the 192.168.1.0/24 range.
So the UXG lite will be set to 192.168.1.1.
what ip is your edgerouter using?

You should be able to change the default network in the controller before adopting the UXG lite, to match your existing IP range that your edge router is configured for.

Hadnt thought of that - wasn’t my issue (use 192 scheme) but presumably if you can remove a static IP and use that one for config?

Jon

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#3358403 29-Mar-2025 09:16

Well if your network was say using 192.168.0.1-254 and your controller was on 192.168.0.10 and edgerouter 192.168.0.1 but you hadn’t adjusted the default network settings in the Unifi controller, which by default will set the router to 192.168.1.1, as soon as you adopt the Unifi gateway to the controller it will go offline as it’s now on a different subnet and won’t be able to see the controller and your network devices won’t see it.
192.168.0.0/24 is a totally different network to 192.168.1.0/24.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

phrozenpenguin

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#3358517 29-Mar-2025 11:08

My Edgerouter is set to 192.168.1.1

I was not intending to change the network range - I was hoping that the Unifi would "just work" given it should have defaulted to 192.168.1.1 as well.

The controller is 192.168.1.25:8443

Subnet mask for both is 255.255.255.0

Anything obvious I am missing?

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#3358520 29-Mar-2025 11:33

Update controller maybe.

Spark Max Fibre using Mikrotik CCR1009-8G-1S-1S+, CRS125-24G-1S, Unifi UAP, U6-Pro, UAP-AC-M-Pro, Apple TV 4K (2022), Apple TV 4K (2017), iPad Air 1st gen, iPad Air 4th gen, iPhone 13, SkyNZ3151 (the white box). If it doesn't move then it's data cabled.

CYaBro

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#3358521 29-Mar-2025 11:35

That is strange then as the UXG should be getting the same IP. 🤔
Once you’ve adopted it and it goes offline in the controller does your internet still work?

Can you ssh into the UXG at 192.168.1.1?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

phrozenpenguin

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#3358526 29-Mar-2025 12:32

Controller is updated to the latest 9.x version.

I haven’t got internet to work at all through the uxg.

Just tried again. Swop hardware, device appears in controller, click adopt. 3 mins “of getting ready then instantly goes offline.

A reboot of UXG shows it with an IP of 127.0.0.1, and it is not reachable via SSH.

I’m not sure where to from here…perhaps a different controller on another box, and start with the minimum setup possible? But I still need to have my controller set somewhere with a static IP as far as I’m aware?

CYaBro

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#3358590 29-Mar-2025 15:40

phrozenpenguin:

Controller is updated to the latest 9.x version.

I haven’t got internet to work at all through the uxg.

Just tried again. Swop hardware, device appears in controller, click adopt. 3 mins “of getting ready then instantly goes offline.

A reboot of UXG shows it with an IP of 127.0.0.1, and it is not reachable via SSH.

I’m not sure where to from here…perhaps a different controller on another box, and start with the minimum setup possible? But I still need to have my controller set somewhere with a static IP as far as I’m aware?

What are you running your controller on?

Take a backup of the site then start again with a clean site and see if the UXG will adopt and work.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

phrozenpenguin

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#3358943 31-Mar-2025 11:08

Controller is running on a Synology box.

I could also run controller on a Home Assistant box as well.

I might just end up starting with a minimal setup as I can and rebuild the network from scratch...which I didn't want to do, but shouldn't be too complicated.

CYaBro

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#3358956 31-Mar-2025 11:57

Yea should be easy as you've only got a couple of APs adopted in there don't you?

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richms

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#3359004 31-Mar-2025 12:03

The lack of gateway migration is a huge hole in unifi. The closest they have is on the pricy ones where you can have a hot spare. Absurd that you cant add a second one and have it get all the config but not be active until it sees the WAN ethernet come up at which point it kicks in its DHCP and other stuff letting you at least swap the hardware with minimal problems taking the network down.

I had a hell of a time because when you remove the gateway from the controller, there goes your DHCP and vlan routing, so the new one cant be adopted. I had to plug a PC into it, and configure the basic LAN side of it so that it would give out IPs and then the controller would see it and adopt it and I still lost heaps of things with the move to a better controller.

If they want to promote people upgrading it should be as close to zero hassle as possible.

Richard rich.ms

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#3359012 31-Mar-2025 12:27

I've done a few Unifi gateway upgrades now and not had any issues.

Mainly USGs to something newer.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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