{"id":2254,"date":"2021-09-04T03:06:28","date_gmt":"2021-09-04T03:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=2254"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:30:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T02:30:44","slug":"ubiquiti-unifi-controller-setup-on-ubuntu-20-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=2254","title":{"rendered":"Ubiquiti Unifi Controller Setup on Ubuntu or Docker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unifi offers a free (but not open-source) controller solution based on Linux with an amazing web GUI and integration with their cloud service [Link<\/a>].<\/p>\n

INSTALLING UNIFI ON UBUNTU 20.04<\/p>\n

sudo apt update\r\nsudo apt install ca-certificates apt-transport-https -y\r\necho 'deb https:\/\/www.ui.com\/downloads\/unifi\/debian stable ubiquiti' | sudo tee \/etc\/apt\/sources.list.d\/100-ubnt-unifi.list\r\nsudo wget -O \/etc\/apt\/trusted.gpg.d\/unifi-repo.gpg https:\/\/dl.ui.com\/unifi\/unifi-repo.gpg<\/pre>\n
Install the controller service:<\/p>\n
sudo apt-get update\r\nsudo apt install openjdk-8-jre-headless unifi -y\r\nsudo systemctl status --no-pager --full mongodb.service unifi.service<\/pre>\n
Using Chrome (recommended), navigate to the web interface at https:\/\/10.0.0.1<\/span>:8443\/<\/strong> (replace the IP<\/strong><\/span> accordingly).<\/p>\n
Follow the 6 steps to create a local account for your private controller.<\/p>\n
Give your controller a name and click Next.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Alternatively, you can use a Unifi account and expose the controller to the internet to manage multiple sites (useful for managing client infrastructure, for example). For now, skip the login and switch to Advanced.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Disable cloud-based features to run the controller in standalone mode, then create credentials for it.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Leave the default options.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
If you have Unifi devices on the same network segment, they may be discovered at this step. Either way, click Next.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Set your Wi-Fi name and password.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Set your location and timezone. This is important for scheduling firmware upgrades and other time-based features.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Your dashboard should then look something like this:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Clean up the system:<\/p>\n
sudo apt clean -y\r\nsudo apt autoremove -y<\/pre>\n
Use the following commands to start, restart, or stop the service:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl start unifi\r\nsudo systemctl restart unifi\r\nsudo systemctl stop unifi<\/pre>\n
If you run into issues connecting your controller to the Unifi cloud, run the following commands and try again:<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl stop unifi\r\nsudo rm \/etc\/ssl\/certs\/java\/cacerts &> \/dev\/null; sudo update-ca-certificates -f\r\nsudo systemctl start unifi<\/pre>\n
Allow the required ports through the firewall:<\/p>\n
sudo ufw allow 8080,8443,8843,8880,6789\/tcp\r\nsudo ufw allow 8080,8443,8843,8880,6789,3478,10001,1900,5514\/udp<\/pre>\n
Requirements for cloud access:<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Optionally, I recommend enabling Launch using WebRTC<\/strong>. This approach does not require exposing any ports to the internet.<\/p>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
\n
INSTALLING UNIFI ON DOCKER<\/p>\n
The main advantage of running the Unifi Controller in a container is its lightweight footprint. It can run on almost any host in your network, including a Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n
Supported processor architectures:<\/p>\n
    \n
  • x86-64\n
      \n
    • Standard Intel\/AMD processors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • ARM64\n
        \n
      • Raspberry Pi 3 or newer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • ARMHF (Hard Float)\n
          \n
        • Raspberry Pi 2 (32-bit).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
          mkdir ~\/unifi-config\r\nsudo docker run -d --name=unifi -e PUID=1000 -e PGID=1000 -p 3478:3478\/udp -p 10001:10001\/udp -p 8080:8080 -p 8443:8443 -p 1900:1900\/udp -p 8843:8843 -p 8880:8880 -p 6789:6789 -p 5514:5514\/udp -v ~\/unifi-config:\/config --restart unless-stopped ghcr.io\/linuxserver\/unifi-controller<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
          Unifi offers a free (but not open-source) controller solution based on Linux with an amazing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","category-raspberry-pi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2254"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5715,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254\/revisions\/5715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}