I just upgraded to a complete Unifi system in my house, after having deployed it for side jobs. Had to spend my trump bux somehow.....
It is really slick but its really best as a homogenous system. The things you can do with traffic flow control, network topology, and security are flat out amazing. Its much more expensive than any commercial home setup, but its way less than enterprise level gear which it competes with fairly well. Initial setup can be a pain, if any components are several firmware versions back. This means having a basic knowledge of WinSCP and SSH might be required, but there are lots of Youtube guides specifically on this equipment if you hit that issue. Couple things for a new adopter:
Their USG: There is the less expensive version, and then the Pro 4 and higher ones. I personally sprung for the Pro4 because I want this system to last a long time so the ability to have fiber runs to my gateway in the future is an option I wanted. It also has a greater management capacity for creating VLANs and wireless SSIDs than the basic version. There is a lot to consider here, but if you just plan on using your cable modem and never moving away from CAT6 or setting up multiple SSIDs beyond four, stick with the cheap one. If you are going full nerd and want the future option of fiber, get the P4. Trying to get it setup without there USG is doable, but why would you when it interfaces with the rest of the system so well?
Controller: I have a series two Cloudkey, which is something I have placed at all four Unifi sites I have set up. I recommend it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is a good deal. For 200 bucks, you get a computer that runs the controller software, has built in camera security software, offsite administration tools, and 1TB of storage for camera footage. The unit is small, runs on a single PoE drop, and gives off no heat. The alternative is downloading the software to another server or workstation and running it there, but that does not allow for offsite management, clouded backups of the system settings, and it does not include the camera (and I beleive IP phone) software that the cloudkey two does. IF you already have a server or VM racked up for this and do not want the security camera features, then passing on the cloudkey is an option I guess. But I like having it for the sites I remote administer and I plan on adding in security cameras to phase out the ADT cheapies I currently have down the road, so no brainer for me.
There are tons of options that a home user is going to want to dig into for the first time when you get it up and running. Have a plan in mind for any SSIDs and VLANS you feel you need. Personal example, I have four VLANs (House Master VLAN, Home Automation and Media, Guest Network, My Work VLAN, Wifes Work VLAN) and three Wireless networks (Personal, Home Automation, Guest), but could have more if I needed. I have all of the ports set to work with specific VLANs in my house and optimizations in place to make each one better serve its purpose, which the full UNIFI setup allows for. Knowing what you want and having a plan will make tweaking it a lot easier later, especially if you are integrating a lot of home automation into your setup like I had to do. Once its set and stuff is working at a basic level, you can go back later and tweak it to optimize it or harden the security. Just dont get lost in the weeds early. Get internet and wifi working, get your core VLANs set, and make sure stuff is talking. Once you are that point, you can peck at it at your leisure, especially if you use the Cloudkey and can just muck about with a tablet to change things.
Realistically, no ordinary home needs a setup like Unifi provides (Luxul covers those people who need just a couple extra access points), but its pretty damn robust and easy to work with for the cost compared to other enterprise gear. And for what its worth, of the four systems I have set up for side work in the last four years, none have any downtime that was not directly related to a power outage or internet provider outage. Remotely administering them all has been a breeze and I can do most of it on my cell phone. And this includes places I have set up, like my german singing club, where I have 600+ concurrent wireless users while my network is also handling managing the audio system for the beer garden, point of sales systems, streaming to the spectrum application, and the camera security software and traffic. Its really good for small businesses, especially at its price point.
Good luck with it, and let us know how it goes.
