Just a few words of caution - this doesn't directly compete with synoplogy. It's literally just a NAS box. That said, it's a NAS box at a awesome price / performance / capability point _if_ and only _if_ you are already in the Unifi namespace.
I would say you are almost always better buying this + a mini-pc then a synology at this point, or a Ugreen NAS + TrueNAS if you want to do amost everything a synology can do.
synology doens't even compete with synology anymore because all the new hardware requires locked in synology drives now.
It's creating a void that is getting filled with Ugreen, Minisforum, beelink, Aoostor for invoative platforms from China and classic competitors like Qnap, Asustor, Teramaster, etc for innovation for the small to mid-tier needs. 45drives in the larger spaces for folks wanting to manage things more on their own but have enterprise scale needs. Dell and HP have always competed on the high-end enterprise space and also becoming a better option, even though synology is so easy as an appliance.
If/when they launch a bigger unit than 8-bay, with ZFS, I’ll probably buy it. I’m already in the ecosystem and love it, and while my homegrown Debian-based NAS is rock-solid, I’d totally switch if they had a 3U or 4U high-capacity offering.
I’ve tried TrueNAS many times, and I just don’t like the UI/UX. It tries to ride the line between a walled garden, à la Apple, and “do what you want.” That doesn’t work, IMO. I really don’t like how it tries to do everything - I don’t want hyper-convergence, I want you to do one thing, and do it really, really well.
Literally my only hangup. I feel like I’m playing with fire with btrfs on Synology the longer I use it. Having ZFS would put my mind at ease, and I can relegate the Synology to backup duty.
Might be an appealing product if I just needed networked mass storage, but my home NAS (Synology DS920+) is also a home server, running a bunch of applications. I imagine Ubiquiti isn't going to start making servers anytime soon either.
I recently upgraded to a Minisforum N5 Pro DIY NAS (I run Alpine Linux with ZFS on it), and it's been great running backups and Immich in Docker. ECC RAM and 10G Ethernet are must haves as far as I am concerned, as is the freedom to use your distro of choice.
I know nothing about this particular product, but I would not buy anything from UniFi where you will be sad if it becomes essentially useless for any remotely nontrivial use case.
In recent days, I've encountered at least the following issues:
- Removing a fixed DHCP address from a device that is no present requires switching to the old UI.
- Gateway network traffic by client is flat-out broken.
- My particular combination of hardware does not support UniFi's speedtest. Dunno why. They don't care.
- Doing almost anything temporarily disruptive to the network resuts in long-lasting disruption as the controller re-adopts everything.
- Per-port switch settings are janky. They often result in the settings page and the actual applied settings not being in sync. And sometimes the port I want to configure is missing. (Seriously, the ports will be in numeric order except one is skipped. So maybe I have port 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Traffic is passing on port 4 just fine, but there is no port 4 as far as the UI is concerned.
- Network ACLs are a serious mess and often simply don't work, although I admit it's been a little while since I've re-tested this issue. (The ones above are all things I've encountered very recently.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. UniFi is... sort of featureful but not actually impressive.
I don't know answers to all of yours but the couple I do know...
- The fixed DHCP addresses are found under Client Devices. Click the Globe icon above the search box (To the right of the binoculars) to get the DHCP blade. All fixed reservations are listed, even for offline devices.
-For ACLs I've had great success with their new object based model that I believe came in Network 9.3. Settings > Policy Engine > Objects
I'm curious which devices you're using for both the gateway and switching equipment.
1)It's been forever since I have used the legacy interface, so I google'd it it went away in 7.3, which was 2+ years ago, so it seems you may be on a very very old version of Unifi US. I'm running 9.5.18, and I can confirm that option no longer exists (or is needed)
1) Also on the current version, to remove a DHCP client you can click on Client Devices / DHCP, and remove there. I just tested that as well.
2) Gateway traffic by individual client, ip, zone, etc works fine, in my experience, but I am also using Policy Engines, which I don't believe is supported on the version you are using. Policy engines can apply QoS, security, or routing to any object - ip, subnet, any sort of logical grouping.
3) I agree that it used to have a lot of problems with re-adopting, but it's been a while since I have seen that - the only time I ever see a re-adopting screen is after a OS re-install.
4) Network ACLs where replaced with policy again, but again, that's pretty new - you may be running a old version.
Also add to this that they tend to randomly (soft-)EOL products. I've already been bitten by this twice (first by their early CCTV systems, then by their EdgeRouter series of devices).
Don't buy Ubnt unless you're ready to replace it by something else when things go wrong.
I mean it's a case of use the right tool for the job.
For consumer, it's overkill.
For pro-sumer, it's perfect, imo. You can start pushing the boundaries, here, but most will not for residential. If you are pushing the boundaries, you are probably savvy enough to roll your own solution or get into the actual, hard-core enterprise stuff.
For small businesses, it's similar to pro-sumer.
For enterprise, use something else.
But honestly, you could make it work for any of these, 99% of the time.
I fall squarely into pro-sumer and my setup has been flawless for me. It's got all the bells and whistles I could ever need while not being too overkill nor really that expensive in the grand scheme of things. I am planning on switching over from Synology to a UNAS for the integration with Identity.
It sounds like you are the exception for pro-sumer.
I’m surprised they don’t have their own Synology C2–type backup service. Instead, they list AWS S3, Backblaze B2, and Wasabi as back-end integrations.
We use Synology with VMware ESXi backups, and it’s a lifesaver. Unless they add VM support, I wouldn’t consider UI. I also wonder what their backup-restore timeline/search looks like.
EDIT: You know what grinds my gears on HN? Getting downvoted for a basic observation and never knowing what I said that sounded wrong to others.
It could be because storage data plane development is a complex and niche software engineering domain, and cloud storage itself is not a high margin business.
[+] [-] InTheArena|4 months ago|reply
I would say you are almost always better buying this + a mini-pc then a synology at this point, or a Ugreen NAS + TrueNAS if you want to do amost everything a synology can do.
[+] [-] zbowling|4 months ago|reply
It's creating a void that is getting filled with Ugreen, Minisforum, beelink, Aoostor for invoative platforms from China and classic competitors like Qnap, Asustor, Teramaster, etc for innovation for the small to mid-tier needs. 45drives in the larger spaces for folks wanting to manage things more on their own but have enterprise scale needs. Dell and HP have always competed on the high-end enterprise space and also becoming a better option, even though synology is so easy as an appliance.
[+] [-] sgarland|4 months ago|reply
I’ve tried TrueNAS many times, and I just don’t like the UI/UX. It tries to ride the line between a walled garden, à la Apple, and “do what you want.” That doesn’t work, IMO. I really don’t like how it tries to do everything - I don’t want hyper-convergence, I want you to do one thing, and do it really, really well.
[+] [-] stego-tech|4 months ago|reply
Literally my only hangup. I feel like I’m playing with fire with btrfs on Synology the longer I use it. Having ZFS would put my mind at ease, and I can relegate the Synology to backup duty.
[+] [-] ksec|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] pdrayton|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] Hamuko|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] fmajid|4 months ago|reply
https://www.servethehome.com/minisforum-n5-pro-review-an-awe...
[+] [-] esseph|4 months ago|reply
https://mikrotik.com/product/rds2216
[+] [-] psyclobe|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] subscribed|4 months ago|reply
Or after everything, including the gateway trips over itself when I reboot one of the switches.
Or when it decides to run two APs, pretty much next to each other, on the exactly the same channel after a daily scan.
Or when I wake up to the WiFi down because it decided to turn on the automated firmware upgrade.
Yeah, they're almost out of the alpha phase.
[+] [-] amluto|4 months ago|reply
In recent days, I've encountered at least the following issues:
- Removing a fixed DHCP address from a device that is no present requires switching to the old UI.
- Gateway network traffic by client is flat-out broken.
- My particular combination of hardware does not support UniFi's speedtest. Dunno why. They don't care.
- Doing almost anything temporarily disruptive to the network resuts in long-lasting disruption as the controller re-adopts everything.
- Per-port switch settings are janky. They often result in the settings page and the actual applied settings not being in sync. And sometimes the port I want to configure is missing. (Seriously, the ports will be in numeric order except one is skipped. So maybe I have port 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Traffic is passing on port 4 just fine, but there is no port 4 as far as the UI is concerned.
- Network ACLs are a serious mess and often simply don't work, although I admit it's been a little while since I've re-tested this issue. (The ones above are all things I've encountered very recently.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something. UniFi is... sort of featureful but not actually impressive.
[+] [-] rcdemski|4 months ago|reply
- The fixed DHCP addresses are found under Client Devices. Click the Globe icon above the search box (To the right of the binoculars) to get the DHCP blade. All fixed reservations are listed, even for offline devices.
-For ACLs I've had great success with their new object based model that I believe came in Network 9.3. Settings > Policy Engine > Objects
I'm curious which devices you're using for both the gateway and switching equipment.
[+] [-] InTheArena|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] q3k|4 months ago|reply
Don't buy Ubnt unless you're ready to replace it by something else when things go wrong.
[+] [-] tills13|4 months ago|reply
For consumer, it's overkill. For pro-sumer, it's perfect, imo. You can start pushing the boundaries, here, but most will not for residential. If you are pushing the boundaries, you are probably savvy enough to roll your own solution or get into the actual, hard-core enterprise stuff. For small businesses, it's similar to pro-sumer. For enterprise, use something else. But honestly, you could make it work for any of these, 99% of the time.
I fall squarely into pro-sumer and my setup has been flawless for me. It's got all the bells and whistles I could ever need while not being too overkill nor really that expensive in the grand scheme of things. I am planning on switching over from Synology to a UNAS for the integration with Identity.
It sounds like you are the exception for pro-sumer.
[+] [-] pharos92|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] nerdsniper|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] psyclobe|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] system2|4 months ago|reply
We use Synology with VMware ESXi backups, and it’s a lifesaver. Unless they add VM support, I wouldn’t consider UI. I also wonder what their backup-restore timeline/search looks like.
EDIT: You know what grinds my gears on HN? Getting downvoted for a basic observation and never knowing what I said that sounded wrong to others.
[+] [-] crmd|4 months ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|4 months ago|reply
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