I’m building a Unifi mesh network to extend internet out to some remote areas on our campus. I’m looking for input on best practices or holes in my design.
I’m familiar with the Unifi UBB. I have not used the U7 Pro Outdoor or U7 mesh with their super antenna architecture. All three U7 Mesh child access points are within a 20 degree spread of the U7 Pro Outdoor.
I haven’t seen in specifically stated or not, but can I use the port on the child U7 mesh as a downlink port to feed the switch, and then feed other devices (cameras, laptops, POS, etc…)?
Cheers!
Mesh connections in UniFi use the 5 GHz band so those distances to the ones on the bottom are not going to work well if at all. For a setup like this I would use more of the purposed designed site to site devices like the UBB one you have at the start. Also I assume you mean WAN → Firewall / Gateway → LAN → UBB → UBB → … etc.
1 Like
“assume you mean WAN → Firewall / Gateway → LAN → UBB → UBB → … etc.”
You are correct. I was trying to keep it simple and show the parent (WAN) side.
I did think about using the Device Bridge Pro Sector with three of the Device Bridge Pro. From what I’ve read it seems the directional super antenna in the U7 Pro Outdoor and U7 Mesh are made for longer distance meshing. I haven’t seen any tests with this exact combo I’m looking at but there are a few videos of related tests:
U7 Outdoor to cell phone: https://youtu.be/Pm9sLB_AaPo?si=5LPdSY9poPbiEgdx&t=391
U7 Outdoor to cell phone: https://youtu.be/WS1B0QwoqlQ?si=UHhWNp1owMtkDQfp&t=233
U7 Mesh to U7 Mesh 500 ft: https://youtu.be/kF04W0d3fpM?si=JWgT-K21n78CYegV&t=991
Unifi Marketing 3x distance with directional beam antenna: https://youtu.be/5VcuRMm_g78?si=ye7fyV5NQz7_-UTH&t=26
If you have clear line of sight, it might work but I would validate that before deploying. When I do design work, I go with what I know is solid and works.
If you need to do PTMP (Point to Multi-Point), which it looks like you’re trying to accomplish, Ubiquiti has purpose-made backhaul radios for that, such as the LiteBeam and Prism lines to act as the main distribution AP and receiving radios like the NanoLoco and NanoBeam lines for the Stations. This forms a backhaul network which is invisible to client devices like cell phones and laptops, and keeps things more separated, manageable, and reliable. You can then go to a switch at each of the sites, as you show in the diagram, and, if you need client-facing SSIDs, you can then put up your normal APs. If you don’t need client Wi-Fi at those locations, you can just go to the switch, or directly out of the Station radio PoE injector to the camera.
1 Like
I think I’m going to purchase the equipment and give it a try. If it doesn’t work I’ll pick up some Device Bridge Pros and a Device Bridge Sector. This is all R&D for in house infrastructure. I was hoping someone else has used a similar setup.
Thanks for the comment. We have a few different old Nanostations and Nanolocos along with a few Unifi Device Bridge Pros. I’m trying hard to keep all in our Unifi Console as it makes monitoring and troubleshooting much easier.
