Deploy and Run the Unifi Controller on a Synology Nas with Docker
While installing the second Ubiquiti Access Point. The need of roaming the same Wifi network seamlessly on different floors is needed to maximized the user experience. This solution can be done at home, small and medium businesses with a Synology nas or any other docker solution. In the next blog post I will install the Unifi controller on vSphere.
First things first….. One of the requirements is that the Synology Nas must support Docker. You can check this if the package is available in the Package Center or check the vendor website if your model support it. There are many versions of Synology and therefore is this a important step to begin.
- Login on the Synology Nas
- Open the package Center
- Search for Docker
- Install Docker on the Nas.
- Check if Docker has been successfully installed.
Configure the Synology Firewall
The Synology firewall is by default turned on. Therefore you need to allow specific ports to allow traffic to the Unifi controller. In certain cases you can choose to disable the firewall. This is not advised and needs a third party hardware firewall. In this blogpost we will specify specific firewall ports.
- Go to the Control panel, select Security and the sub cat. Firewall
- Edit the Rules
- Rule 1 (custom)
Type: Dest.port
Protocol: TCP
Ports: 8080,8443,8843,8880,6789 - Rule 2 (custom)
Type: Dest.port
Protocol: UDP
Ports: 3478,10001
Download and Run the Unifi controller software
- Open Docker
- Go to Registry *1
- Search for Unifi *2
- Select “jacobalberty/unifi” and click on Download *3
- Go to Image within Docker
- Select “jacobalberty/unifi:latest”
- Click on Launch
Configure the Unifi access controller
After launching the Unifi container, a configuration wizard will start to specify the basis settings of the Unifi controller. Basic settings are “Resource management, Container name, Auto-restart, Shortcut, Network, ports and volumes” All these settings can be set with a user friendly interface. (no commands etc) Please follow the bellow steps 😉
Select “Use the same network as Docker Host
- Specify the container name (give it a nice and simple name)
- Enable resource limitation
- Set CPU Priority to Low
- Set Memory Limit on 1024MB (my advise, based on my Nas specifications with 4 GB of Ram)
- Enable auto-restart
Advanced Settings
- Change the Variable “Bind_Priv” to False
- Change the Variable “Runas_Uid0” to False
Volume Settings
- Under docker, create folder with the name of the container
- Specify the mount path ( /virtualblog)
- finish the wizard and the container will be created and started
When the Container is successful deployed. You should be able to reach the controller on the specified port 8443 (https://IPNas:8443/)
Thanks for reading and good luck with configuring Docker and the Unifi controller 😉