Networking Origination

Java Home Directory Fail Issue on Ubuntu – RESOLVED For those of you who’re building your Ubuntu from scratch or even if you did like me and install UniFi on an AirVision NVR, , you might or might not get this after installing UniFi Controller *Setting Java Home….fail If that do happen, this might be because since the new Ubuntu, the name of the Java homedir changed according to the CPU architecture used and UniFi is using a hard-coded variable for the Java path in its startup script for some reason. You should change the homedir by editing the init script. (We won’t get into much detail about what is init) 1. Open the init script sudo nano /etc/init.d/unifi 2. Scroll down with your arrow key, look for a variable called JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk 3. Add your instance architecture type after that string. For example, I’m using amd64bit in my instance, the string should become JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-amd64 DO NOT touch anything else. 4. After the ...

I have always been a big fan of the  Ubiquiti  AirVision-2 software and especially the  AirVision-C NVR .  I have an installation at my office, my home and my cabin in Colorado.   Many of you have seen the images and video I have captured of the huge Elk that hang out at our cabin in Estes Park.  Today, I went to check on our home in Texas and I was greeted by this: “Unsupported Firmware” simply means the version of firmware running on the cameras is no longer compatible with AirVision.  In my case this happened automatically because I had the settings configured to automatically check for firmware updates and install them. When Ubiquiti introduced the UniFi cameras, they also released UniFi Video, not compatible with airVision firmwares.  Apparently, there is no mechanism in place to prevent the upgrade to the UniFi Video software so the cameras upgraded and thereby broke my airVision installation.  Of course, I have the auto-upgra...

There’s a million ways to do this on the wiki and the web but none of them fit my particular application.  Let me explain: 1.  The weak point in my network was an AirFiber 24 upstream from the tower I am connected to wirelessly.  This is the link that goes down in heavy rain causing an outage at our office to PROVIDER1.  We have a backup connection through a second provider that is slower but being 5GHz doesn’t drop in the rain, PROVIDER2. The network is like this: [MikroTik CCR1036-12G-4S] —[RBSXT]—[RBOmniTikU-5HnD[—[AF24]—[PROVIDER1] —[RBSXT]—[PROVIDER2] 2. Simple floating static routes with check gateway doesn’t help because on PROVIDER1 we never drop our 5GHz connection to the tower, it’s the upstream link that fails. 3. I tried recursive routes and it works but the failover was still lacking and seemed sporadic at best. 4. When failover did occur, the VOIP PBX would hold the connection open through the dead provider and some phones in the off...

It started out simple enough – install  Mikro Tik RouterOS as a guest OS on ESXi and make the virtual router a VPN endpoint for a site to site VPN. Here is my setup.  On the left is an  MikroTik RB2011  and on the right is a virtual instance of MikroTik RouterOS. As you can see I have an EOIP tunnel between the two routers and I am bridging the Ethernet interface on the LAN to the EOIP tunnel. This yields a Layer 2 connection between the two LANs and accomplishes my goal. Or does it?  Things were acting strange and I could not ping across the tunnel any time I bridged the Ether to the EOIP on the ESX side. No bridge, no problems. With a bridge, no pings. I was Skyping my friend Tom Smyth in Ireland about an unrelated subject and threatening to pull my hair out when he said “have you tried the 3 security questions on ESXi networking?  No, I replied”.  So, I tried it and the problem was solved. Now everything worked.  Apparently, ESX doesn...

One of the big gripes that people have with Ubiquiti is the lack of support for Virtual SSIDs. Here is a step by step tutorial for setting up VSSIDs on Airos 5.6 devices with Vlans back to the upstream router. Please note that you will not be able to use Airmax when you have Virtual SSIDs. This tutorial is based on information from the Ubiquiti Forums, specifically  this post  by AnubisSL. Step 1 - Make sure you are running the latest version of AirOS Step 2 - Configure the first SSID as you would under normal circumstances Step 3 - Download the config file from the device and open it using a text editor Step 4 - Edit the config file 4.1a -  Without VLAN  use this if you don't need to vlan the second SSID Under the "bridge" section, create a new bridge port. The port number, "3" in this example should be incremented by one from the previous highest number. The devname, in this case "ath1" is also one more than the previous, in th...

Sometimes you need to push your available hardware and software a little bit beyond their original specifications. Because AirOS is built on Linux, you actually have a fair bit of flexibility in order to do whatever you like. I had a need to be able to run multiple PPPoE accounts on the same antenna for two reasons. Firstly, when I need to separate VoIP traffic from Data traffic, and secondly when I have two users behind the same antenna. I then use VLANs to route the traffic independently. Now, I do realize that it would be easier to put a Mikrotik or ER downstream from the antenna, but I prefer to use single device solutions where possible. Step 1: Set up your first PPPoE Client as you would normally, using the web interface. Step 2: Using PuTTY (or your favourite SSH Client) connect to the device. Using vi (or nano) add the following two lines to  /etc/persistent/rc.poststart  substituting the correct username and password as required. echo '"Username...

When you will install wi-fi (access point) device, especially if the wifi device more than one, two or three, then you should pay attention to the wifi channel, because if the channel setting of each device is not correct, the  interference may be happen that may cause the connection to be slow or even dropped. In general, default settings of wifi device  for the channel is set to automatically, when there are existing wifi signal, the new wifi device  will seek and occupy unused channel. But just to be safe if you are confident in your area has wifi signal and you will install the new one, the channel should be set up manually. to avoid interference between the devices. Channel menu on wifi device generally will be found in Wireless  section, refer to your device  manual instruction. The easy way to know wi-fi channel already used in the area, I use  Wifi Analyzer , the App for Android. Easy to use and...