Unifi on ilar.in

Dynamic DNS (dyndns) with Namecheap on Unifi Security Gateway Pro 4

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Home network users commonly deal with dynamic IP addresses that change unpredictably. This can be troublesome when using a VPN, as the IP can change at any time. Dynamic DNS solves this by running a daemon that updates DNS records whenever the IP address changes, creating the illusion of a static address.

Namecheap Configuration

Log in to your Namecheap account
Select “Manage” for your desired domain
Navigate to Advanced DNS
Activate the Dynamic DNS service and save the password
Add an A+Dynamic DNS Record type
Use @ for naked domains or specify a subdomain
Set 127.0.0.1 as the initial IP address (the daemon will replace this)
Save changes

USG Controller Configuration

Log in to the USG controller
Go to Settings > Services > Dynamic DNS
Click “Create new dynamic DNS”
Enter these details:
- WAN Interface: Select your active WAN interface
- Service: Choose Namecheap
- Hostname: Use @ or your configured subdomain
- Username: Your domain name
- Password: The Dynamic DNS service password from Namecheap
- Server: dynamicdns.park-your-domain.com
Click Save

That’s it — the daemon will now keep your DNS record updated whenever your public IP changes.

My Home Network Setup

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Previously I had a Ubiquiti Edgerouter Lite, two managed Netgear switches and a Unifi AP-SHD WiFi. When my Edgerouter Lite suddenly died and there was no warranty left, I thought I could redo my home network and learn something new while doing it. I had some principles I wanted to fulfil:

The setup needed to be robust
The setup needed to offer great configurability
I wanted the possibility to isolate different devices into different VLANs
I wanted PoE capability

For this task I chose the Unifi product family from Ubiquiti because they combine quality hardware with great configurability, and I had heard good things about them. I decided the Unifi AP-SHD WiFi was good enough to stay, but the rest I wanted to replace. I got the following gear:

WireGuard with Unifi Security Gateway Pro 4

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

As part of my home network I have setup VPN connectivity so that I can access my stuff also when I’m not at home. Unifi Security Gateway offers PPTP and L2TP VPN servers out of the box but there are better alternatives available like WireGuard and OpenVPN. As with everything I wanted to learn new stuff so I chose WireGuard for this task. “WireGuard is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN” that “aims to be as easy to configure and deploy as SSH.” A VPN connection is made simply by exchanging very simple public keys — exactly like exchanging SSH keys — and all the rest is transparently handled by WireGuard. Unfortunately the information on how to get WireGuard up & running and make the installation persistent after USG upgrades could not be found from one single place. This is why I decided to gather the data under this one post.