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Introduction

UniFi-Lab is collection of utilities that aims to help managing UniFi controller. UniFi-Lab interacts with UniFi controller through cURL, which is like a text-version browser, and is controlled by python scripts. You can think of UniFi-Lab as a robot IT that always monitors the controller and takes actions when needed.

These version is using UniFi API interface. For example have please have a look at Jakob Borg's unifi-api for Python (https://github.com/calmh/unifi-api).

Features

MAC Addresses White List

The UniFi controller will block any MAC that is not on the list. You can alse configure SSID where MAC will be NOT blocked ("Guest WiFi").

Poor Signals Reconnect

The UniFi controller will kick (aka reconnect) any stations that fall below assigned RSSI (or Signal Strength, depends on the configuration) threshold for assigned period. The idea is that, by forcing a station to reconnect, the station often goes to an AP with better signals to its eyes, therefore gets better performances.

This feature can also be used as blocking those stations below certain RSSI if the duration threshold is set to 1 second. This won't completely shut off a station since the station still can connect for 1 second before gets kick, but it surely will be very annoying and close to unusable wireless. We cannot simply block a station every time it falls below a threshold. If we do that, we then have no idea when the station is back into the range. At this moment, only a connected station can be told RSSI on controller, it is a chicken and egg problem.

AP Periodic Reboot

The controller will reboot selected APs on the specified days and time.

Prerequisites

The UniFi-Lab utility needs to interact with the UniFi controller, therefore '''UniFi controller must be up and running'''. It also needs these two software installed

• Python 2.x
• unifi-api

Below we demonstrate installation steps in different operating systems.

Debian 6.0

• This is a fresh Debian installed on a VMware, the Debian image can be downloaded at http://www.trendsigma.net/vmware/debian6t.html
• open a terminal and type 'python -V' to check if it is installed and which version it is
• the Python version I got is 2.6.6
• We also need curl. Since it is not in the system, we need to install it: ** In Debian GNOME desktop, "System" > "Administration" > "Synaptic Package Manager" ** Search for "curl" ** Mark the "Install" of curl and click "Apply" to install curl and dependent packages
• bring up a new terminal and see if 'curl www.google.com' returns the text version of google page

Windows

• Python can be downloaded from http://www.python.org/download. The version I installed is Python 2.7.3 which is the current production code. I don't think there is a version dependency for UniFiLab, so other nearby versions should work also.
• I am using "Windows X86-64 MSI Installer" of Python since I am using a Win7 Pro 64-bit laptop.
• After installation, Python is not in the 'Path' variable so we need to add that. ** Right click "Computer" > "Properties" > "Advanced system settings" > "Advanced" tab > "Environmental Variables", append ";C:\Python27\" to the end of 'Path' System variables.
• cURL can be downloaded from http://www.paehl.com/open_source/?CURL_7.27.0, this is 32-bit
• The one I installed is "Download WITH SUPPORT SSL"
• Extract the zip file and there is a curl executable. Put it under UniFiLab scripts folder.
• Open a command line window and see if you can do 'python -V' and 'curl www.google.com' commands.

Mac

• To my understanding, both python and curl come with OSX. Please let us know if it is not working there.

Download

UniFi-Lab can be downloaded from here.

There are four files included in the UniFi-Lab,

• '''unifi_lab_production.ini''' => This is the configuration file of UniFi-Lab
• '''unifi_lab.py''' => This is the main execution script
• '''unifi_lab_ctlrobj.py''' => This has functions that we used to interact with the controller
• '''unifi_lab_mac_auth.list''' => This is used by MAC authentication feature. It contains the white list of allowed MAC addresses.

Installation for Manual run

Create a directory and put above files under it. Copy '''unifi_lab_production.ini''' to /etc/unifi_lab/unifi_lab.ini and modify for your environment

Install unifi-api interface (https://github.com/calmh/unifi-api)

For Windows, make sure that curl.exe is also under the same folder.

Execution

Modify the config file first according to your needs and environment. Then, in CLI, go to the directory, run "'''python unifi_lab.py'''" to start. To stop, press "Ctlr-C". If you change the config file while running, you also need to restart the UniFi-Lab to reflect these changes.

Installation of Debian init scripts

The following was tested on Debian 6

• Unzip files to /usr/lib/unifi_lab/
• Copy '''unifi_lab_production.ini''' to /etc/unifi_lab/unifi_lab.ini and modify for your environment
• ln -s /usr/lib/unifi_lab/unifi_lab.init /etc/init.d/unifi_lab
• update-rc.d unifi_lab defaults

Now you can use /etc/init.d/unifi_lab start|stop|restart

Configuration

The '''/etc/unifi_lab/unifi_lab.ini''' file contains the related parameters of UniFi-Lab features. Lines that start with ; are comments.

[General] Section

The [General] section does not need changes unless you want your log or pid files in another location or with a different name

[Controller] section

You must fill in the [Controller] section to point to your UniFi server. These set controller ip address, login id, password, port and version

• controllerHost = 192.168.1.100
• controllerUsername = hello
• controllerPassword = world
• controllerPort = 8443
• controllerVersion = v4

[Mail] section

Use the [Mail] section to configure email alerts

[Feature] section

This section enables or disables unifi_lab features. Use "True" or "False" values (Note: values are case sensitive)

MAC addresses white list feature

There are no other parameters for MAC_AUTH. The white list file "unifi_lab_mac_auth.list" has allowed MAC addresses. One MAC address per line. The UniFi-Lab will ask the controller to block any MAC that is not on the list. The white list file can be changed on the fly (meaning the UniFi-Lab reloads file constantly)

Poor signals reconnect feature

• poorSignalBase = [Signal|RSSI]. You can reconnect a client based on its Signal Strength or RSSI (RSSI = Signal Strength - Noise Floor).
• poorSignalThreshold = N. This depends on what you have set for the base, "N" is the threshold value. For example, if the base is set to Signal and threshold is -65, that means the UniFi-Lab will concern those clients who has signal strength below -65 dBm.
• poorSignalThresholdSeconds = M. The controller will reconnect this client if it falls below the threshold for ''M'' seconds. For example, "poorSignalThresholdSeconds = 10" means 10 seconds.

For Periodic Reboot feature

• periodicRebootApNamePrefix = [empty|prefix]. Leave this empty for all APs, or give an alias prefix to only affect those APs.
• periodicRebootDays = Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat,Sun. Select which days (Case Sensitive) you want APs to be rebooted, separated by a comma ','
• periodicRebootTime = 23:30. Time to reboot the APs, in 24-hr time format.

Notes

MAC Addresses White List

• If a MAC address is already blocked in the controller, adding it to the white list file will '''NOT''' automatically grant its access. The admin needs to manually "unblock" the MAC from the controller.
• You can alse declare not filtered SSID network putting "IGNORED SSID" string into MAC filter file.

POOR_SIGNAL_RECONN

• If a client is right at the borderline, you might risk reconnecting that client all the time and not able to service it at all. Enabling this feature may harm serviceability.

SSID On/Off Scheduler

• To run this, the AP config should '''NOT''' have any WLANs that are overrode with custom configurations.
• When the scheduler turns on/off of the WLANs in the list, other WLANs (those not in the list) will drop for a short moment.

AP Periodic Reboot

• All selected APs will be reboot at the same time. There will be '''NO''' service during this time (~1 minute).
• This is controller asking APs to restart at the given time. The APs does '''NOT''' restart by itself.