Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro

I upgraded from a USG and Cloudkey (Gen 1) to the UDM Pro...setup couldn't have been simpler. I backed up my network configuration file from the cloudkey, before plugging in the UDM Pro, and followed the instructions on its little display. By the time I had walked back to my PC, the Ubiquity extension I had previously installed in Chrome had already detected the new piece of hardware and was in the process of setting it up. I entered my internet login information, and downloaded the available updates. With my internet access restored, I uploaded the previously backed up config file from the old cloudkey to the UDM. The system rebooted and upon doing so all of my network equipment was recognised and accessible from is sleck interface.My only grumble is that with ... MoreI upgraded from a USG and Cloudkey (Gen 1) to the UDM Pro...setup couldn't have been simpler. I backed up my network configuration file from the cloudkey, before plugging in the UDM Pro, and followed the instructions on its little display. By the time I had walked back to my PC, the Ubiquity extension I had previously installed in Chrome had already detected the new piece of hardware and was in the process of setting it up. I entered my internet login information, and downloaded the available updates. With my internet access restored, I uploaded the previously backed up config file from the old cloudkey to the UDM. The system rebooted and upon doing so all of my network equipment was recognised and accessible from is sleck interface.My only grumble is that with the supplied power cable sticks out a good 2 inches from the rear of the unit, and as a result I am unable to fit it into the wall mounted rack that I have...Though this problem is easily solved by using a 90 degree 3 pin plug which I have had to buy seperately.The main reason that I chose to upgrade is that with a gigabit fibre connection I was unable to take full advantage of ubiquity's advanced security features found in their gateway devices, without sacrificing most of my internet speed doing so. With the UDM I am able to have the threat detection features enabled while enjoying the 900+Mbps that my fibre connection affords me.

Amazing!

When i tell this thing is amazing, it is amazing. I love the design and overall look of these second gen machines. All the settings and functionality is near perfect. My only complaint was when i first put the dream machine for some reason i was getting the half the speed which was very strange but a quick hard reset and everything looked good. I experienced this again by adding a 24 pro peo switch and aslo when i added my AP. VERY STRANGE. Im giving it a 4 out of 5. While its not perfect but it is amazing. It has its flaws that could be fixed by the development team.

An Excellent Product, But QC Can Be An Issue

Setup was easy and migrating from a standalone controller was a seamless experience. My Dream Machine Pro has been up and running for a month now without any major issues.I did experience a QC issue though: the latch that holds the door of the HDD bay door closed was non-functional on arrival, causing the door of the drive bay to hang open. I didn't bother with an RMA due to needing this running ASAP, and it doesn't affect the usability of the product, but it was still annoying and could've been easily caught in QC.Aside from that, I'm very happy with the Dream Machine Pro. It's a major improvment up from the USG it replaced in every way, and so far has been very reliable.

Decent Product

I ran the USG Pro for a couple of years and decided to upgrade to the UDM Pro. Set up was pretty easy. Its disappointing that an internet connection is required to set up but I created a local account and use that to manage the device. The interface has been revamped and while you can still access the old style interface the new one is pretty darn good looking. I admit it, I like having everything under a single pane of glass. All of the features that I've used are readily accessible and everything has worked well under both the old and new interface. I like having protect included in the unit itself and, as I'm sure others have pointed out, there seems to be plenty of room to support another hard drive if one needs it. That may come at the cost of thermal ... MoreI ran the USG Pro for a couple of years and decided to upgrade to the UDM Pro. Set up was pretty easy. Its disappointing that an internet connection is required to set up but I created a local account and use that to manage the device. The interface has been revamped and while you can still access the old style interface the new one is pretty darn good looking. I admit it, I like having everything under a single pane of glass. All of the features that I've used are readily accessible and everything has worked well under both the old and new interface. I like having protect included in the unit itself and, as I'm sure others have pointed out, there seems to be plenty of room to support another hard drive if one needs it. That may come at the cost of thermal management and make the unit much louder. Right now I can't hear it at all but adding a second hard drive will generate additional heat necessitating the use of a bigger or faster fan. I don't use the ports on the front so I don't know if they can be reconfigured but I do use the SFP+ port as the downlink to the rest of my network and it connected at 10Gb without a hitch. I also have not tried the DPI feature but I do use the internet threat management. It is pretty with many colorful entries but I'm not sure of its ultimate utility. I'm running double NAT'd behind a pfsense firewall running PFBlockerNG so I may be filtering a lot of the stuff the UDM Pro might catch. I'll have to experiment and see what happens if I connect it directly to my modem. The device seems to have power to spare. I've been able to configure multiple networks and the unit is pretty snappy, no lag or hang ups that I've experienced. I think if someone is looking for a unified management system for their network, this fits the bill. Unlike pfsense, I pretty much set this thing up and didn't pay attention to it again. The unifi segment of network has not had any crashes or other difficulties. Like previous unifi gear though, patience is a must as it seems a lot of time is spent waiting for the router and any associated switches to provision. Overall, I like the UDM Pro and do not regret making this purchase. There is rumor of a two HDD bay model coming out but like any other tech, if you need it, just get it and don't wait to see what the next great tech leap forward will be, You'll be waiting forever.

Good Speed, made for dummies only

if you don't know much about routers, this is a great product. If you are looking for an advanced router, this is not for you. the web interface is great, if you have ubiquity equipment, but is not so good if you use other equipment (access points, cameras, etc).I have used many routers from cisco, HP and netgear. Those routers are harder to use for a beginner, but provide functionality you cant get with this router, and you will be frustrated with the simplistic interface. There is very little diagnostics (almost none) and no documentation, however the web is mostly self explanatory.Pros:I am impressed with the speed of the routingIP region blocking (you have to go to the old interface, difficult to find)statistics on the main pagecamera recording (not ... Moreif you don't know much about routers, this is a great product. If you are looking for an advanced router, this is not for you. the web interface is great, if you have ubiquity equipment, but is not so good if you use other equipment (access points, cameras, etc).I have used many routers from cisco, HP and netgear. Those routers are harder to use for a beginner, but provide functionality you cant get with this router, and you will be frustrated with the simplistic interface. There is very little diagnostics (almost none) and no documentation, however the web is mostly self explanatory.Pros:I am impressed with the speed of the routingIP region blocking (you have to go to the old interface, difficult to find)statistics on the main pagecamera recording (not found on any other routers I have used, but requires ubiquiti equipment that is unavailable)Cons:you can't find the products you need. Cameras have been on backordered for over a year.basic capabilities for advanced users are non-existent or so hard to use they are worthless.call home - just bad... I blocked access from/to ui.com to kill it. Although cloud access sounds good, it is just low hanging fruit for hackers.Overall it is just OK. It appears that it has an SSH command line, but I generally don't use that type of interface.I would give it more stars if they provided a more advanced interface that actually works and remove the call home stuff. I could not even create a dual homed network without assigning a vlan, but I don't want that.

Great piece of equipment

Needed a USG and you can't get them right now, so I bought this. Very happy with it. About the same price as a USG, Cloud Key and switch purchased separately. Don't need the security aspect right now, so I put off buying a hard drive. Would be nice if the switch was powered, but otherwise great. Replaced 3 smaller boxes with 1 large box. Cleaner appearance. Hopefully it will last for years like the individual boxes tend to.

Karl's review of Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Machine Pro

Pros: It looks nice and it's basic specs look decent. Good connectivity options.Cons: The firmware is terribly buggy. The controller software is awful, requiring users to switch between old and new interface constantly because some functions are only available in one of them. It's very fragile, so really easy to "brick" it, requiring a factory reset. It's missing a whole lot of basic functionality that you can get from a £60 consumer router. For a router of this class, only to offer failover on the two WAN ports instead of also a load-balancing option is shameful. OK in the first weeks, but we're years in and many versions of the firmware. The log and analytic data isn't good enough, so it's hard to get anything meaningful. IDS and IPS is in place, but it's weak. ... MorePros: It looks nice and it's basic specs look decent. Good connectivity options.Cons: The firmware is terribly buggy. The controller software is awful, requiring users to switch between old and new interface constantly because some functions are only available in one of them. It's very fragile, so really easy to "brick" it, requiring a factory reset. It's missing a whole lot of basic functionality that you can get from a £60 consumer router. For a router of this class, only to offer failover on the two WAN ports instead of also a load-balancing option is shameful. OK in the first weeks, but we're years in and many versions of the firmware. The log and analytic data isn't good enough, so it's hard to get anything meaningful. IDS and IPS is in place, but it's weak. In fact, it doesn't even PREVENT in the IPS mode, but just tells users. So - a rogue device is identified, but kills the network.I really want to like this device, but it needs a whole lot of ground-up re-thinking about its firmware and feature sets. The support is just awful too, which doesn't help.

Love the features and throughput

The UDM Pro has great features set and covered most day to day usage, also suitable for most small to medium type of organisations. The throughput is also great, with my existing 100mbits plan, I have managed to squeeze average 102mbits instead of 90-92mbits of my outdated Cisco ASA with DPI enabled. If anyone using Unifi ecosystem devices, this will added more control to the network devices and security with full view of network layout and clients access. I would recommend this product for anyone love to have more visibility of their network traffic and usage, however some basic network/firewall is required initially to configure the device.

Simple but powerful

Setup was insanely simple and serves most home use purposes with no additional configuration. More complex setups are no problem either.My only complaint here is that there are no PoE ports on the Pro, but that's on me for not comparing the models better before purchase. In hindsight, I wish I would have spent the extra cash and gotten the Pro SE if for no other reason than removing some PoE injectors from my closet.No complaints whatsoever concerning the device itself. It's solid and well-built, stays cool, super quiet, and is an absolute beast for routing traffic across my home/office network.

Ubiquiti are excellent, invest in a whole as there are many software / setup advantages

Ubiquiti are excellent, invest in a whole as there are many software / setup advantagesI have a complete home setup with Ubiquiti and love it... but you need to be tech savy or willing to learn this is not a simply plug and play setup and configurations can at time be daunting. This unit is excellent for my setup with UDM pro and U6 wifi LR... I am happy I changed to Ubiquiti and love the extra that I now have such as video recording without expensive monthly fees.UDM has a defined IP expectation so read up first. if using a swisscom router / setup you need to change that default IP as the UDM pro setup expects 192.168.1.1, I setup my swisscom box to 192.168.0.1.You need also to educate yourself on Ubiquiti gateway setup so devices and access is as expected. ... MoreUbiquiti are excellent, invest in a whole as there are many software / setup advantagesI have a complete home setup with Ubiquiti and love it... but you need to be tech savy or willing to learn this is not a simply plug and play setup and configurations can at time be daunting. This unit is excellent for my setup with UDM pro and U6 wifi LR... I am happy I changed to Ubiquiti and love the extra that I now have such as video recording without expensive monthly fees.UDM has a defined IP expectation so read up first. if using a swisscom router / setup you need to change that default IP as the UDM pro setup expects 192.168.1.1, I setup my swisscom box to 192.168.0.1.You need also to educate yourself on Ubiquiti gateway setup so devices and access is as expected. Good new is this information is easily available - I would be wary if a novice.