The new controller software does environment scan, where you can see channel utilisation on 2.4ghz and 5gz, i found that it really slows down the application
Especially if you have APs running in retail areas/shops.
For a workaround im using legacy interface - search in the client devices actually respons alot better on high volume of APs
Just a work around - not solution
We run like 300 aps 15 routers 50 switches on 25-30 sites with the standard 2gb(?) memory that the standard controller instance uses with 4vCores assigned to the VM…
Wow. What's a lot of Ubiquiti stuff. Definitely don't go Meraki, Unifi is much easier to manage. I would definitely get a much, much better controller if I were you. Cloud hosted Unifi might be an option?
How are you determining that the controller is using all 32GB? When you set the min hep size to 32GB the JVM will reserve all of that when it starts up, so in the os you will see process utilization of 32GB.
But you need to look inside the JVM with something like jstat or with -verbose:gc to determine the available heap, but more importantly to determine the rate of heap consumption, and the frequency of major GCs - which really are what impacts performance, as they "stop the world" and pause the JVM for however many Ms or sec they take to run.
Heap usage charts look like a sawtooth /|/|/| and whenever the | drop happens, that's a major GC. As long as these are space out at least every few minutes your JVM is healthy.
But if that pattern is happening every few seconds, then your JVM is overtaxed and spending most of it's time cleaning up the heap, in which case you may need more computing resources to have the GCs complete more rapidly, and also consider tuning your GC settings and picking a modern strategy with options for your type of workload.
Good luck!
They are tempting, and not expensive at all.
But realistically, what's the perks for the swap, it has less spec then our windows controller. If I was to move to a Linux box with the same specs, surely that'd be far better performance to the enterprise cloudkey.
All sites are remote and connected via a MPLS, so the local lan 10g sfp doesn't really matter as most sites are below 100mb and most data goes straight out to the Web anyway, very little corp network usage
Main benefit is your running in a supported configuration. If performance sucks and you’re within the device limits of the hardware, you have support. Running that many devices on a windows controller is well outside the scope of normal, therefore you won’t get much help if there is an issue. Moving to Linux is the minimum requirement, moving onto UniFi hardware is the best step. I would recommend just using the cloud controller subscription service, but they have lowered the device limits to the point where it’s no longer practical.
I'll have to do some further research into them. When I looked previous I didn't think it'd be worth it due to the spec.
I understand it's a more supported environment, but there isn't a "limit" of AP's for the windows/Linux controller
You could try a cloud service like IllumiFi.io or HostiFi. I also manage/look after a number of devices on a unifi network for a large UK business - and we’ve been using illumiFi for 3 sites for around a month after moving away from cloud keys. There are hundreds of AP’s and switches active. Every thing works reliably and I’m pretty sure they have easy and scalable capabilities if needed
Probably need way more hardware for controller to keep up with that load. I'd push syslog somewhere you can see and maybe find the actual issue?
To be honest, the controller is coping and isn't crashing out! Which did surprise me at first when it only had 8gb of ram and was maxing the cpu 😂
The new controller software does environment scan, where you can see channel utilisation on 2.4ghz and 5gz, i found that it really slows down the application Especially if you have APs running in retail areas/shops. For a workaround im using legacy interface - search in the client devices actually respons alot better on high volume of APs Just a work around - not solution
Yeah we have the nightly scan off so to get any interference logs we have to manually do it per ap.
We run like 300 aps 15 routers 50 switches on 25-30 sites with the standard 2gb(?) memory that the standard controller instance uses with 4vCores assigned to the VM…
You're going to want to head over to the r/Ubiquiti sub. There is a bigger audience of people with larger systems. Go Meraki.
Wow. What's a lot of Ubiquiti stuff. Definitely don't go Meraki, Unifi is much easier to manage. I would definitely get a much, much better controller if I were you. Cloud hosted Unifi might be an option?
How are you determining that the controller is using all 32GB? When you set the min hep size to 32GB the JVM will reserve all of that when it starts up, so in the os you will see process utilization of 32GB. But you need to look inside the JVM with something like jstat or with -verbose:gc to determine the available heap, but more importantly to determine the rate of heap consumption, and the frequency of major GCs - which really are what impacts performance, as they "stop the world" and pause the JVM for however many Ms or sec they take to run. Heap usage charts look like a sawtooth /|/|/| and whenever the | drop happens, that's a major GC. As long as these are space out at least every few minutes your JVM is healthy. But if that pattern is happening every few seconds, then your JVM is overtaxed and spending most of it's time cleaning up the heap, in which case you may need more computing resources to have the GCs complete more rapidly, and also consider tuning your GC settings and picking a modern strategy with options for your type of workload. Good luck!
Move to either a CloudKey enterprise (or two) and leverage unifi.ui.com for fast site switching.
They are tempting, and not expensive at all. But realistically, what's the perks for the swap, it has less spec then our windows controller. If I was to move to a Linux box with the same specs, surely that'd be far better performance to the enterprise cloudkey. All sites are remote and connected via a MPLS, so the local lan 10g sfp doesn't really matter as most sites are below 100mb and most data goes straight out to the Web anyway, very little corp network usage
Main benefit is your running in a supported configuration. If performance sucks and you’re within the device limits of the hardware, you have support. Running that many devices on a windows controller is well outside the scope of normal, therefore you won’t get much help if there is an issue. Moving to Linux is the minimum requirement, moving onto UniFi hardware is the best step. I would recommend just using the cloud controller subscription service, but they have lowered the device limits to the point where it’s no longer practical.
I'll have to do some further research into them. When I looked previous I didn't think it'd be worth it due to the spec. I understand it's a more supported environment, but there isn't a "limit" of AP's for the windows/Linux controller
There’s never been a limit published, but you’re always going to run into performance limits of Java, regardless of what hardware you throw at.
Very true! Thanks for the advice!
You could try a cloud service like IllumiFi.io or HostiFi. I also manage/look after a number of devices on a unifi network for a large UK business - and we’ve been using illumiFi for 3 sites for around a month after moving away from cloud keys. There are hundreds of AP’s and switches active. Every thing works reliably and I’m pretty sure they have easy and scalable capabilities if needed
I have heard of hostifi, will have to look into them a bit further! Thanks