Introduction

I recently had to prepare replacing an aging Aruba Wi-FI deployment with an effective, more capable and budget friendly solution. It needed to offer both corporate (Radius Server) and guest Wi-Fi access for modern workplace needs.

We selected Ubiquiti equipment to comply with the requirements. Apart from the WAPs all gear goes into server & network racks. The controller had to be implemented on-premises (self-managed, not via a service provider). As they have a modern Hyper-V environment we opted to deploy the controller on a Windows 2019 virtual machine. By the time the solution is deployed that will have become generally available. A Cloud Key appliance or Raspberry PI was less interesting in this environment that had professional racks in available in dedicated server & network rooms.

OK, you can use Windows Server 2016 or Windows Server 2012 R2 as well. Note that I don’t like using a client OS for an infrastructure role. I would also not use older server versions because I like longevity in support. I dislike solutions that are out of support a week after I deployed it. The big take away here is that you want to tweak the standard deployment of the controller a bit.

Change the install so it is not tied to a user profile
Run the controller as a service rather than an app you need to start manually or add to auto start.
Configure a certificate for a decent user experience with the UniFi dashboard

Below are my lab notes as reference to myself and my readers in regards to running the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller as a service on Windows Server 2019.

Installation

For some reason the installer dumps all the files in the user profile of the person running the installer. Which is easy in terms of permissions. But people leave and profiles get deleted. Multiple people need to manage systems so having it tied to an individual isn’t that great.

For a UniFi install is first install java (x64) and a x64 bit browser. Chrome & Firefox are support, others may be as well or just work. The controller runs on Java so that’s a no brainer you need it. You don’t need a browser on the virtual machine per se, but it acts as a console access to the controller via the VM in case of network issues. Having multiple options is good. If you don’t need that, Windows Core will do.

Step by Step

1. Install the controller with the UniFi-installer.exe installer. It will put the installation under C:\Users\USERNAME\Ubiquiti UniFi
2. To move the UniFi controller app you copy the entire folder to the desired location. That could be C:\Program Files or C:\ProgramData. You can even create your own root folder if you don’t want any admin permission to be needed for the folder. For this demo I used C:\ProgramData\Ubiquiti UniFi.
3. I create a shortcut https://unifi.workinghardinit.work:8443 and change the Icon to one I created for this purpose.

4. I then also change the “Target” path to “C:\ProgramData\Ubiquiti UniFi\lib\ace.jar” ui and “Start in” path to “C:\ProgramData\Ubiquiti UniFi”path. That way that short cut points to the right location. However, I want my controller to run as a service so we won’t be using that shortcut too much.

Anyway, we have a clean nice setup right now to continue with. Please note you do not need to install a browser on the server itself. This was done to give people a virtual machine console access option in case they have network issue. If don’t want that you can use Windows Server Core

Running as a service

Since we want the controller to always run and behave like a service, we just have some extra work to do. This is documented here: https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/205144550-UniFi-Run-the-Controller-as-a-Windows-service I just adapted this to my path.

1. Close any instances of the UniFi software on the computer. If you just installed the UniFi controller, make sure to open it once by using the icon on the desktop or within the start menu. Once it says “UniFi Controller (a.b.c) started.” you can close the controller program. This is needed to generate some required files for the service to work.
2. Open the command prompt as an Administrator. For example, on Windows 10, right click on the Start Menu and choose “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
3. Change directory to the location of UniFi in your computer using the following command (exactly as it is here, no substituting needed): cd “C:\ProgramData\Ubiquiti UniFi\”
4. Once in the root of the UniFi folder, issue the following (this installs the UniFi Controller service): java -jar lib\ace.jar installsvc
5. Once you’re at a new command prompt line, after it says “Complete Installation…”, issue the following: java -jar lib\ace.jar startsvc

Installing a proper certificate

After entering the FQDN A record or CNAME to your DNS infra you will still get a security warning as we haven’t installed a proper certificate yet.

Let’s fix this unprofessional looking fist view of your controller web application! We’ll use a recent cert from either a corporate or public PKI. Take your pick, there are free ones out there if you need that.

I’m using a wild card certificate and will show you how to implement it with the Unifi controller. The trick is to replace default Keystore with a custom one in which you added your certificate. There is are nice tools for that and the exact method will vary a bit. This is what I did. Note that you can do this on your workstation, no need o do all this on your server with the UniFi Controller. Keep that tidy.

Make sure you have your cert available (exported) as a pfx file.

The Windows application method

Download KeyStore Explorer (http://keystore-explorer.org/downloads.html) and install in on your PC, the default settings are just fine.

Have your certificate exported as pfx file with private key and the option “Include all certificates in the certification path if possible”.

Run KeyStore Explorer and under tools select “Import Key Pair”

As type select PKCS #12

Browse to your pfx cert you created, fill out the correct password and click “Import”

I’m happy with my default alias of * as I have a wild card cert. You should use unifi.domain.ext if you don’t have a wild card to be clear.

Enter the new Key Pair password, again I use “aircontrolenterprise”

Click OK and your see that your import was successful. Click OK.

Now select your keypair and under the File menu select “Save As”

For the password, again, use aircontrolenterprise, click OK and fill out keystore for the file name.

Click save, your done here.

I actually delete the imported key pair form KeyStore Explorer and also shift delete the export pfx. It’s better not to have these sorts of files lingering around on your workstation even when using bitlocker. You must have a cert management process.

The results of your work

Now on your controller VM navigate to your data path, in my case it’s C:\ProgramData\Ubiquiti UniFi\data. Rename the original keystore file to keystor.ori and past the one you created in this folder.

You then need to restart the UniFi Controller service, either in the GUI or via the command prompt.

Give the controller 10 second to get going properly and click your UniFi Dashboard shortcut to browse to the application. And now, as you can see, below we have a much better user experience. This is actually the logon screen after you’ve run through the initial install wizard when you first launch the application.

We now have a well-behaved web application to securely access the UniFi controller and manage the Wi-Fi setup.jjj

The native java tools method

If you want you can use native Java tools to do the same as with the KeyStore Explorer app replace those steps above by the one below.

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_181\bin>Keytool.exe -list -keystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\exported_wildcard_workinghardinit_work.pfx -storetype pkcs12 which prompts for your password and outputs:

Enter keystore password:
Keystore type: PKCS12
Keystore provider: SunJSSE

Your keystore contains 1 entry

1524853e062d1785ac5ebedb44a61065, Aug 30, 2018, PrivateKeyEntry,
Certificate fingerprint (SHA1): 7A:82:FC:6E:2D:4D:79:F2:43:7A:FE:57:48:BE:13:FB:C4:AF:ED:71

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_181\bin>keytool -importkeystore -srcstoretype pkcs12 -srcalias 1524853e062d1785ac5ebedb44a61065 -srckeystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\exported_wildcard_workinghardinit_work.pfx -keystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\keystore -destalias *.workinghardinit.work

Importing keystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\exported_wildcard_workinghardinit_work.pfx to C:\SysAdmin\Certs\keystore…

Enter destination keystore password: aircontrolenterprise
Re-enter new password: aircontrolenterprise
Enter source keystore password: aircontrolenterprise => the password use to protect the pfx exported, can be anything

Warning:
The JKS keystore uses a proprietary format. It is recommended to migrate to PKCS12 which is an industry standard format using “keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\keystore -destkeystore C:\SysAdmin\Certs\keystore -deststoretype pkcs12”.

Conclusion

Ubiquiti delivers value for money Wi-fi solutions. The gear is good and affordable with manageability options that serve the majority of needs for the SME. It perfect for the more demanding SOHO environment.

Ubiquiti offers flexibility but also requires some “tweaking” to get just right. This goes for both the software installation (fixing some default installation choices and installing a certificate) as well as some of the hardware (installing less loud fans) shortcomings.

For many people a virtual machine with Windows is something they already have the infrastructure for. It fist perfectly into their existing operational processes. A virtual machine also fits well into many customers their existing backup and restore scenarios. A virtual machine can also easily be “checkpointed” to revert to a known good situation. This is an extra benefit in case something goes wrong during an upgrade or update wrong. This combined with the Auto Backup Configuration of the UniFi controller cover most bases for quick recovery. Not too many people can restore their raspberry PI or appliance that fast.

We chose to use Windows Server 2019 in this demo as we wanted to future proof the deployment . So we want to deliver the controller on an OS that will serve them well for many years to come.

To recap, first I showed you how to improve on the default installation. We than made the UniFi controller runs as a service. Finally I configured an SSL certficate for the controller app. I hope you liked it and that it helps you out.

Some days you walk into environments were legacy services that have been left running for 10 years as:

They do what they need to do
No one dares touch it
Have been forgotten, yet they provide a much used service

Recently I had the honor of migrating IAS that was still running on Windows Server 2003 R2 x86, which was still there for reason 1. Fair enough but with W2K3 going it’s high time to replace it. The good news was it had already been virtualized (P2V) and is running on Hyper-V.

Since Windows 2008 the RADIUS service is provided by Network Policy Server (NPS) role. Note that they do not use SQL for logging.

Now in W2K3 there is no export/import functionality for the configuration in IAS. So are we stuck? Well no, a tool has been provided!

Install a brand new virtual machine with W2K12R2 and update it. Navigate to C:WindowsSysWOW64 folder and grab a copy of IasMigReader.exe.

Place IasMigReader.exe in the C:WindowsSystem32 path on the source W2K3 IAS server as that’s configured in the %path% environment variable and it will be available anywhere from the command prompt.

Open a elevated command prompt
Run IasMigReader.exe

Copy the resulting ias.txt file from the C:WindowsSystem32IASfolder. Please keep this file secure it contains password. TIP: As a side effect you can migrate your RADIUS even if no one remembers the shared secrets and you now have them again

Note: The good news is that in W2K12 (R2) the problem with IasMigReader.exe generating a bad parameter in ias.txt is fixed ((The EAP method is configured incorrectly during the migration process from a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 R2). So no need to mess around in there.

Copy the ias.tx file to a folder on your target NPS server & run the following command from an elevated prompt:

netsh nps import <path>ias.txt

Open the NPS MMC and check if this went well, normally you’ll have all your settings there.

Important: Don’t forget to register the NPS Server in Active Directory, or things won’t work . See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754878.aspx:

When Network Policy Server (NPS) is a member of an Active Directory® Domain Services (AD DS) domain, NPS performs authentication by comparing user credentials that it receives from network access servers with the credentials that are stored for the user account in AD DS. In addition, NPS authorizes connection requests by using network policy and by checking user account dial-in properties in AD DS.

For NPS to have permission to access user account credentials and dial-in properties in AD DS, the server running NPS must be registered in AD DS.

Membership in Domain Admins , or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure.

All that’s left to do now is pointing the WAPs (or switches & other RADIUS Clients) to the new radius servers. On decent WAPs this is easy as either one of them acts as a controller or you have a dedicated controller device in place.
TIP: Most decent WAPS & switches will allow for 2 Radius servers to be configured. So if you want you can repeat this to create a second NPS server with the option of load balancing. This provides redundancy & load balancing very easily. Only in larger environments multiple NPS proxies pointing to a number of NPS servers make sense.Here’s a DELL PowerConnect W-AP105 (Aruba) example of this.

Working Hard In IT

My view on IT from the trenches

Category Archives: Wireless

Running the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller as a service