Moving From a Cloud Key, Dream Machine or Cloud Gateway

You can move your UniFi network from a Cloud Key, a Dream Machine or a UniFi Cloud Gateway to a hosted UniFi OS Server console. You download a Network backup from the old console, restore it on the new one, then point your devices at the new address. A Cloud Key can be retired afterwards. A Dream Machine or Cloud Gateway is also your router, so decide first whether it stays as your router or is replaced.

Which devices this covers

• Cloud Keys: Cloud Key Gen2 and Gen2 Plus.
• Dream Machines: UDM, UDM Pro, UDM SE, UDM Pro Max and the Dream Routers.
• Cloud Gateways: UCG Ultra, UCG Max, UCG Fiber and UCG Industrial, and the Enterprise Fortress Gateway.

They all run UniFi OS, so the steps are the same for each. On this page, "gateway" means any Dream Machine or Cloud Gateway.

What moves and what does not

Moves with the backup: your sites, networks and VLANs, WiFi, firewall rules and device settings.

Does not move:

• Admin accounts. On these consoles, admins belong to UniFi OS rather than to the Network backup. Invite them again on the new console; see Users and roles.
• Protect, Access and Talk. They need Ubiquiti hardware and do not run on a hosted console. A Cloud Key can stay on your network to keep running them after its devices have moved, and so can a gateway you keep as your router.
• The gateway itself. See the next section.

Dream Machines and Cloud Gateways: decide what happens to the gateway

Every Dream Machine and Cloud Gateway runs its own Network application, and none of them can be managed by another console, hosted or self-hosted. That is how Ubiquiti designed them, not a hosting limit. Your access points and switches can move; the gateway cannot. There are two ways to handle it.

Keep it as your router. The gateway carries on routing on its own console, and your access points and switches move to the hosted console. WAN, routing and firewall changes are made on the gateway; WiFi, switch ports and everything else on the hosted console. A new VLAN has to be created in both places. Our nightly backups cover the hosted console, not the gateway, so keep System Backups ticked under Settings > Control Plane > Backups on the gateway. This suits a site where the gateway also records cameras with Protect, or where you want to leave routing untouched.

Replace it with a UXG gateway. Ubiquiti's UXG gateways have no built-in controller, so the hosted console adopts them like any other device and the whole network is managed in one place. This suits you if the reason for moving is to manage every site from one console. Move your access points and switches first while the old gateway still routes, then swap in the UXG and adopt it: see Adopting UniFi UXG Lite, Pro and Max. Its networks and firewall rules come from the configuration you restored, but its ports are not the old gateway's ports, so check the WAN and port settings once it is adopted.

UniFi Express is a Cloud Gateway too, but it can also run as an access point under another console. Adopting it into a hosted console that way takes extra steps, so contact us if you want to keep one as an access point.

Before you start

• Set up your hosted console. Run the setup wizard and sign in with your Ubiquiti account, ideally the one that owns the old console. Do not restore a backup in the wizard; that comes afterwards. See Getting Started with UniFi OS Server.
• Compare versions. The hosted console's Network version must be the same as the old console's or newer. Both show it under Settings > Control Plane > Updates. If the old console is newer, update the hosted console from that page first, or ask us to.
• Copy the device SSH credentials. On the old console, open Devices, click Device Updates & Settings at the bottom of the left panel and expand Device SSH Settings. Note the username and password: you need them if a device has to be pointed at the new console by hand.
• Update device firmware on the old console before the move, not after something breaks.
• Already managing other sites on your hosted console? A restore replaces everything in the Network application, including those sites. From a Cloud Key, move each site with Site Export instead. Dream Machines and Cloud Gateways have no Site Export, so contact us and we will plan the move with you.

Step 1: Download a Network backup

On the Cloud Key, Dream Machine or Cloud Gateway:

1. Sign in as the console owner: only the owner can download backups.
2. Open Settings > Control Plane > Backups and click Download.
3. Untick Backup for All Applications and Settings, select the Network icon and click Download. You get a .unf file.

Use the Network backup, not the full system backup. The full one also carries the old console's own settings and sign-ins, which do not belong on a hosted console.

Step 2: Restore it on your hosted console

1. Sign in to your hosted console as the owner and open Settings > Control Plane > Backups.
2. Click Upload & Restore, choose the .unf file and confirm.
3. Wait a few minutes while the Network application restarts with your configuration.

Your sites and settings are now on the hosted console. Your devices are listed but offline, because they are still reporting to the old console.

Step 3: Check the inform host on the hosted console

The backup brings the old console's device settings with it, including the address devices are told to report to. Before you move any devices:

1. On the hosted console, open Devices, click Device Updates & Settings and expand Device SSH Settings.
2. Make sure Inform Host Override is ticked and holds your console address, for example yourname.netconsole.cloud, or your own domain if you use one. Click Apply Changes.

Step 4: Point your devices at the hosted console

On the old console:

1. Open Devices, click Device Updates & Settings and expand Device SSH Settings.
2. Tick Inform Host Override, enter your hosted console address, for example yourname.netconsole.cloud, and click Apply Changes.

Devices start reporting to the hosted console within a few minutes, and some restart as they move. Leave the old console powered on and connected until they are all online on the hosted console.

If your devices report to a domain name you control, which is common for a Cloud Key managing remote sites, you can point that name at the hosted console instead. See Using your own domain.

If a device stays offline, SSH to it with the credentials you copied and run:

set-inform http://yourname.netconsole.cloud:8080/inform

Devices offline after moving covers the other causes.

Step 5: Check, then retire the old console

• Count the devices. Every device that was online on the old console should be online on the hosted console within the hour. Devices that were already offline stay offline.
• Forget the moved devices on the old console, but only once each one shows as online on the hosted console.
• The old gateway on the hosted console. If your Dream Machine or Cloud Gateway appears in the hosted console's device list, forget it there. It can never connect to a hosted console, and offline devices still count toward your plan.
• The Cloud Key. Power it off, or keep it for Protect, Access or Talk.
• Guest hotspot. If you use one, set the Domain in the hotspot settings to your console address. See Setting up a hotspot.
• Remote Access. If you signed in to the hosted console with your Ubiquiti account, it appears in Site Manager next to your other consoles. See Remote Access.

Want us to look first?

If you have several sites on the old console, remote sites, or a gateway swap planned, tell us before you start, by email at [email protected] or through the chat in the customer portal. We will go through it with you first.

Related:

UniFi, UniFi OS, Cloud Key, Dream Machine and Cloud Gateway are trademarks of Ubiquiti Inc. Cloud UniFi is an independent hosting provider and is not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by Ubiquiti Inc.