Christopher Juckins

These instructions were validated for unifi controller v5.7.23 being installed on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

• Start with clean install of Ubuntu 18.04 on Oracle VirtualBox v5.2.12.
• Install java 8 using websiteforstudents.com or tecadmin.net.
• If desired, install the firewall GUI administration tool from Software Center (apt install gnome-software)
• Review the Unifi ports to open
  • As of 14 July 2018, add TCP ports 8080, 8443 and UDP 3478 to public/permanent
  • Note: Enabling Cloud Access and accessing the controller via https://unifi.ubnt.com instead does not require opening 8443, and is safer since no direct Internet access is permitted to your controller's management.

$ sudo -s
$ cd /root
$ mkdir downloads

Download the latest controller software from ubnt.com. It will be named something like "unifi_sysvinit_all.deb":

apt-get install ./unifi_sysvinit_all.deb

Fix /usr/bin/mongod noted in community.ubnt.com:

$ cd /usr/bin
$ sudo -s
$ mv mongod mongod.bin

Replace mongod with the following:

#!/bin/bash
cleaned_args=$(echo $* | sed -e 's/--nohttpinterface//')
exec /usr/bin/mongod.bin ${cleaned_args}

Fix permissions:

$ chmod +x mongod

Restart services:

$ systemctl restart unifi
$ systemctl status unifi

If desired, cat /var/log/unifi/server.log and mongod.log to ensure no errors are reported.

Now you may use the VM or another machine to access the webpage on the virtual machine's IP (https://VM_IP_ADDRESS:8443/login)