OpenWrt
Excellent guide to "flashing" Access Point to get OpenWrt Installed and Configured: https://openwrt.org/toh/ubiquiti/unifiac#non-invasive_method_using_dd. - This is for the Unifi AP AC Pro.
This will cause the AP to no longer be on the Unifi Network Controller and not have an associated IP Address to the same network! - (This was prior to reconnecting it a few days later and having it be on the internal.leahycenter network again).
Connected Laptop using Ethernet, used spare Amazon Basic USB to Ethernet Adapter and connected the Laptop and Access Point Directly. Then had the Access point connected to the PoE Injector and set on the same LAN as the Laptop.
From there, I was able to connect to the OpenWrt page using http://192.168.1.1/cgi-bin/luci. The root credentials were root and a blank password, switched those once logged in and was able to configure to mess around with the Wifi Settings. I reset up my Access Point by Going over to Network>Wireless. Removed a couple of the other OpenWrt Networks. And setup a new ESSID named Capstone Wifi with these configs:
Network: lan being the lan connection for the Access Point. IMPORTANT SO DEVICES CAN ACTUALLY CONNECT TO THE ACCESS POINT!!!!!!
Save and then make sure to Save & Apply afterwards for changes to take effect!!!!
This shows a main overview of devices/networks configured on the OpenWrt Service.
This shows the main Network Device's CPU, Memory, and Storage Utilization.
Next is the Networks and Active DHCP Leases. This is where the Networks that are configured Wired and DHCP Addresses are shown on the Network.
Wireless shows any active Wireless Networks/Connections being made.
This sets the router's password, SSH Access, and SSH Keys.
This let's you configure different interfaces that the OpenWrt Server will detect. Similar to a virtual network controller/switch from VMWare. You can set different network addresses and where the Interfaces are coming/going.
This is the main page I used for configuring the APs on the OpenWrt server. This allowed for some interesting settings that I don't recall on the Unifi network controller such as randomly generating MAC Addresses, MAC Address Filtering, forcing network channel wavelengths, 802.11w customization, and defense against EAPOL-Key Reinstallation Attacks as an option. There was also a lot more options to Encryption methods compared to Unifi Network Controller.
The main failings I've had with OpenWrt is network/wireless configuration. I attempted to use OpenWrt on the Unifi UAP-LR I had with Wifi 4, but since the AP only had one Ethernet Port, this caused some issues. While I successfully installed OpenWrt on the device and could connect to it via the Laptop to manage it in the luci page, I couldn't actually connect out to the Internet when it was connected via Wifi. I tried remediating this by connect to the internal.leahycenter network via LAN on my Laptop, though it required a lot of setup/configuration and I was unsuccessful in getting it out to the Internet. Though I may come back to this sometime to fix it and get it out to the Internet for Wifi 4.
There is also the previously stated Wifi 6, which the chipset on the Unifi U6 Pro AP is not supported by OpenWrt. This meant that I had to find another way to Optimize the Wifi Connections. Though I was unsuccessful in finding a suitable Wifi Optimization software/OS in time.
- They both have pretty similar settings with Wireless, Wired, Interface, VLANs, Routing, and other network configurations.
- Both have accessibility with backups/recovery in case something borks on a router/access point.
- Unifi is easier to use with the proprietary hardware given. While OpenWrt is a little more difficult to setup, though this may be due to my inexperience with OpenWrt.
- OpenWrt has more options/settings that is opened up compared to the Unifi Network Controller. (I.e Firewall settings, VLANs, Encryption Methods, Logging Server.)