When you have an UniFi Security Gateway or UniFi Dream Machine (UDM, UDM Pro) you can create different VLANs on your network. Virtual LANs (VLANs), allow you to divide your physical network into virtual networks, offering isolation, security, and scalability.
Now you might think, do I really need VLANs? But when guests are connecting to your home network, you probably don’t want them to have access to all your network devices. And if you have a smart home, then creating a separate VLAN might be a good idea. Because the security of IoT devices is not always as it should be.
Table Of Contents
Setup UniFi VLANs
Step 1 – Create the UniFi VLAN Networks
Step 2 – Block traffic between VLANs
Step 3 – Block Access to Unifi Network Console from VLANs
Assign devices to VLANs in UniFi Network
Assign Port Profiles to Switch Ports
Assign VLAN to Wireless Devices
Creating Firewall Exceptions
Wrapping Up
So in this article, I will explain how to set up and secure VLANs in the UniFi Network Console.
Setup UniFi VLANs
Creating VLANs in UniFi exists out of a couple of steps because we not only have to create the different networks, but we also need to secure the VLANs. The “problem” with UniFi is that inter-VLAN traffic is allowed by default. So without any firewall rules, traffic from for example the guest VLAN can just access the main VLAN.
In this example, we will be creating 3 VLAN networks for:
Guests – VLAN 20
Cameras – VLAN 30
IoT devices – VLAN 40
The guest VLAN is a bit different from the other VLANs because UniFi will automatically create the necessary firewall rules for the guest network. All you have to do is mark the network as a guest network type.
So in the steps below, we will create the guest network, with the correct settings, but further on I will use the IoT VLAN as an example.
Step 1 – Create the UniFi VLAN Networks
The first step is to create the different networks for the VLANs. I have used custom VLAN IDs in the steps below, but you can also leave Auto Scale Network on. This way UniFi will automatically create the IP Range and VLAN ID.
Open your UniFi network console and navigate to:
Settings >Networks
Click on Create New Network
We are first going to create the guest network:
Enter Guests at the network name
Deselect Auto Scale Network
Set the host address to 192.168.20.1
Change Advanced Configuration to Manual
Change the VLAN ID to 20 so it matches the IP range
Set the network type to Guest Network
Change the content filtering to Family (optional)
Click Apply Changes
Next, we need to create the network for the Cameras and IoT devices. Click again on Create a new network, repeat the steps below for both Cameras and IoT, using VLAN 30 for cameras en 40 for IoT:
Network Name: IoT
Disable Auto Scale Network
Host Address: 192.168.40.1
Advanced Configuration: Manual
VLAN ID: 40
Network Type: Standard
Click Apply Changes (and repeat for cameras)
Step 2 – Block traffic between VLANs
With the networks and VLANs created we need to block the traffic between them. By default, devices in, for example the IoT VLAN, can access the device in your main VLAN. Guests however are already isolated by the automatically generated firewall rules by the Guest Network type.
Before we can block the inter-VLAN traffic, we first need to create 3 other rules:
Allow established and related connections
Drop invalid state connections
Allow the main VLAN to access all VLANs
Firewall rules are located in the settings under Firewall & Security:
We are first going to create the rule that allows all established and related sessions.
Type: LAN in
Description: Allow established and related sessions
Action: Accept
Source Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Any
Port Group: Any
Destination Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Any
Port Group: Any
Under Advanced: select Match State Established and Match State Related
Apply Changes
The second rule that we are going to create is to drop all invalid states:
Type: LAN in
Description: Drop invalid state
Action: Drop
Source Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Any
Port Group: Any
Destination Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Any
Port Group: Any
Under Advanced: select Match State Invalid
Apply Changes
And the third rule that we need to add is to allow traffic from our main VLAN to the other VLAN. This way we will be able to manage all the devices even if they are in IoT VLAN for example.
To create this rule we will first need to define an IP Group. Port/Ip Groups allow you to easily apply a rule to multiple port numbers or IP ranges. In this case, we want to match the IP ranges of all VLANs.
In the settings menu, click on Profiles
Scroll down and click Create New Group under Port and IP Groups
Profile name: All Private IPs
Type: IPv4 Address/Subnet
Address: 192.168.0.0/16 (this will match all addresses that start with 192.168.x.x)
Click Apply Changes
With the IP group created, go back to Firewall & Security and create the following rule:
Type: LAN in
Description: Allow main VLAN access to all VLAN
Action: Accept
Source Type: Network
Network: Default
Network Type: IPv4 Subnet
Destination Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: All Private IPs (the IP Group that we just created
Port Group: Any
We can now create the rule that will block traffic between the VLANs. The rules that we just created will ensure that we can still access the devices in the other VLANs from the main VLAN. For this rule, we are also going to use the IP Group that we created earlier.
Click on Create New Rule in Firewall & Security and add the following rule:
We now have separated the VLANs in our UniFi network, preventing unwanted inter-VLAN traffic.
Step 3 – Block Access to Unifi Network Console from VLANs
Devices in your VLAN will need to have access to your network console (UDM Pro for example). But what we don’t want is that users (guests or IoT devices) are able to access the interface of our UniFi network console.
What we also want to prevent is that devices from IoT can access the gateway of the main VLAN.
First, we need to create a couple of Port and IP Groups. Open the Profiles in the settings menu and click on Create New Group under Port and IP Groups. Create the following IP Groups:
Profile Name
Type
Address / Port
Block IoT to Gateways
IPv4 Address/Subnet
192.168.1.1 192.168.20.1 192.168.30.1
Block IoT Gateway Interface
IPv4 Address/Subnet
192.168.40.1
Block Cameras to Gateways
IPv4 Address/Subnet
192.168.1.1 192.168.20.1 192.168.40.1
Block Cameras Gateway interface
IPv4 Address/Subnet
192.168.30.1
The last Port Group that we need to create is to block only HTTP, HTTPS, and SSH access to the UniFi Network Console. The device will need to be able to access the gateway, but as mentioned, we don’t want to expose the console self.
Profile Name: http,https,ssh
Type: Port Group
Port: 80, 443, 22
Next, we are going to add the firewall rules. This time we will be using the type LAN Local
Type: LAN local
Description: Block IoT to Gateways
Action: Drop
Source Type: Network
Network: IoT
Destination Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Block IoT to Gateways
Port Group: Any
And the rule to block access to the UDM Console. Note that we will be using the Port Group http,https,ssh here that we created earlier!
Type: LAN local
Description: Block IoT to UDM Interface
Action: Drop
Source Type: Network
Network: IoT
Destination Type: Port/IP Group
IPv4 Address Group: Block IoT Gateway Interface
Port Group: http,https,ssh
Repeat the steps above but this time for the Cameras VLAN.
Assign devices to VLANs in UniFi Network
We have created all necessary rules to block inter-VLAN traffic, so all we need to do now is assign our devices to the correct VLAN in UniFi network. For wired devices, we can assign a network to the port on the switch. And for the wireless devices, we will need to create a separate SSID.
Assign Port Profiles to Switch Ports
The first step is to assign the correct Port Profiles to our switch ports. By default, the ports are assigned to the Port Profile All. This means that devices connected to this port can access all VLANs. This is only needed for the uplink port and connected access points.
In the UniFi Network console, open your Devices and select your switch. We are going to use the new Ports Insights feature because this will give us a good overview of the connected devices:
Select the tab Ports
Open Ports Insights
In this example, I have a camera connected to port 6 on the switch. We are going to change the profile of this port to Cameras.
Tip
By default, you can select and change multiple ports by just selecting them one after another. Mind this when you want to change another port.
Select the port with your camera
Change the Port Profile to Cameras
Reboot your Camera by Power Cycle the port
Click Apply Changes
Change the other ports as well, assign them to the main VLAN by selecting the Port Profile LAN or another appropriate Port Profile.
Make sure that you leave the Uplink port (recognized by the up arrow ^ ) and the access points port on the All profile.
Assign VLAN to Wireless Devices
If you have an UniFi doorbell, for example, you might also want to assign this device to the camera’s VLAN. The problem is that we can’t set a VLAN on the doorbell itself. The same problem occurs with a lot of IoT devices, on most you can’t configure a VLAN Id.
So the only option is to create a separate SSID (wireless network) for each VLAN and assign the wireless network to the correct VLAN.
Open Settings and select WiFi
Click on Create New WiFi network
Enter a name and password for the wireless network
Change network to the correct VLAN (cameras for example)
Click Add WiFi network
You can change the WiFi connection of your UniFi Doorbell in the Protect Console > Devices > Settings > WiFi Connection.
Creating Firewall Exceptions
Sometimes you need to allow access between specific devices in different VLANs. In these cases, we need to create an allow rule and place the rule above the Block VLAN to VLAN rule. Let’s take the following example, allowing IoT devices to access a Raspberry PI in the main VLAN.
When you create an allow rule, try to be as specific as possible. If it’s only between two devices, then use the IP Address of both devices. If you know the protocol, then specify the port number as well.
Create a new firewall rule:
Type: LAN In
Description: IoT to Raspberry Pi
Action: Allow
Source Type: Network
Network: IoT
Destination Type: IP Address
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.x
Next, we will need to move the rule above the Block VLAN to VLAN rule that we have created in the beginning. If you hover over an rule with your mouse, you can drag and drop rules using the 6 dots at the beginning of the rule:
In the Firewall Rules select LAN
Drag the new rule above the Block VLAN to VLAN (Rule index 2003)
Wrapping Up
VLANs allow you to secure your local network by making sure that devices from one VLAN can’t access the other. Because inter-VLAN access is by default allowed in UniFi, we will need to create quite an amount of rules before we can safely use it.
I hope this article helped you to set up UniFi Vlans. If you have any questions, just drop a comment below.
UniFi switches are mostly layer 2 only, meaning they can handle VLANs, but cannot act as a router. The only UniFi switches with L3 capability are the 2nd generation pro models, which support features like inter-VLAN routing, static routing, and can act as a DHCP Server.
Just head to Settings->Wireless Networks and hit the +Create New Wireless Network button. Give it a Name/SSID, enable the encryption you want and set a Security Key. Next, expand the Advanced Options section, and select Use VLAN. Put in the VLAN ID you defined for your network in 1.1.
A management virtual local area network (VLAN) is a much smaller network that is contained within your regular network. The primary benefit of using a management VLAN is improved network security.
I think of it like "vlan only" only creates the vlans on all unifi devices, while making a network will apply an ip address on the USG and (optionally) run a DHCP service on that network via the USG. This also allows you to configure routing for that network.
You can run the device without controller management software in between updates. But if the device loses its bearings (happens) and needs to be re-adopted, you need the controller for that.
If you need the switch to aggregate multiple access switches and do inter-VLAN routing, then a Layer 3 switch is needed. This is known as the distribution layer in the network topology.
VLAN-enabled ports are generally categorized in one of two ways, tagged or untagged. These may also be referred to as "trunk" or "access" respectively. The purpose of a tagged or "trunked" port is to pass traffic for multiple VLAN's, whereas an untagged or "access" port accepts traffic for only a single VLAN.
Private VLAN, also known as port isolation, is a technique in computer networking where a VLAN contains switch ports that are restricted such that they can only communicate with a given uplink. The restricted ports are called private ports. Each private VLAN typically contains many private ports, and a single uplink.
The Port Isolation is used to limit access between clients by placing them in the same isolated port group. If port 1 and port 4 are both configured as isolated ports, then the clients connected to these ports will not be able to communicate with each other.
Layer 2 Isolation prevents communication between wired and wireless. clients in the network. This enables every wireless or wired subscriber to be not able to. communicate to each other even they are within the same subnet.
In scenarios, where the customer wants the inter VLANs communication should be denied only for specific VLANs, we cannot disable the IP routing, as it will stop all the inter VLAN communication. We must write ACLs to deny the inter VLAN communication and apply it on the VLANs.
Native vlan - By default, it is also vlan 1 in a switch, but can be changed. Frames belonging to the native vlan are sent across the trunk link untagged. It's sole purpose is to provide back ward compatibility to the devices that doesn't understand frame tagging, as per 802.1q. Management vlan- for managing switches.
The default VLAN is always VLAN 1, and it can't be changed. By default, Native VLAN is VLAN 1, but it can be changed to any VLAN. Traffic will be sent when both Default and Native VLAN are the same.
A good security practice is to separate management and user data traffic. The management VLAN, which is VLAN 1 by default, should be changed to a separate, distinct VLAN.
A recommended security practice is to change the native VLAN to a different VLAN than VLAN 1.
If you are searching for how to configure VLANs on UniFi, please see our UniFi - Using VLANs with UniFi Wireless, Routing & Switching Hardware article. ... Tagging and Untagging Traffic
UniFi Teleport allows you to make a VPN connection to your home network with one click. It uses the WireGuard VPN protocol, which is commonly used by large VPN providers, like NordVPN or Surfshark. The difference compared to these VPN providers is that with teleport you create a VPN tunnel to your home network.
Type the VLAN ID provided by your ISP for the Internet VLAN ID. For example, DoDo NBN provides VLAN100 for Internet service, DoDo user should type 100 for Internet VLAN ID.
Router with Sub-Interfaces. Instead, there exists a way for multiple VLANs to terminate on a single router interface. That method is to create a Sub-Interface. A Sub-Interface allows a single Physical interface to be split up into multiple virtual sub-interfaces, each of which terminate their own VLAN.
1. Connect an Ethernet cable from your computer or host system to any port of UniFi Switch. 2. Connect Ethernet cables from the Ethernet ports of your devices to the other numbered ports of the UniFi Switch.
UniFi APs can run by themselves without the controller unless features like guest portal is enabled (as UniFi controller also functions as a captive portal). Restarting the controller won't restart your APs.
1. Connect the LAN port on the USG to a port on the first switch, then connect another port on the first switch to the second. 3. Connect the LAN port on the USG to the first switch, and then use copper SFP adapters to connect the two switches together and use the CAT6.
Look at the product code of the switch. If the switch ends with "EMI" then it's a Layer 3 switch. If it's "SMI" then it could be a layer 2 only switch. TO convert the appliance from Layer 2 to Layer 3, you need to have a hardware upgrade.
I answered them, Layer 2 VLAN is a single broadcast domain.It works on layer 2 (Datalink Layer).They can communicate only within it.And L3 VLAN is an Interface, that works on Network Layer.
Since VLANs exist in their own layer 3 subnet, routing will need to occur for traffic to flow in between VLANs. This is where a layer 3 switch can be utilized. A Layer 3 switch is basically a switch that can perform routing functions in addition to switching.
A wireless VLAN can also be used to group APs and stations into one IP subnet, independent of location. That way, when wireless stations roam between APs, they can renew the same IP, avoiding TCP session and VPN tunnel disruption.
You can get by without a managed switch only if all the devices for the VLANs can be configured for VLANs. Given your guest and IoT LANs, I'd say not. If you were, for example, setting up a guest WiFi and the AP was the only device that needed VLANs, then an unmanaged switch would be OK.
The main difference between LAN (Local Area Network) and VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) is that LAN work on single broadcast domain on the other hand VLAN works on multiple broadcast domain and In local are network, the Packet is advertised to each device while In virtual local area network, packet is send to ...
There are three methods of VLAN tagging that can be configured on ESXi/ESX: External Switch Tagging (EST)Virtual Switch Tagging (VST)Virtual Guest Tagging (VGT)
Untagged packet received on an untagged port: forward based on VLAN configured on the port. Tagged packet received on an untagged port: drop packet except the tag is the same as the VLAN configured on the port. Tagged packet received on a tagged port: forward based on the VLAN tag in the packet.
- A port can be tagged to multiple Vlans at the same time. - A port can't be tagged and untagged to the same Vlan. So if uplink between ProCurve and Cisco, the Native Vlan on Cisco should match the Default_Vlan on ProCurve (default to one).
On the CPE, enable Management VLAN and specify the VLAN ID.
On the Switch, create a VLAN with Management VLAN ID. Specify the port that is connected to the PC as untagged port and add it to the VLAN. Specify the port that is connected to the CPE as tagged port and add it to the VLAN.
The very first step is to create the new VLAN. In UniFi this is done by going to Settings -> Networks -> Local Networks. Then click on the Create New Local Network button in the bottom right of the page. Select the Create Advanced Network option.
If you are searching for how to configure VLANs on UniFi, please see our UniFi - Using VLANs with UniFi Wireless, Routing & Switching Hardware article. ... Tagging and Untagging Traffic
Native vlan - By default, it is also vlan 1 in a switch, but can be changed. Frames belonging to the native vlan are sent across the trunk link untagged. It's sole purpose is to provide back ward compatibility to the devices that doesn't understand frame tagging, as per 802.1q. Management vlan- for managing switches.
A good security practice is to separate management and user data traffic. The management VLAN, which is VLAN 1 by default, should be changed to a separate, distinct VLAN.
A recommended security practice is to change the native VLAN to a different VLAN than VLAN 1.
VLAN-enabled ports are generally categorized in one of two ways, tagged or untagged. These may also be referred to as "trunk" or "access" respectively. The purpose of a tagged or "trunked" port is to pass traffic for multiple VLAN's, whereas an untagged or "access" port accepts traffic for only a single VLAN.
A virtual local area network, or VLAN, is a group of logically connected devices with all the functionalities of a local area network (LAN). Unlike in a regular LAN, devices within a VLAN don't have to be physically connected or on the same network to function.
Compared to LANs, VLANs have the advantage of reducing network traffic and collisions, as well as being more cost effective. Moreover, a VLAN can also bring added security. When devices are separated into multiple VLANs—often by department—it's easier to prevent a compromised computer from infecting the entire network.
Type the VLAN ID provided by your ISP for the Internet VLAN ID. For example, DoDo NBN provides VLAN100 for Internet service, DoDo user should type 100 for Internet VLAN ID.
VLAN tagging is performed by the putting the VLAN ID into a header to identify which network it is present in. This helps in determining which interface or broadcast area the information packet needs to be sent to in order to receive the right information.
unmanaged switches will pass VLAN-tagged packets along, there will be no isolation between ports on that switch. Rather, since you don't need isolation in the unmanaged portion of the network, you're better off treating them as "untagged"/"access" ports, like you would any other machine directly connected to that port.
Introduction: My name is Geoffrey Lueilwitz, I am a zealous, encouraging, sparkling, enchanting, graceful, faithful, nice person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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