Unifi UAP | Set Inform URL via CLI

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| How-To | Unifi, UAP

Interested in changing the inform URL of an Unifi remote site? We had this issue in the past and am sure we will see it again. Here we will walk you through the process, in hopes we can save you headaches and time.

What exactly is the unifi inform address

The Unifi Inform URL tells Unifi Devices where to look for configuration. This URL is set via the control and looks something similar to this http://FQDN:8080/inform or http://unifi:8080/inform our client's systems are typically using an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) because the majority of our sites are controlled by CloudControllers located off-site. The Inform URL is the connection point for adoption.


The Back Story

One of our clients (with admin access to their cloud controller) performed an accidental update to their inform Unifi address. Their controller is cloud-based and now posed an issue because they had lost connection to the controller. Before they started to manually re-adopt all of their devices (mainly AP's) they did decide to give us a call. Long story short, we set inform addresses remotely via SSH. Because the Unifi System can run without a controller constantly running in the background this issue did not affect our client's wireless network but naturally it would need to be fixed.


How to Set Inform Address on Unifi AP

ere is the process on how to set the "Inform URL" manually via SSH.

Log in to an AP

Open a terminal and login via SSH as shown below:

~$ ssh [user]@[IP Address of AP] -p 22
[user@[IP Address of AP] password: **************************


PRO TIP
Log in to the controller and record your username and password. This can be found by navigating to:
Settings -> Site DEVICE AUTHENTICATION (in the old settings menu) or
System Settings -> Controller Configuration Device SSH Authentication (in the new settings menu)
Additionally when you navigate to "devices" you can find the last know IP address of your AP's and make a list of the devices that would need to be changed.


UAP built-in Shell

Once you have logged in successfully you should find the Unifi Shell (Shown Below):

BusyBox v1.25.1 () built-in shell (ash)

  ___ ___      .__________.__
 |   |   |____ |__\_  ____/__|
 |   |   /    \|  ||  __) |  |   (c) 2010-2020
 |   |  |   |  \  ||  \   |  |   Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.
 |______|___|  /__||__/   |__|
            |_/                  https://www.ui.com/

      Welcome to UniFi UAP-AC-LR!

Unifi-AC-LR-BZ.v4.3.24#

What is your current Inform URL?

If you would need to find your current information about this AP you simply can type in the command info and it will return the following information:

Unifi-AC-LR-BZ.v4.3.24# info

Model:       UAP-AC-LR
Version:     4.3.24.11355
MAC Address: a0:b1:c2:d3:e4:f5
IP Address:  192.168.1.2
Hostname:    Unifi-AC-LR
Uptime:      1846615 seconds

Status:      Connected (http://FQDN:8080/inform)

As you can see in the section Status: Connected (https://FQDN:8080/inform). This means the AP has an active and connected Inform URL. If it states disconnected, it is blank, or the wrong inform address is listed in this section we are going to need to change it.

Is a Reset Required?

We only recommend a reset on the device when the device is performing poorly or has become unresponsive. From our experience, this is only used when abnormal behavior is detected and is typically isolated to a specific issue, with a specific AP.

To reset a device, simply run the command set-default, and in the circumstances that the device is non-responsive, you can also use sudo syswrapper.sh restore-default.

This will reset the device to factory settings and allow you to reconfigure the device.

CAUTION:
Do not disconnect the power cord or PoE Ethernet cable from the device during the reset process.

NOTE:
By performing this operation you will need to forget the device from your controller to re-adopt the AP back into the system.


Setting the Inform URL

To set the inform URL you will need to run the command: set-inform http://FQDN:8080/inform. Make sure to replace "http://FQDN:8080/inform" with your specific inform URL.

When done correctly the output will state the following:


UnifiAC-LRBaseStation-BZ.v4.3.24# set-inform http://FQDN:8080/inform

Adoption request sent to 'http://FQDN:8080/inform'.  Use the controller to complete the adopt process.

From this point, you can now move to your controller dashboard "devices" and finish the adoption process. If a reset was not required then you will simply see the From this point, you can now move to your controller dashboard "devices" and finish the adoption process. If a reset was not required then you will simply see the "disconnected" device start to provision and eventually connect. device start to provision and eventually connect.

Limitations

This process of course has its limitations:

  • If you have no access to the remote site (VPN, Remote Desktop, etc.) connecting via SSH will not be possible therefore these actions cannot take place.
  • If you cannot locate the device's IP addresses (easily resolved with software like Angry IP Scanner or Advanced IP Scanner).

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