UniFi “merge” second site to default

So, way back when in 2020 and I began my Unifi journey, I set up the network application with a site called “home”. After I had setup everything I went to delete the “default” site and found that this was impossible … or so I thought!

Since deploying the network application, I switched to a docker version, and most recently I have switched to the “new” Server OS. Each time, I duly backed up and restored the home site and just lived with having two sites to choose from.

6 years later, I am replacing my USG-Pro-4 with a UDM-SE. Needless to say, I wanted to consolidate the home in to the default site and simplify things. After further Googling of trying to perform this, I found an article on the Unifi community which in turn linked to Uniquiti Community Wiki.

This was a win, as it was exactly what I wanted to achieve. Make my second site the default and remove the default. But, remember when I mentioned the upgrade to Server OS, well, that complicated things a little bit.

Before starting make sure you take a complete backup of your UniFi Network Server. This involves editing the database directly with no “are you sure” checks.

With the new Server OS you can’t run the mongo commands directly from the CLI. So first thing I had to do was open the new shell

uosserver shell

This then allows you to run the commands as per the Wiki Page. So to connect to mongo and then use the correct database it’s

mongo --port 27117
use ace

from here, the remaining commands all worked. I was able to unset from the existing default site and set to the preferred site. Rebooted the server (after a few “exit” commands) and voila I was able to remove the default site. After removing the default site, I was able to rename the home site to match default with the following.

db.site.update({ _id: ObjectId("hex number 2") }, { $set: { name: "default", desc: "default"}})

One last reboot of the server and everything is reporting as default and when the UDM-SE arrives, I can perform a backup/restore to replace the USG-Pro-4 and the new server will have a single site to work from. I have also gone in to the settings/system page and unticked the “Multi-Site Management” option as certainly for now I do not have a need to manage multiple sites.

The USG-Pro-4 is no longer supported and receiving updates. It will also no longer be supported by the network application hence switching to the UDM-SE. I have looked at these for a while and I am excited to receive mine.

The UDM-SE arrived next day, as always a quick delivery from NetXL. Setup was simple, using the cloud backup/restore from the old network appliance to the new UDM-SE. It even removed the old USG-Pro-4 automatically and replaced it with the UDM-SE. Once physically switched out within the rack everything just worked. The US-8’s that I have dotted around the house now use PoE from the UDM meaning some plug sockets got freed up.

One thing I did notice after setting up the UDM was the introduction of Unifi Teleport. I have been looking at solutions like Cloudflare Zero Trust and Tailscale as ways to be connected to the network when out and about, however Teleport works really well, simple to set up and just requires the WifiMan Desktop app configuring on the laptop, along with similar setup on my mobile device. No more having to route everything via Traefik I can now just be connected wherever I am. It works well, especially for those interfaces not on Docker or using non 80/443 ports.