Setting Up a UniFi NOC Dashboard

A NOC dashboard is essential for monitoring and managing your UniFi network in real-time. It provides a centralized view of your network's health, performance, and activity, allowing you to quickly identify and resolve issues.

Lets walk through setting up a UniFi NOC dashboard, exploring its key features, and discussing how it can improve your network management.

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🚨 Before we get to the NOC dashboard part, just a quick note: If you manage client networks on a self-hosted UniFi controller. Please stop. Sooner or later this will cause issues! It's fine for home users, but definitely not recommended for businesses. We've built a secure and reliable UniFi hosting solution that takes the hassle out of managing controllers. You can try it for free.

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Table of Contents

• Why a NOC dashboard matters
• Setting up the UniFi NOC dashboard
  • Access the UniFi Controller
  • Navigate to the 'Dashboard' section
  • Key features of the UniFi NOC dashboard
    • Network Health
    • Traffic Analysis
    • Performance Metrics
    • Device Management
    • Client Management
• Customizing your NOC dashboard
• Integrating third-party tools
• Final Thoughts

Why a NOC dashboard matters

A NOC dashboard offers several critical benefits:

• Real-time monitoring: Provides immediate visibility into network status and performance.
• Proactive management: Allows for the early detection of potential issues before they impact users.
• Centralized control: Offers a single interface to manage and monitor multiple UniFi devices and sites.
• Enhanced reporting: Delivers detailed insights into network usage and performance metrics.

Setting up the UniFi NOC dashboard

To set up your UniFi NOC dashboard, follow these steps:

Access the UniFi Controller

Log in to your UniFi Controller via your web browser. The Controller’s dashboard will provide an overview of your network, including connected devices, network traffic, and client statistics.

Navigate to the 'Dashboard' section

In the UniFi Controller dashboard, click on the "Dashboard" tab. This section is designed to offer a comprehensive overview of your network's status and performance.

Key features of the UniFi NOC dashboard

The UniFi NOC dashboard is packed with features to help you monitor and manage your network effectively. Here are some of the key components:

Network Health

The Network Health section provides a quick snapshot of the overall health of your network, including:

• Device status: Displays the status of all connected UniFi devices (APs, switches, gateways) and alerts you to any offline or malfunctioning devices.
• Client count: Shows the number of connected clients and their status (active, idle, blocked).
• Alerts and notifications: Highlights critical alerts and notifications that require your attention.

Traffic Analysis

The Traffic Analysis section provides detailed insights into network traffic, including:

• Total traffic: Displays total data usage across your network, broken down by upload and download.
• Top clients: Lists the top clients by data usage, helping you identify bandwidth-heavy users.
• Application breakdown: Shows which applications or services are consuming the most bandwidth.

Performance Metrics

The Performance Metrics section offers real-time data on key performance indicators, such as:

• Latency: Measures the round-trip time for data packets across your network.
• Throughput: Displays the data transfer rate for your network.
• Uptime: Tracks the uptime of your UniFi devices to ensure reliability.

Device Management

The Device Management section allows you to:

• Monitor device status: View detailed information about each UniFi device, including firmware version, IP address, and uptime.
• Perform remote actions: Reboot devices, upgrade firmware, and configure settings remotely.

Client Management

The Client Management section helps you manage and monitor connected clients:

• View client details: Access detailed information about each connected client, including MAC address, IP address, connection type, and data usage.
• Manage client access: Block or unblock clients, assign VLANs, and view connection history.

Customizing your NOC dashboard

The UniFi NOC dashboard is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your specific needs:

1. Widgets: Add or remove widgets to display the most relevant information for your network.
2. Layouts: Arrange widgets in a layout that makes the most sense for your workflow.
3. Filters: Use filters to focus on specific devices, clients, or metrics.

Integrating third-party tools

For advanced monitoring and automation, you can integrate third-party tools with your UniFi NOC dashboard. Popular integrations include:

• Grafana: Use Grafana to create custom dashboards with data from the UniFi API.
• Prometheus: Collect and analyze network metrics using Prometheus.
• Zabbix: Set up advanced monitoring and alerting with Zabbix.

Final Thoughts

Setting up a UniFi NOC dashboard is a handy tool for network administrators, providing real-time insights and centralized control over your UniFi network. Using dashboard’s powerful features and customization options, you can enhance your network management and ensure optimal performance.

If you need further assistance with setting this up or prefer a managed solution, we at UniHosted specialize in hosting and managing UniFi Controllers, making network management straightforward and efficient.

If you would like me to personally walk you through UniHosted, you can schedule a call with me here.