UniFi

The UniFi Dream Machine Beast arrives as a more serious entry in the Dream Machine range, and that immediately raises the main question: who is it actually for? Existing UniFi users may look at it as a possible upgrade from a UDM Pro, UDM SE, or UDM Pro Max, while new buyers may see it as a way to start with a more capable console from day 1. On paper, it is clearly built for larger and busier networks, but that does not automatically make it the right choice for every UniFi setup. Whether the Dream Machine Beast makes sense depends less on the headline specification and more on the network ar

If you think the best Wi-Fi router to get today is one that supports Wi-Fi 7, you’d be both predictable and wrong. Believe it or not, the best Wi-Fi router to get is a non-Wi-Fi router. The latest Wi-Fi standard is excellent, but keep in mind that Wi-Fi 8 is now on the horizon. So, in a year or so, Wi-Fi 7 will no longer be the “best”. To avoid this type of “forced” obsolescence, it’s best to get a standard non-Wi-Fi router, yes, a router without Wi-Fi. Top 5 best non-Wi-Fi Routers NameUbiquiti Cloud Gateway Fiber (UCG-Fiber)’s RatingUbiquiti UniFi Cloud Gateway Max (UCG-Max)’s RatingUbiquit

To keep it simple, port forwarding allows you to expose a service on your local network to external networks. A port forwarding rule creates a mapping from a device on your local network to the external world. This can be used for just about everything related to remote access. Generally, it’s best practice to access your local resources by using a VPN server like WireGuard, OpenVPN, L2TP, or even Teleport (a UniFi-specific service). This forces users to authenticate before access to the service is granted. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work (from a usage perspective), and there are times

I currently run a full UniFi network and currently own and have tested every one of the devices in this article, including the UDM Pro Max, Cloud Gateway Fiber, Cloud Gateway Max, Dream Router 7, and UniFi Express 7. I even just got the UDM Beast in for testing/review, but most likely won’t add it to this list as it’s designed more for the SMB/Enterprise space. I also used pfSense on a Netgate 6100 for over three years, so I’m not coming at this from the perspective that UniFi is the only good firewall platform. It isn’t. pfSense and OPNsense are still better if you want maximum firewall custo