UniFi¶

I have a UniFi network setup with the following devices.

Devices¶

Name	Model	Type	IP	MAC	Status
Switch	US24P250	usw	192.168.1.164	f0:9f:c2:0b:39:ad	online
Family Room Switch	USMINI	usw	192.168.1.79	74:83:c2:08:6a:b0	online
Living Room Switch	USMINI	usw	192.168.1.233	74:83:c2:0c:49:bf	online
Family Room AP	UAL6	uap	192.168.1.24	24:5a:4c:1a:aa:dc	online
Bedroom Switch	USMINI	usw	192.168.1.249	74:83:c2:0c:49:ba	online
Man Cave AP	UAP6MP	uap	192.168.1.113	70:a7:41:6a:2b:15	online
Man Cave Switch	USMINI	usw	192.168.1.68	78:45:58:47:c2:70	online
LTE	ULTE	uap	192.168.1.153	f4:92:bf:6c:95:ec	offline
UCG	UCG-Max	ugw	68.111.82.103	58:d6:1f:47:8e:89	online
Kitchen AP	U6IW	uap	192.168.1.130	70:a7:4130:43	online
Attic Switch	USMINI	usw	192.168.1.23	f4:92:bf:a3:fa:81	online

Cameras¶

Changing the Default Site in UniFi¶

While the UniFi UI does not allow you to change which site is designated as "default," it can be achieved by updating the underlying MongoDB database. This is useful if you need to delete the original default site.

You can also make the output a little friendlier by installing jq.

TL;DR¶

apt-get update && apt-get install jq -y

mongo --quiet --port 27117 ace --eval "printjsononeline(db.site.find().toArray())" | \
sed 's/ObjectId(//g; s/UUID(//g; s/)//g' | \
jq -r '.[] | {name: .name, desc: .desc, id: ._id, protected: .attr_no_delete}'

{
  "name": "default",
  "desc": "Default",
  "id": "5cb82d182372ca03dc6e0b19",
  "protected": true
}
{
  "name": "super",
  "desc": null,
  "id": "69daecabfa53fbc3a2990e53",
  "protected": true
}

Capture the default network id in a variable:

DEFAULT_ID=$(mongo --quiet --port 27117 ace --eval "printjsononeline(db.site.find().toArray())" | sed 's/ObjectId(//g; s/UUID(//g; s/)//g' | jq -r '.[] | select(.name=="default") | ._id')
echo $DEFAULT_ID

Only see which site is set to the default:

mongo --quiet --port 27117 ace --eval "printjsononeline(db.site.find().toArray())" | \
sed 's/ObjectId(//g; s/UUID(//g; s/)//g' | \
jq -r '.[] | select(.name=="default") | {name, desc, id: ._id, protected: .attr_no_delete}'

{
  "name": "default",
  "desc": "Default",
  "id": "5cb82d182372ca03dc6e0b19",
  "protected": true
}

Manual Procedure¶

1. Access the Database¶

SSH into your UniFi Controller (e.g., your CloudKey at 192.168.1.148) and connect to the local MongoDB instance:

mongo --port 27117

Switch to the UniFi database:

use ace

2. Identify Site ObjectIDs¶

List all sites to find the _id for both the current "default" site and the one you wish to promote:

db.site.find()

• [ID_1]: The _id of the site where "name": "default".
• [ID_2]: The _id of your target site (e.g., "Main Site").

3. Swap Default Attributes¶

Remove the default flags from the old site and assign them to the new site:

Remove default flags from current site

db.site.update({ _id: ObjectId("[ID_1]") }, { $unset: { attr_hidden_id: "", attr_no_delete: "" } })

Assign default flags to new site

db.site.update({ _id: ObjectId("[ID_2]") }, { $set: { attr_hidden_id: "default", attr_no_delete: true } })

4. Apply Changes¶

Exit the Mongo shell and restart the UniFi service to apply the changes:

exit
systemctl restart unifi

References¶

• Ubiquiti Community Wiki - Changing Default Site
• UniFi Hardware Documentation
• https://ui.com/