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Author: Aaron VanSledright
Fixing Unifi Controller Errors
Recently I was working on a device that for the life of me I could not get to attach to my Unifi Controller. Repeatedly I would get
used default key in INFORM_ERROR state, reject it!error on my server. The other error that I kept getting on the device itself was
Decrypt Error
when running the Inform Command.
Quite frustrated I spent a lot of time removing and adding my SSL certificate thinking that had something to do with it. I was wrong.
The real issue resides when someone deletes a whole site without removing the devices that are inside the site first. What happens is that the devices stay in the database and have a site associated with them that no longer exists. This results in me not being able to adopt them into a new site.
So Let’s Fix It
To resolve this issue we need to delete the device out of the controller by accessing the MongoDB that stores all of our information. While most of you are probably more fluent in writing Mongo queries and thus could do it from the command line I prefer to find a GUI solution so that I could understand what I am doing.
Enter Robo 3T. This is a GUI connector for MongoDB. Depending on your setup you will need to modify your connection type. I used SSH with my private key.
Once connected you should see a list of your databases in the left column.
The Unifi Database (unless you changed it) will be called ace. Go ahead and expand out Ace and then Collections to display all your sites information. You will see a tabled called “device”. This table stores all the specific information about our devices and how they are programmed.
We now need to find our specific device so using the built in shell in Robo 3T run the following query replacing the X’s with your MAC Address.
db.device.find({ 'mac' : 'XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX' })The MAC address string must be all lower case.
NOTE: Please backup your database before you do any of the following!
Once you find your device, verify that the MAC address does, in fact, match your device.
Right click on the ObjectID block. Should look something like this:
In the right click menu you can choose to Delete the document. This will permanently remove the device from your controllers database.
Once you have deleted the Document run your Inform command again and it your device should populate into your controller like normal!
If you have any questions let me know!
The Security Specialty Certification
Today I sat the AWS Security Specialty Exam. While I didn’t pass I thought to provide some commentary on the experience in relation to the training that I sought out to assist myself in the process.
I have been a big fan of
ACloudGuru . They helped me pass my Solutions Architect exam last year so naturally, I returned to train and learn from them again. Much of the content that I found in this course I found to be a repeat of what I saw in the Solutions Architect material. I didn’t think much of it because I assumed this to be the correct curriculum.Boy was I wrong.
Upon sitting down at the exam center I utilized my standard method of test taking. Answer the questions that you know the answer to first and then go back and hammer out the harder ones using
the process of elimination and your knowledge.Ryan Kroonenburg does a great job of explaining all the features of AWS and how to utilize them in a lab environment, we miss the actual application level that AWS is asking for in the exam. Now, I’m not saying that Ryan doesn’t know what he is talking about. Quite the contrary. Nor am I blaming my failure on ACloudGuru.
Advice
On top of learning all the content outlined in ACloudGuru or LinuxAcademy or whichever training resource you want to utilize, you really need to seek out real life application to these topics.
I will be going back over all the labs in the training material and applying them into my product environments (after testing). I think that this is the only way to truly learn what is needed.
Current Exam Rankings
Hardest to Easiest (based on what I’ve taken):
- Security Specialty
- Solutions Architect Associate
- SysOps Associate
If you have any questions regarding the exams feel free to reach out!
AWS Summit 2018 – Recap
This was my second year attending Amazon Web Services Summit. Both times I have headed down to Chicago for a few days to network, learn, and get excited about new AWS developments.
This year, the summit was scheduled for only one day. Being that the summit started early in the morning I decided I was going to head down early. By happenstance, I was invited to attend a workshop put on by Dynatrace.
Dynatrace is a logging and monitoring platform built inside AWS. It integrates with nearly any piece of technology you can think of. For me, monitoring is important for the web servers that I manage for my customers. In this workshop
, we learned how to create a continuous development pipeline. Essentially what this means is that we deployed our application which had various staging and production environments that Dynatrace was able to monitor and ensure successful deployments.After the workshop, Dynatrace hosted a lovely rooftop cocktail party. Thanks again for the invitation!
Quick lookout shot from the rooftop! The summit began early the next morning. I spent the morning visiting some vendor booths and getting the lay of the land before attending the keynote.
This years keynote was centered around the concept of “Builders”. Amazon wants all of its customers to be builders. By that, they mean that they want us to explore and be curious with their platform. When we see a problem they want us to solve it within Amazon Web Services. While this concept is great fundamentally, I do believe that is catered more towards developers and people that code rather than infrastructure gurus like myself. Nevertheless, I still found the concept compelling in my adventures.
4th row for the keynote! The day continued with various sessions. I spent a good amount of time working through the business executive track which focuses on migrations and security.
Large scale migrations – one of my favorite sessions Overall the summit was good. I did miss the two day format. By the end of the day it was a very long day of travel and learning.
If you or someone you know is interested in cloud computing, AWS Summit is a great place to get excited about all the possibilities!