UniFi - Connect with SSH (Advanced)

We do not recommend using SSH unless instructed by one of our Support Engineers as part of advanced troubleshooting. Inexperienced users risk making changes that may degrade network performance, or even worse, completely break your deployment. Proceed with caution.

Requirements

1. You are connected to the same local network as the device/console you plan to connect with via SSH. This may consist of using a laptop connected to the same WiFi network, or hardwired directly to the device.

2. SSH is enabled. UniFi Network devices and UniFi Consoles (Dream Machines, Cloud Keys, etc.) have independent SSH settings.

• UniFi Consoles: SSH is disabled by default. To enable it, navigate to UniFi OS > Console Settings > SSH.
• UniFi Network Devices: SSH is enabled by default. The credentials consist of a random string of characters. View and configure them by navigating to UniFi Network > Settings > Advanced > Device Authentication.

3. The device you are using has a command line interface (CLI) capable of establishing a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. Linux and macOS devices can use their native terminal. Windows OS requires PowerShell or PuTTY.

Establishing an SSH Connection

The format of the command used to establish an SSH connection is as follows:

ssh <username>@<ip-address>

The <username> for UniFi Consoles (UDM Pro / UNVR / Cloud Key) and UniFi Gateways (UXG Pro) is always ‘root’. For example, a Dream Machine Pro (which is a UniFi Cloud Gateway) with an IP address of 192.168.1.1 can be accessed as follows:

ssh root@192.168.1.1

Note: The UXG will use <username> = ‘root’, but the <password> will be the shared password set in your UniFi Network Application.

Default Credentials

Prior to setup/adoption, devices have a set of default credentials. 

• UniFi Consoles - root / ubnt or root / ui
• UniFi Gateways - root / ubnt or root / ui
• UniFi Devices - ubnt / ubnt or ui / ui