Set up your Ubiquiti hardware to work with a Mikrotik
Our Mikrotik is designed to act as the Guest WiFi hotspot on your network. It is supplied pre-configured with our captive portal settings; such as our RADIUS servers, walled garden domains and redirect URLs.
We use a VLAN tag to separate the Guest WiFi traffic, so the Mikrotik will act as the gateway router for members of the public; restricting access to the internet before they have logged in via the captive portal and allowing full access afterwards.
Follow the steps below to get your Guest WiFi up and running.
Connect your Mikrotik
When you have received the Mikrotik at your venue, you'll need connect the device to an available LAN port on your Ubiquiti switch. Take a look at our plug in guide for instructions on how to get set up.
Make sure the Mikrotik is able to receive an IP address from your network; this is usually via your DHCP server and on the same network as your Ubiquiti access points.
Once your Mikrotik is connected, follow the steps below to configure your UniFi networks.
Guest SSID set up
Once the Mikrotik has been installed on site, you'll need to configure the Guest VLAN and Guest SSID on your UniFi controller. Follow the instructions in each of the sections below.
Create a new VLAN Only Network
⚠️ Important: Ensure that you don't enable DHCP on the Guest VLAN. The Mikrotik will instead act as the DHCP server for the VLAN.
To create a new guest VLAN on your UniFi controller, follow the below steps:
On the left-hand menu, click on the Cog
icon to navigate to the Settings page.From the Settings menu select Networks and then click New Virtual Network. Configure with the following:
Name: WS Guest VLAN.
Router: Third Party Gateway.
VLAN ID: 50.
If you would prefer a different VLAN tag to be used, please notify support.
Leave the remaining settings blank.
Click Add.
Create the Guest Network
Now that you have set up the Guest VLAN network you'll need to set up a Guest SSID. Follow the steps below:
From the Settings page, click on WiFi and then click Create New.
Configure your Guest WiFi network as follows:
Name: e.g. _Venue Name Free WiFi
Password: Leave blank.
Network: Select the VLAN network you created earlier - e.g. WS Guest VLAN.
Broadcasting APs: All is selected by default. Or you can choose Specific APs or a Group of APs. Whatever you require for your venue.
Advanced: Manual.
Hotspot: Off.
Hide WiFi Name: Disabled.
Security Protocol: Open.
All other settings remain as default.
Click Add WiFi Network to save.
Trunk the VLAN on your Ubiquiti Switch
At this stage you have created your open Guest SSID and tagged it with the Guest VLAN. You will now need to trunk the VLAN on your Ubiquiti switch.
The purpose of VLAN trunking is to ensure that VLAN tagged traffic is able to flow between the Mikrotik and the access points via your network switch. Once the VLAN is in place on the guest SSID - this traffic will need to be directed to the Mikrotik so that the Mikrotik can issue an IP address to the client from the Mikrotik DHCP pool on the 10.5.200.X subnet.
To set a port profile, follow these steps:
From the left-hand menu, go to the UniFi Devices
icon and select your Ubiquiti switch. A switch menu will appear on the right hand side of your controller.Select the Ports
icon from the menu options at the top and then click Port Management. You will then see a list of your switch ports and the assigned Profiles.Select a port and set the Port Profile to All.
⚠️ Important: The ports that you need to check are any port you expect the VLAN to pass through. In most cases this will be:
All access point uplink ports.
The port the Mikrotik has been connected to.
Test your new Guest WiFi network
Once you have created your guest SSID and set up your VLAN, you'll need to test the network.
If everything is configured correctly, your end users should see a branded login page and their devices will receive an IP address from the Mikrotik 10.5.200.X subnet.