====== Adding Ubiquiti UniFi AP PRO hardware to an existing mesh ======
  * Someone who relocated office recently was so kind to donate their three **Ubiquity UniFi AP PRO** units to me while they upgraded to a Ruckus system in their new office.
  * Knowing that Ubiquity hardware are famous for the ease which you can replace the vendor's proprietary firmware with OpenWrt I was very eager to see how these dual radio nodes will live along the nodes from other hardware vendors in my existing mesh.
  * I must admit that the whole exercise turned out to be much smoother and faster than I envisioned.
  * Read on to follow my quick journey...

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====== Flashing the firmware onto the Ubiquiti UniFi AP PRO ======
Here is the steps to take when flashing the MESHdesk firmware onto the Ubiquiti hardware.
===== Get the flash utility =====
  * We will use our Windows machine and a small GUI utility program called tftp2.exe to flash the new firmware onto the hardware.
  * You will find a link to download this program on this URL: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/TFTP_flash#Windows

===== Get the MESHdesk firmware image =====
  * Next you can grab the pre-build MESHdesk firmware for the **Ubiquiti Unifi AP PRO** from this URL: https://sourceforge.net/projects/radiusdesk/files/MESHdesk/Firmware/Ubiquiti/
  * Since this is a new install of OpenWrt we will use the **openwrt-ar71xx-generic-ubnt-uap-pro-squashfs-factory** image.

===== Setting the IP Address of the Windows machine =====
  * When the Ubiquiti is in TFTP flash mode it will run a small TFTP server that listens on 192.168.1.20 on the hardware.
  * In order for our Windows machine to transfer the firmware to the Ubiquiti we will assign the IP of 192.168.1.200 to the LAN port of the machine.

===== Put the Ubiquity hardware in TFTP flash mode =====
  * In order to put the Ubiquity hardware in TFTP flash mode you simply have to push the reset button down and keep it down while powering the hardware up.
  * After 15-25 seconds it will show you it is in TFPT flash mode by flashing the LEDs in a rotating fashion (White, Blue and then off etc)
  * Now you can fire up the tftp2.exe utility; select the file and flash it onto the device.
  * The whole flash process is magnitudes faster when comparing to the time it takes on the Picostation for instance.
  * As soon as the white LED stopped flashing rapidly you can disconnect the power and do to the next steps:
    * Point the mesh node to the MESHdesk server
    * Add the mesh node to the existing mesh network

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====== Point mesh node to the MESHdesk server ======
  * We are not going to duplicate existing documentation but will rather point you to the following dedicated page about the **MESHdesk Node Config utility**.
  * http://www.radiusdesk.com/user_guide/md_firmware#configuring_the_firmware

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====== Add the mesh nodes to the existing mesh network ======
  * Here is a bit of a heads-up. The **Ubiquiti UniFi AP PRO** are dual radio units so when we add them; we need to specify which radio we want to use and for what.
  * Here is also a second heads-up. On the **Ubiquiti UniFi AP PRO** we have the **5G** radio as **Radio0** and the **2.4G** radio as **Radio1**. <wrap em>This is different from the default</wrap>
  * See the following screenshot:
{{:user_guide:md:ubiquiti_unifi_meshdesk_config.png|}}

====== The results of our work ======
  * Now that the nodes are pointing to our MESHdesk controller and the MESHdesk controller knows about our nodes we have <wrap em>many vendors one mesh</wrap>.
{{:user_guide:md:many_vendors_one_mesh.png|}}

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====== Comparing hardware and prices ======

{{:user_guide:md:n600.jpg|}} **VS** {{:user_guide:md:unifiap.png|}}

  * Here is a point of interest when one compare the **TP-Link WDR3500** to the **Ubiquiti UniFi AP PRO**. 
  * Hardware wise they seem to be pretty much the same. (Aside from the 3dBm higher power on the radios of the Ubiquiti)

^ Item     ^ TP-Link WDR3500       ^ UniFi AP PRO       ^ Comment   ^
| 2.4G radio    | Yes (21dBm)    | Yes (24dBm)   | Radio0 on the WDR3500 and Radio1 on the AP Pro    |
| 5G radio    | Yes (14dBm)    | Yes (17dBm)     | Radio1 on the WDR3500 and Radio0 on the AP PRO   |
| Chip set    | Atheros AR9344 Rev2     | Atheros AR9344 Rev2        |    |
| Processor   | MIPS 74Kc V4.12 278.93   | MIPS 74Kc V4.12 278.93    |    |
| RAM         | 128M      | 128M     |    |
| POE         | NO        | Yes    | 48Volt POE |
| External antenna   | Yes    | No   |    |
| Ethernet Ports  | 2   | 1    |    |
| Ethernet Sockets | 5  | 2   |     |

  * Price

^ Item     ^ Price (ZAR)    ^ Sourced from   ^
| TP-Link WDR3500    | R685.00     | http://www.takealot.com/tp-link-n600-wireless-dual-band-router/PLID28719987    |
| Ubiquiti UniFi PRO AP | R2844.30 | http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php/unifi-professional-dual-band-p-1348   |

  * Note the listed price from Scoop (R2,495.00) is excluding VAT thus with VAT which is 14% we go up to R2844.30.
  * The price from **Scoop** also is a dealer price and <wrap em>exclude</wrap> delivery.
  * The **Takealot** price <wrap em>include free</wrap> delivery to your door.

===== Conclusion =====
The cost of the **Ubiquiti UniFi PRO AP** is <wrap em>at least four times higher</wrap> than that of the **TP-Link WDR3500** while offering more or less the same hardware.