Announced in summer 2025, Ubiquiti is now supporting the self-installation of UniFi OS Server on your own hardware, meaning features previously unavailable such as Teleport VPN, UniFi Identity, Site Magic and more, are now available without the need for a Cloud Key or UniFi Dream Machine. It is supported on macOS, Windows and Linux.

If you're looking to host UniFi OS Server, you can do so with HostiFi.

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How to install UniFi OS Server on Ubuntu

Log in as a user with sudo privileges, then update the system

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

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Install required base utilities

sudo apt install -y curl ca-certificates gnupg lsb-release

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Disable unattended reboots

sudo systemctl disable unattended-upgrades

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Add a hostname, as UniFi devices work best when the controller has one

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname unifi-os

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Update /etc/hosts

sudo nano /etc/hosts

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Then add

127.0.1.1   unifi-os

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Next download the UniFi OS Server package from Ubiquiti's official downloads page. Upload this .deb file directly to your server.

unifi-os-server_x.y.z_amd64.deb

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Next install UniFi OS Server from the downloaded .deb file

sudo dpkg -i unifi-os-server_*.deb

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If dependencies are missing, fix them with

sudo apt --fix-broken install -y

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Check that UniFi OS services are running

systemctl status unifi-os-server

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You should then see

Active: active (running)

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List UniFi-related services

systemctl list-units | grep unifi

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Now to access the UniFi OS Server web interface, open a browser and go to

https://<server-ip> or https://<hostname>

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Complete the initial UniFi OS Server setup, which involves:

• Choosing a hostname for the server
• Whether or not to log in with a Ubiquiti SSO account

Finally, before adopting any new devices visit the Control Plane and update the UniFi Network application to the latest GA version.

Conclusion

Being able to install UniFi OS Server on Ubuntu provides easy deployment for small environments for testing purposes, but for use in production across multiple external sites it could get complicated. This is where HostiFi comes in, with fast support, global data centre presence, managed updates and regular backups.

HostiFi

HostiFi provides hosting for Ubiquiti software platforms, with servers for UniFi and UISP. We also offer network consulting, with HostiFi Professional Services.