How To Setup DHCP Option 43 on pfSense For Unifi Adoption

DHCP Option 43 is a versatile tool in network management that provides a standardized way for DHCP clients (like switches or access points) to receive configuration information from DHCP servers. This tutorial will guide you through the process of configuring DHCP Option 43 in pfSense so UniFi devices can be easily adopted when on a separate network.

Blog post with DHCP Option 34 Hex String Creator

UniFi Documentation

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Chapters
00:00 What Is DHCP Option 43
00:40 Converting IP To HEX for Option 43
02:32 pfsense DHCP Option 43
02:53 Adopting in UniFi using Option 43

[whimsicalsociety]

You ready my mind....3 days ago I was looking for this video... And now it here!

[Raymond.Jansen]

I read in the unifi community that you can also make a dns record unifi with the ip of the controller.

[cptnkewl]

regarding the i wanna provide the FQDN instead of the IP. According to the RFC, at this point DNS is not UP. Thats why you can simply not use DNS. Cause the DNS Server is coming after the DHCP handshake between client/server when all data is shared 🙂

[kuschicom]

Great video, as always. I see you use the deprecated ISC DHCP server, where is this opinion on the Kea DHCP server?

[TheDillio]

this is especially important for some of the Ubiquiti devices that don't have SSH. Unfortunately I went to set this up, and my Pfsense box has the Kea backend setup which for some reason doesn't support custom DHCP options 🙄 Thanks Netgate....

[vlcekmlcek]

For adopting Unifi Flex switches to remote controllers, I can fully recommend Hostifi app for Android/Windows. DHCP option 43 is pretty useless when you use different port than the default 8080.

[UnclePePawGarbageCollectors]

insane, just posted three days ago?! I just needed this today. Love your videos

[kchiem]

Why is this needed? I don't run Unifi anymore, but when I did, I recall new devices just showing up in the controller for adoption automatically. Don't they just get an IP, and send a broadcast to which the controller responds?

[radar]

Great tutorial only 1 thing my pfsense is using Kea DHCP with no option 43 ?

[abdullahseba]

Can you have multiple option 43s for diffrent vendors?

[AdamsLab]

Or just set "unifi" to resolve to the controller...

[artavazdmelkonyan]

I'm experiencing a strange issue. I configured option 43 for my self hosted Unifi controller, but if I change my server vlan to the IP address configured in option 43 setting, my USW Flex Mini switches go offline in the controller. I'm running Pfsense firewall and all firewall rules are configured correctly. What can be the cause?