MFi: Install a Ubiquiti server to manage powerstrips

Introduction

Ubiquiti brings software that are easy to install on Windows and Mac OS. However as it is strongly recommended to let this software always up, it's preferable to have a Linux version to run it in a container or a virtual machine. That's why I decided to install it for a powerstrip mPower on Debian inside LXC. The documentation is very poor, that's why I made this one for those who want to do like me.

Installation

First of all, download the mFi server here. Then install prerequisites:

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aptitude install unzip mongodb openjdk-7-jre-headless openjdk-7-jre

Then unzip the archive file and move it to a better folder:

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unzip mFi.unix.zip
mv mFi /usr/share/

Now set the service to start at boot:

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cd /usr/share/mFi/ ; java -jar lib/ace.jar start &

Now you can start the service by hand to check it works fine:

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cd /usr/share/mFi/ ; java -jar lib/ace.jar start

Configuration

On the server, there is nothing to do especially. However on the powerstrip, you need to access to the web interface and configure them as follow:

• Configuration
• Controller: Personal
• Address: ubiquiti-server-IP or DNS
• User:
• Password:

You need to adapt all fields to fit your server interface.

Usage

You can now access to the web interface like this https://ubiquiti-server-IP:6443 and you should have an interface to configure your powerstrips: