Apartment 2306 · Smart Home

Network Topology

May 2026 · Wired + wireless + IoT protocol map

Wired Backbone Diagram

WIRED NETWORK SMART HOME HUBS — UCG LAN 2/3/4 ISP / Fiber WAN input 2.5G WAN UCG-Ultra Router · Controller · IDS/IPS WAN 2.5G LAN 1 1G LAN 2 1G LAN 3 1G LAN 4 1G 1G · P8 uplink USW-Pro-XG-8-PoE 8× 10GbE RJ45 PoE++ · 2× SFP+ · 155W P1 10G P2 10G P3 10G P4 10G P5 10G P6 10G P7 10G P8 1G↑UCG SFP+1 spare SFP+2 10G NAS 10G PoE+ 1G 10G U7 Pro XG Living Room WiFi 7 · P1 U7 Pro XG Bedroom wing WiFi 7 · P2 U7 Pro XG Office / 3rd WiFi 7 · P3 4× TV Hardwired · 1G P4 – P7 NAS (future) TrueNAS · SFP+2 10G · DAC cable HA Green Home Assistant hub Zigbee · WiFi · Bluetooth Hue Bridge Pro All Hue bulbs Hue Zigbee mesh L-BRIDGEPRO Lutron RF hub Shades · Caseta · Picos
Port count solution The USW-Pro-XG-8-PoE has 8 RJ45 ports — P1–P3 for APs (10G PoE+), P4–P7 for TVs (1G auto-neg), P8 for UCG uplink (1G auto-neg). Smart home hubs connect directly to the UCG-Ultra’s built-in LAN 2/3/4 ports, keeping all switch ports for media devices.
VLAN note Hubs on the UCG-Ultra LAN ports and devices on the switch must share the same VLAN/subnet — otherwise mDNS discovery breaks (HomeKit, Hue, HA auto-discovery all rely on it). In UniFi: assign the same LAN network to both the UCG LAN interface and the switch’s default network. Verify this when configuring, not after.

Ethernet Runs Summary

DeviceSpeed neededPoE?Connects to
U7 Pro XG (×3)10GYes — PoE++USW P1, P2, P3
TV × 41G (TV limit)NoUSW P4, P5, P6, P7
HA Green1GNoUCG-Ultra LAN 2
Hue Bridge Pro1GNoUCG-Ultra LAN 3
L-BRIDGEPRO1GNoUCG-Ultra LAN 4
UCG-Ultra → Switch1G (auto-neg)NoUSW P8 — UCG has no SFP+, GbE RJ45 only
NAS (future)10GNoUSW SFP+2 — requires DAC cable + SFP+ NIC in NAS, or RJ45 10GbE port if NAS has one

Port tally on USW-Pro-XG-8-PoE: 3 APs + 4 TVs + 1 UCG uplink = 8 of 8 RJ45 ports used. Both SFP+ ports spare (SFP+2 reserved for NAS).

IoT Protocol Map

ProtocolHubDevices
Zigbee (via SkyConnect)HA Green (USB dongle)Aqara FP300 ×3 · Sonoff SNZB-05P ×7 · door sensor
WiFi (2.4 GHz)APs → HA GreenShelly Plus 1PM · Shelly H&T Gen3 ×3 · future Shelly devices
Lutron RF (ClearConnect)L-BRIDGEPRO → HA GreenQS Wireless shades × all rooms · Caseta switches · Pico remotes
Zigbee (Hue proprietary)Hue Bridge Pro → HA GreenAll Hue bulbs
BluetoothHA Green BluetoothAranet4 Home (CO²)

Why UCG-Ultra fits

The UCG-Ultra handles routing, IDS/IPS, and the UniFi controller (manages all switches + APs) in one $129 box. For a condo with 3 APs, ~10 wired endpoints, and a moderate smart home load, it’s the right tier — powerful enough to run full IDS at gigabit speeds without needing a Dream Machine Pro at 3× the price.

The 2.5G WAN port handles most ISP speeds comfortably. Multi-WAN load balancing is supported if a cellular failover is added later. Confirm your ISP ONT delivers at least 2.5G — otherwise the bottleneck is upstream of the UCG.

Cameras: UCG-Ultra is a Protect controller, not an NVR If cameras are added later, the UCG-Ultra can run the UniFi Protect controller (manage streams, view footage) but has no drive bays and only supports USB storage as a stop-gap. It is not a substitute for a UNVR or NAS-backed Protect storage. Plan for a UNVR or Protect storage on the NAS if cameras go in.
UPS recommended Put the UCG-Ultra, USW switch, and smart home hubs on a small UPS (CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD or similar). A power blip reboots the whole network — which resets Zigbee, kills HA automations mid-run, and bounces the Lutron bridge. A UPS keeps the stack up through short outages and gives clean shutdown on extended ones.