✶Update 09/2020✶ Omada Controller 3.2.10 for Debian, Raspbian and other Linux systems
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Looking for Omada SDN Controller Linux version? It's here.
Last Update: 2020-09-07
[Update: To allow for version switching between different versions of the controller, V3.2.10 received an upgrade. You can install it over an existing V3.2.10 without losing data.]
I just made a .deb package with Omada Controller 3.2.10 for Debian, Raspbian and any other Linux system providing the dpkg installer. Please find the release notes at the end of this post.
This .deb package is in the tradition of the community version of Omada Controller, meaning it contains the same Java classes and remaining files as the official TP-Link version except for the binaries bundled with it (JRE, mongodb) and the start/stop script control.sh (which is replaced by my own version omadactl).
Prerequisites
You will need netstat (package: net-tools), curl and the native versions of JRE, jsvc and mongod (installed by default in Raspbian based on Stretch, unfortunately not so in Debian). Setting up the Oracle JRE and jsvc is left to you as an exercise; here are some suggestions:
Debian and any other Linux distribution:
Install mongodb from the standard repository and JRE8 from Oracle's website. As for jsvc, don't use the Debian binary package, it requires OpenJDK last time I checked this. Instead, get the source code for jsvc (command apt-get source jsvc), compile it and install jsvc manually. Sorry for this inconvenience, but TP-Link decided to use jsvc for Privilege Separation rather than the much more common standard start-stop-daemon or daemonize programs already present on almost any Linux system. Don't blame me for this – omadactl still can use both methods, but you need to use jsvc for Omada Controller versions V3.x.
Raspbian (see also »Limitations« below):
Oracle JRE8, jsvc and mongodb are pre-installed by default in Raspbian (make sure you did not explicitly choose OpenJDK as an alternative for the Oracle JRE). You can easily check whether the required programs are installed on your Raspbian:
$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_261"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_261-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.261-b12, mixed mode)
$ update-java-alternatives -l
jdk-8-oracle-arm32-vfp-hflt 318 /usr/lib/jvm/jdk-8-oracle-arm32-vfp-hflt
$ mongod -version
db version v2.4.14
Thu Apr 30 12:49:28.060 git version: nogitversion
$
Donwload the all-architectures .deb package
Download https://rent-a-guru.de/ftp/omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
Compare the checksum of the downloaded .deb file for integrity:
$ md5sum -b omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
6b986ee67828d4c1e55d8dc6af1e8cbc *omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
or:
$ sha256sum -b omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
ef77aa88a3196d7663f35e59357a67833b86fa783923df480f56318ea84e5de2 *omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
Installation
First, make a backup of your Omada Controller's settings before installing. Either use the web UI or copy the whole content of the subdirectory data in /opt/tplink/OmadaController to a backup directory. You can later move the data directory back into the new controller version.
Install the new version of Omada Controller with:
dpkg -i omada-controller_3.2.10-3_all.deb
After a successful installation the controller will be started automatically.
Notes:
- Ignore the warnings from dpkg about some directories which can't be deleted. dpkg will remove files from older versions of the same package omada-controller, but it won't delete the old database directory (unless you do a manual purge before installing). This means that your database and settings from previous versions of Omada Controller will be retained - you can copy the files in the data subdirectory over to the new version. See »Restoring Omada Controller settings« below.
- Installation directory is /opt/tplink/OmadaController-3.2.10. The symlink /opt/tplink/OmadaController is a short-hand alias to the installation directory.
- Start/stop script has been renamed from tpeap to omadactl (
deprecatedtpeap is still there, it's a symlink to omadactl).
Update: tpeap has been finally removed.
If installing using dpkg, you won't be able to switch between versions of Omada Controller using omadactl's switch command.
Update: The current release of V3.2.10 now allows to switch between this and any newer controller versions.
- Some options of omadactl have no effect with only one version of the controller installed, that is if you install the .deb-Package. dpkg will override the old version before installing the new one. However, since the installation directoy reflects the version (intentionally!), you find all settings in the data subdirectory of the old version's installation directory. See »Restoring Omada Controller settings« below.
- On my RasPi the start of the controller needs ~69 seconds (first time start: ~124 seconds). You might want to increase the standard time-out (70 sec.) for starting the controller if it needs more time on your RasPi (time depends on other active processes during the start). To change the default time-out, use omadactl -S num, where num is the new time-out in seconds. This command will store the new time-out permanently in omadactl's config file and exits immediately (without starting Omada Controller).
Restoring Omada Controller settings
There is an easy way to restore your controller's settings using omadactl. Let's say you want to update Omada Controller 3.2.9 to 3.2.10. The directory OmadaController-3.2.9 will be cleaned by dpkg before it installs the new version in a new directory OmadaController-3.2.10. However, user files will be retained (dpkg prints warnings about which directories are not removed). Now stop the new controller using omadactl and use omadactl with the copydb command:
omadactl -w stop
omadactl copydb OmadaController-3.2.9 OmadaController-3.2.10
This will copy all settings under the data subdirectory from the old version to the new version. Restart the controller and you will see all your EAPs, settings, maps etc. If everything works, you can safely remove the old directory using rm -rf OmadaController-3.2.9.
Limitations
Keep in mind that under Rasbian, which still is a 32-bit OS for compatibility with older Pis, mongodb has a 2GB limit for the size of the database. You could compile a 64-bit kernel / userland programs to get rid of this limit.
If Omada Controller doesn't start automatically on reboot of the RasPi, check with systemctl whether the omadad.service is enabled.
Omada Controller on RasPi is slooooooow, especially if initializing the environment at the first start. Start it with omadactl -W 240, note the time it needs to start (omadactl will print a message) and set the time + a 10 seconds reserve using omadactl -S num, where num is the new time-out in seconds (see the manpage).
More information
For help with omadactl see its manpage attached to this post or use the command: man omadactl2
For customization of omadactl see the config file /etc/default/omada.
Update: has been merged into file CONFIG in /opt/tplink/OmadaController.
For selection of the correct JRE see file CONFIG in /opt/tplink/OmadaController.
For a list of all files installed by the .deb package use the command: dpkg -L omada-controller
If you want to uninstall this .deb package (except the database and other files created at run-time), use the »remove« option of dpkg: dpkg -r omada-controller
If you want to uninstall this .deb package (including the database and other files created at run-time), use the »purge« option of dpkg: dpkg -P omada-controller
Release notes for omadactl version 3.0 in package 3.2.10-3
Bugs fixed:
- Fixed non-working verbose option (-v) in omadactl.
New features:
- Changed version dependencies for mongodb: The controller needs either mongodb v2.4 or mongodb-org v3.2.
Release notes for omadactl version 3.0 in package 3.2.10-2
Bugs fixed:
- Fixed a bug in the DEBIAN/control file.
New features:
- Updated omadactl and omadad to version 3.0. The files are no longer installed in /usr/bin and /etc/init.d, but are included in Omada Controller's home dir. The installer adds symlinks for those commands in /usr/bin and /etc/init.d.
- Enabled support in omadactl for switching between controller versions when more than one Omada Controller is installed.
- Merged /etc/default/omadad and /opt/tplink/OmadaController/CONFIG.
Release notes for Omada controller version 3.2.10-1
Bugs fixed by TP-Link:
- Fixed the bug that Omada Controller allow any user to read the files of controller.
- Fixed the bug that controller will report an error when Top Usage data is empty.
Have fun!
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@R1D2 Hi there,
Just got into the whole Omada ecosystem and so far I like what I'm seeing. Coming from Ubiquiti this looks all good and well. Experience will tell me if I was right making the switch for more budget conscious clients (and that don't need all the bell and whistles of other systems)
I've been trying to buy to OC200 hardware controller but it's not available here so I figured I'd use the software. Been using it under windows and it's nice, but I'd love to host it on my servers in the cloud (under linux) is there some docker image that we can work with ? I like the idea of the Raspberry Pi as well, could be nice to have a physical hardware controller on site. This will be a small deployment, around 7 APs throughout the property.
Good job on porting the software :)
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MichaelJTDesign wrote
Been using it under windows and it's nice, but I'd love to host it on my servers in the cloud (under linux) is there some docker image that we can work with ? I like the idea of the Raspberry Pi as well, could be nice to have a physical hardware controller on site.
Hi @MichaelJTDesign,
there is a docker image for the RasPi 4 and at least one for Debian somewhere out there from other contributors, but I have yet to see one for the latest version 3.2.6 of Omada Controller. At the moment I have no time (and no experience with it) to set up docker images myself being busy with other work.
A RasPi is great for use with a small number of EAPs, but the mongodb database has certain memory limits up to RasPi 3+ and I have no RasPi 4 here to test with, so maybe you want to try the Docker image mentioned above or even try out the 3.2.6 .deb package in a cloud instance running plain Debian or Ubuntu.
OTOH, OC200 has the advantage that it can be upgraded by a single click and you should be able to order it from the warehouse for all and everything (Amazon) since it's not specific to a certain country. I prefer to run the controller on a fast Linux server, but for installations at customer's sites I more and more like to sell them an OC200, because of it's easy to handle.
Anyway, to have a first try, the RasPi is fine to play with Omada Controller. Have fun!
BTW: It's interesting to hear that you switch from the Ubiquiti controller over to Omada controller. I didn't yet install their UNMS to manage my routers (and only for managing routers) because it uses docker and because I would rather like to install an UNMS deb package if it would be available ... ;-)
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Not sure if you can actually host the controller in the cloud (by this I assume you were referring to installing and hosting the server on a 3rd party cloud server farm?).
As far as I understand - I think the server has to be on the same network as the EAP's.
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@elmado, you can run Omada Controller in the cloud, too.
In fact, I did run early Omada Controller for Windows in an AWS container at the time when it was not available for Linux. I then ported the Windows V2.5 version to Linux, moved it to our Internet server and dropped the AWS cloud account. I still run V2.7 and even V3.2.6 on our public Internet server.
You don't need to run the controller in the same subnet the EAPs are in. EAPs can be linked to the controller over layer 3, it's only that automatic discovery of EAPs won't work then. But even in local networks I isolate the OC200 or SW controller in its own VLAN if I don't need the built-in portal (we use our own Captive Portal).
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I'm getting this error when starting on a clean installed Pi:
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo omadactl start
Starting Omada Controller
Invalid JVM name specified server
I've noticed that this also came up in antoher topic: https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/150123?page=5 and https://community.tp-link.com/en/business/forum/topic/162210?page=2 , but I don't see how I can resolve it ( with using https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=231460 ) .I tried with the update-java-alternatives by setting it to one or the other but still getting same error.
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_212"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_212-8u212-b01-1+rpi1-b01)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 25.212-b01, mixed mode)
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ update-java-alternatives -l
java-1.11.0-openjdk-armhf 1111 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.11.0-openjdk-armhf
java-1.8.0-openjdk-armhf 1081 /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-armhf
pi@raspberrypi:~ $
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your OpenJDK is a client version, not a server version. Try modifying the JAVA_OPTS variable in /usr/bin/omadactl from:
JAVA_OPTS="-server -Xms128m -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=60 -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=30 -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError"
to:
JAVA_OPTS="-client -Xms128m -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxHeapFreeRatio=60 -XX:MinHeapFreeRatio=30 -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError"
(Note: this is one line only, line wrapping here appears due to the forum layout).
You can also set the JAVA_OPTS in /etc/default/omadad rather than fiddling with the omadactl shell script.
Settings in /etc/default/omadad will be retained over package updates.
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Hi there,
I have a raspi but I am a complete layman. However I can follow a set of instructions. Do you happen to have a set of step by step on how to run this on a raspi?
Much appreciated.
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