Guide to Installing Omada Software Controller on Raspberry Pi OS - V5
Update - 16 January 2024
Instructions below updated to most current Raspberry Pi OS, installed and tested on Raspberry Pi 5, with Omada SDN Controller v5.12.7. Confirmed that OpenJDK-17 work, which is installable through apt and for which the install instructions have been updated.
Update - 26 December 2023
Instructions below updated to most current Raspberry Pi OS, installed and tested on Raspberry Pi 5, with Omada SDN Controller v5.12.7. Note that the JAVA runtime installation instructions has been updated to OpenJDK-11.
Update - 3 June 2023
The links listed below for OpenJDK-8 no longer works. Omada SDN Controller will run on OpenJDK-11, but that requires JSVC 1.1.0 which is not in the official Raspberry Pi OS repos. It is possible to solve the dependecies to install JSVC 1.1.0, but I have not had time to update the instructions
Also see this FAQ with good info about installing the Omada SDN Controller on a number of Linux distros.
Update - 22 January 2023
Bare metal install on 64 bit Raspberry Pi OS - no Ubuntu server, no Docker. Tested with version 4 and now the latest version 5.7.4 of the Controller software. I have it running on a Model 3B+ with 1G RAM. Also running on Model 4 w/ 4G RAM.
Links have been updated and verified on most recent install
Instructions:
1. Download & install latest 64 bit LITE version of Raspberry pi OS to new sd card of your choice from the link below. Note - the legacy version of Raspberry Pi OS will not work
https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_lite_arm64/images/
This is not a guide to installing Raspberry Pi OS so I won't provide detailed instructions on that.
2. Download and install version 4.4.18 of MongoDB mongodb-server from https://www.mongodb.com/download-center/community/releases/archive
wget https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu/dists/focal/mongodb-org/4.4/multiverse/binary-arm64/mongodb-org-server_4.4.18_arm64.deb
sudo apt install /home/<username>/mongodb-org-server_4.4.18_arm64.deb
Note this post explaining that MongoDB V4.4.19 will not work.
3. Mongodb server would normally be run as a service by doing the following commands
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable mongod
sudo systemctl start mongod
In this case not required, as Omada controller starts the server as required.
4. Check that curl is installed
apt list curl
5. Download and install openjdk-17-jre
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless
6. Install jsvc
sudo apt install jsvc
7. If you have multiple versions of OpenJDK installed then you need to tell system which java to use
sudo update-alternatives --config java
Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-arm64/bin/java 1111 auto mode
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-arm64/bin/java 1111 manual mode
* 2 /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-arm64/jre/bin/java 1081 manual mode
Press <enter> to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number:
Now select the option pointing to the version of OpenJDK you want to use.
8. Download and install latest version Omada SDN controller
wget https://static.tp-link.com/upload/software/2023/202309/20230920/Omada_SDN_Controller_v5.12.7_Linux_x64.deb
sudo apt install /home/<username>/Omada_SDN_Controller_v5.12.7_Linux_x64.deb
If all went well the controller should start and you should get the following message
Install Omada Controller succeeded!
==========================
Omada Controller will start up with system boot. You can also control it by [/usr/bin/tpeap].
check omada
Starting Omada Controller. Please wait.........................................................................................................................
Started successfully.
You can visit http://localhost:8088 on this host to manage the wireless network.
========================
Now you can access the web interface of the Omada Controller by pointing you web browser from any PC on the same network to
http://<IP_address_of_Omada_Controller>:8088
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I just upgraded to 5.14.32.2 also, and it seems to be working ok so far. It was just a few commands, basically the same as before, just with the updated URL/filename.
cd /tmp
wget https://download.tplinkcloud.com/firmware/omada_v5.14.32.2_linux_x64_20240920174223_1727578445400.deb
sudo apt install /tmp/omada_v5.14.32.2_linux_x64_20240920174223_1727578445400.deb
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New interface for controller! Jan 9th 2025
5.15.6.7 is out and running great.
cd /tmp
wget https://download.tplinkcloud.com/firmware/omada_v5.15.6.7_linux_x64_20241128140044_1733188152890.deb
sudo apt install /tmp/omada*.deb
If you don't reboot, clean your /tmp directory:
rm -f omada*.deb
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Hello everyone,
A few months ago, I installed the Omada Controller on a Raspberry Pi 5. Everything runs perfectly, even with the latest controller version.
I still have an old Raspberry Pi 3 B lying around, and since yesterday, I've been desperately trying to install the Omada Controller on the Pi 3. The actual installation process is relatively simple, but unfortunately, the controller just won’t start for me.
The last thing I see is: "Starting Omada Controller. Please wait....." It gets stuck at 60%—and in my current attempt, it's been stuck there for about 60 minutes.
The same thing happened last night, and I eventually gave up because I had to go to bed. I installed Pi OS Lite 64-bit, then MongoDB and Java, exactly as described in the instructions—just like I did on my Pi 5.
Today, I started a completely fresh attempt, reinstalling everything from the OS onward.
I’m aware that the Pi 3 is significantly slower, but it can’t possibly take this long, can it?
The original poster writes that they got it running on a Model 3B+. Could the model difference be the issue?
Does anyone have any idea what the issue might be?
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Marda236 wrote
Hello everyone,
A few months ago, I installed the Omada Controller on a Raspberry Pi 5. Everything runs perfectly, even with the latest controller version.
I still have an old Raspberry Pi 3 B lying around, and since yesterday, I've been desperately trying to install the Omada Controller on the Pi 3. The actual installation process is relatively simple, but unfortunately, the controller just won’t start for me.
The last thing I see is: "Starting Omada Controller. Please wait....." It gets stuck at 60%—and in my current attempt, it's been stuck there for about 60 minutes.
The same thing happened last night, and I eventually gave up because I had to go to bed. I installed Pi OS Lite 64-bit, then MongoDB and Java, exactly as described in the instructions—just like I did on my Pi 5.
Today, I started a completely fresh attempt, reinstalling everything from the OS onward.
I’m aware that the Pi 3 is significantly slower, but it can’t possibly take this long, can it?
The original poster writes that they got it running on a Model 3B+. Could the model difference be the issue?
Does anyone have any idea what the issue might be?
@Marda236 When I first posted about this it "worked" on a 3B+ in the sense that i started and I could access the setup pages - I never used it as a production machine.
Since then it appears that the memory requirement of newer controller version gradually increased to the point where even a Pi 4B takes several minutes to start up the Omada controller.
There was a previous discussion in the thread that even the hardware controllers from TP-Link are brutally slow.
It's all about memory. Just forget about using the 3B, get at minimum a Pi 4B with 4GB - a Pi 5 with 8GB runs fantastic.
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As above, 1G RAM is no longer enough for the 5+ controller versions. I am able to run on 2G in a docker container without issue, but would recommend going straight to a minimum of 4G now if buying new hardware.
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I briefly inserted the SD card into the Pi 5, and it runs without any problems.
It's a shame that the Pi 3 is no longer suitable for it.
Thanks for your answers!
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