unifios-utilities VS multicast-relay

I just purchased the unifi express and I have been researching its capabilities and more specifically ad blocking functionality. I have found that people are complaining about the ad blocking abilities not being very granular and referring to unifios-utilities and running something like pi hole or adguard as an alternative. Can I safely assume that these options will be available to the unifi express?

https://github.com/unifi-utilities/unifios-utilities <- this cannot be more simple to digest. Stop spreading FUD (and learn to code if you still don't understand how Github works and what is linked)

Install on boot script: https://github.com/unifi-utilities/unifios-utilities/tree/main/on-boot-script

(https://github.com/unifi-utilities/unifios-utilities)

Not natively but they run dnsmasq so you can use unifios-utilities with an on-boot-script to modify dnsmasq’s config and add whatever records you need, including wildcard

Like a lot of people with devices on different VLANs, I have been running scyto’s multicast-relay container on my UDM SE. With podman no longer an option on 3.0.13, I’ve been looking into running it on a raspberry pi as Ubiquiti’s MDNS solution never worked well for me. I found these instructions and was able to successfully deploy the container. Things are working as expected so I’ll probably end up upgrading to v3 soon.

multicast-relay container

for example i create my fixed function images like this example https://github.com/scyto/multicast-relay (look at the dockerfile)

I got it to work by running https://github.com/scyto/multicast-relay. I can't find the guide I originally used, but here is one that might get you started. I'm really only using it for the sonos discovery relay (I run the container with --noMDNS), but I do have a working system. I can run the sonos app on my phone (on my main VLAN) and it discovers and controls sonos devices on the IoT VLAN.

I struggled with this for a long time and tried all the solutions I came across, only thing that fixed it was to run the multicast-relay docker container on the UDM. I found that most of the solutions were aimed at the USG WHO’s had more customizable firewall rules. PS: you need to use podman which is the docker(ish) equivalent found on the UDM. Just replace “docker” with “podman” in all he commands

Turns out, the UDM-Pro supports dockers, which are containerized applications. So something like the multicast-relay docker would be a good solution for your Sonos gear.

#1 is relatively easy to accomplish with third-party tools, namely Scyto's multicast relay along with Boostchicken's UDM utilities. These tools have been available for a while now and many of you will already be aware of this approach and how it differs from the mDNS *reflector* offered by Unifi. It has more in common with the mDNS *repeater* approach of UI's EdgeOS. However, I've still been totally unsuccessful in relaying mDNS/SSDP across a site-to-site VPN between two UDM-Pros (or is that UDMs-Pro?)

I did have issues with the builtin mDNS (my GF's Samsung phone couldn't cast to Chromecast devices). I have setup boostchicken's udm-utilities along with scyto's multicast-relay, essentially following these instructions. I also use the udm-utilities to make manual DNS entry updates (cnames).

and this docker container: https://github.com/scyto/multicast-relay