ciphersense --ops-notes
Ops Notes
Practical notes from the engineering desk — the stuff we tell clients every week, written down so you can steal the good parts.
Sep 6, 2026
PoE Switch Sizing: How Many Cameras Can One Switch Power?
How many cameras can one PoE switch power? The budget math for UniFi — per-port standards, real camera draws, and the headroom rule that keeps cameras online.
Aug 13, 2026
UDM Pro vs UDM SE: Which UniFi Gateway for a Small Business?
UDM Pro vs UDM SE — the same routing core, different ports. When the SE's built-in PoE and 2.5G WAN are worth the extra cost, and when they're not.
Aug 13, 2026
Park District Sound & Emergency Broadcast: The Network Integration Behind It
The UniFi network that makes park district sound and emergency broadcast one system — multi-site management, VLANs, PoE budgets, and paging that always wins.
Aug 2, 2026
How Much Camera Footage Should You Keep? A Storage Guide
Retention for business cameras is not a default — it is a decision. Legal, practical, and cost tradeoffs, plus how to size UniFi Protect storage for your business.
Aug 2, 2026
UniFi VLAN Setup for Small Business: A Practical Guide
Plan and configure VLANs on UniFi for a small business — segmentation design, firewall rules, and the mistakes that quietly break it. Includes a step-by-step plan you can verify.
Aug 1, 2026
A 30-day firmware hygiene routine for UniFi
A simple, repeatable 30-day firmware cadence that keeps your UniFi fleet stable without babysitting it — the one-week rule and how to apply it.
Aug 1, 2026
Why cameras and guest Wi-Fi shouldn't share a VLAN
Why cameras and guest Wi-Fi should not share a VLAN — the one segmentation decision that matters most for small businesses running UniFi networks, and how to fix it.
Aug 1, 2026
UniFi Protect retention math, explained
How to size NVR storage for the retention you actually need — the bitrate math behind UniFi Protect, with real numbers you can check yourself.
// NOTE
Every environment is different — these are patterns, not prescriptions. If a note describes your network, scope a plan and we'll apply it properly.