UniFi Protect UNVR Docker container for arm64

Run UniFi Protect UNVR in Docker on ARM64 hardware.

Important

Disconnect the docker host from the internet during the initial console setup, else it will auto update and may break the container.
Also remember to disable auto update of the console and applications in the console settings.
Make sure you have read the below section on Issues running systemd inside docker.

Tip

Works on Raspberry Pi (tested with Pi 4 model B 4GB on Debian 12 Bookworm)

Usage

Docker Hub Image: dciancu/unifi-protect-unvr-docker-arm64
Tags:

• stable - recommended, uses Protect version packaged in UNVR firmware
• edge - uses latest Protect version (may not always work)
• Firmware (UniFi OS) specific version - uses Protect version packaged in UNVR firmware (alias of stable tag)
• Protect specific version - alias of stable and edge tags with Protect version

Run the container using docker compose with the provided docker-compose.yml.
Make sure you have read the below section on Issues running systemd inside docker.

Config

Create a new docker-compose.override.yml file and adjust below content for your configuration:

services:
  unifi-protect:
    environment:
      - STORAGE_DISK=/dev/sda
      - TZ=UTC

STORAGE_DISK should point to your disk holding the storage folder volume (see docker-compose.yml).
TZ sets the timezone inside the container and is used by Protect for camera and events timestamp, be sure to set the same value in console settings.
Valid timezones inside the container are at /usr/share/zoneinfo.

Setup

When you run the image for the first time, you have to go through the initial console setup, find the host IP address and navigate to http://host-ip.
Make sure you have disconnected the internet on the docker host (else it will auto update and may break the container), and proceed with the offline mode setup.
After the initial setup, got to console settings and disable auto update of the console and applications.
The auto-update does not work and may break the container.

You can now proceed to add cameras to Protect.

Logs

You can check logs using docker compose logs -f and files inside container at /var/log.
Inside the container you can check logs unsing journalctl -f.
unifi-protect logs are at /srv/unifi-protect/logs
unifi-core logs are at /data/unifi-core/logs

Issues running Systemd inside Docker

If you're getting the following error or any systemd error when starting container:
Also check logs on host when starting container.

Failed to create /init.scope control group: Read-only file system
Failed to allocate manager object: Read-only file system
[!!!!!!] Failed to allocate manager object.
Exiting PID 1...

Boot the host system with kernel parameter systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0.

Also, no output when running doker compose logs means most likely it is due to the above error.

See: moby/moby#42275

Issues with remote access

There is a known issue that remote access to your UNVR (via the Ubnt cloud) will not work with the console unless the primary network interface is named enp0s2. To achieve this, on your host machine create the file /etc/systemd/network/98-enp0s2.link with the content below, replacing xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx with your actual MAC address.

[Match]
MACAddress=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

[Link]
Name=enp0s2

Make sure to update your network settings to reflect the new interface name.
To apply the settings, run sudo update-initramfs -u and reboot your host machine.

RTSP

RTSP streams from Protect are available under camera settings > Advanced.
Remove ?enableSrtp from the end and change to rtsp (port 7447) rtsp://host-ip:7447/camera-id.

Building

Use the build.sh script.
This will download and extract the firmware packages from the latest version available for the UNVR from the official UniFi download source (https://fw-update.ubnt.com), inside a docker container.
You can provide a custom FW_URL environment variable to download the firmware binary from a custom link.
Set DOCKER_IMAGE environment variable to use a custom image tag.

Acknowledgements

This project has been greatly inspired from below projects.

markdegrootnl/unifi-protect-arm64 - original project
Top-Cat/unifi-protect-arm64 - fork
kiwimato/unifi-protect-arm64 - fork
snowsnoot/unifi-unvr-arm64 - fork

Disclaimer

This Docker image is not associated with UniFi and/or Ubiquiti in any way.
We do not distribute any third party software and only use packages that are freely available on the internet.