Ubiquiti NVR: Upgrading the OS and AirVision Software

nvr Upgrading the Ubiquiti Network Video Recorder (NVR) operating system (Debian) and AirVision recording controller can be a fairly daunting task I’ve you are unfamiliar with the Debian command line interface (CLI) and/or Linux distrobutions in general. In addition, Ubiquiti doesn’t provide a GUI based upgrade option for older NVR software versions (e.g. 2.x) and no upgrade capability for the OS.

This simple outline should help you get the job done.

1. Open a shell session to the NVR appliance:

ssh root@(IP Address)

2. Enter the following commands to upgrade your NVR’s Debian OS:
#apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade -y ; apt-get dist-upgrade -y ; apt-get autoremove -y ; apt-get autoclean ; apt-get clean

3. Once complete reboot the NVR:
#reboot

Command Outline:
apt-get update retrieves a new list of software packages from the Debian repository
apt-get upgrade -y downloads and installs all updated software and automatically answers yes to all questions
apt-get dist-upgrade -y installs a new UNIX kernel (when available) and automatically answers yes to all questions
apt-get autoremove -y removes any unused software packages and automatically answers yes to all questions
apt-get autoclean deletes any old software archive files from previous apt-get sessions
apt-get clean deletes any downloaded software archive files from previous apt-get sessions

4. Once the NVR has rebooted re-login via SSH.

5. Install screen for terminal managemement
# apt-get install screen

6. Initiate a screen
# screen

7. Download the latest Debian package:
# wget http://dl.ubnt.com/firmwares/unifi-video/3.1.1/unifi-video_3.1.1~Debian7_amd64.deb

*Note, at the time of posting this is the latest version but check the UniFi Video Software page for the latest version.

8. Purge the current AirVision Software
# sudo apt-get remove –purge airvision
# sudo apt-get purge airvision

9. Initiate the new package install:
# dpkg -i unifi-video_3.1.1~Debian7_amd64.deb

10. Once the process completes you can login to your AirVision controller using http://ip-address:7443/