Hello world! Thank you, and a question...

[adam_adam]

Thank you to those of you who have posted guides on this site. Largely based on this site's information, I am going to have the following setup:

- PC running WIN10 and BI. Comes with HDD. Purchasing a 2TB Purple HDD. Based on info here, I should plan on buying a SSD to replace the original HDD (right?).

I have Ubiquiti Gateway / PoE Switches / WAP. I am hoping to use this existing gear to hook up the 5 (mostly Dahau) PoE IP cameras I purchased (4 of 5 purchased from Andy/EmpireCandy).

Question: If I have two of the US-8-60W Ubiquiti switches (which have 4 PoE ports each), but I have more than 4 PoE IP cameras, I am wondering how to proceed:

1. Plug some PoE cameras into one switch, some into the other (see diagram below).
2. Keep the BI machine and PoE cameras all on one switch -- and use PoE injectors to power any PoE cameras that are plugged into the switch's non-PoE ports.
3. Buy a third PoE switch that has more than 4 PoE slots, so that I can power all IP cameras with PoE from the switch, and have the BI machine and all IP cameras on a single switch. (This means buying an expensive switch, if I stick with Ubiquiti).

Image:

Note: in the diagram above, the 4 left ports in each switch are non-PoE and the 4 right ports are PoE (802.3af).

 

[alastairstevenson]

I have Ubiquiti Gateway / PoE Switches / WAP

What model of PoE switches?
Do they have passive 24V PoE, or standards-based 802.3af/at PoE ?

 

[adam_adam]

Model: US-8-60W. (I own two)

The specifications indicate that the four PoE ports are: "Auto-Sensing 802.3af PoE Ports".

 

[alastairstevenson]

"Auto-Sensing 802.3af PoE Ports".

That's good.
Sometimes the proprietary Ubiquiti PoE products can trip people up.

 

[adam_adam]

My main question was:
Is it OK to have PoE cameras split across two switches, like the diagram shows (i.e., option # 1), or is there a benefit to having all PoE cameras and the PC BI NVR machine all one one switch (i.e., option #2 or #3)?

 

[SouthernYankee]

Good set up. No problem have multiple POE switches.
All is good as long as the camera traffic does not go to the router to get to the BI PC.
I use 4 POE switches that are connected to a non POE switch, which is were the BI machine connects into.