Suggestions for a PoE switch for home network and surveillance systems?

[Bill Burton]

I'm setting up a home network and surveillance system and want to run all the cables to a patch panel and then to one or two switches. As I understand it, the best practice is to keep the surveillance network separate from a home network. So I could go for two 8-port PoE switches or one 16-port managed switch if it provides the flexibility to separate two or more networks and is not too expensive. As this setup will be rack-mounted, I would prefer a 1U height switch or a combination of switches. Some of the outdoor cameras are in remote locations so outdoor shielded cable is used with a shielded patch panel.

I'm still looking at what kind of rack to get as since it will be mounted in a shed with an open floor, it should probably be enclosed.

The reason for wanting the home network to have PoE support is to allow for wired access points. The shed is within 20' of the house, the garage is 75' away and another shed is 200' away. There will probably be two or three access points for outdoors and two for the house indoors. I haven't settled on which AP's would be suitable.

At this point, I've not decided whether to purchase an NVR or a NUC type computer or NAS with dual network interfaces. In any case, the video recorder would be added to the rack in the shed where there are no temperature controls so the temperature range could be from below 0F to over 100F (-18C to 38C).

Thanks for any input.
-Bill

 

[Teken]

I'm setting up a home network and surveillance system and want to run all the cables to a patch panel and then to one or two switches. As I understand it, the best practice is to keep the surveillance network separate from a home network. So I could go for two 8-port PoE switches or one 16-port managed switch if it provides the flexibility to separate two or more networks and is not too expensive. As this setup will be rack-mounted, I would prefer a 1U height switch or a combination of switches. Some of the outdoor cameras are in remote locations so outdoor shielded cable is used with a shielded patch panel.

I'm still looking at what kind of rack to get as since it will be mounted in a shed with an open floor, it should probably be enclosed.

The reason for wanting the home network to have PoE support is to allow for wired access points. The shed is within 20' of the house, the garage is 75' away and another shed is 200' away. There will probably be two or three access points for outdoors and two for the house indoors. I haven't settled on which AP's would be suitable.

At this point, I've not decided whether to purchase an NVR or a NUC type computer or NAS with dual network interfaces. In any case, the video recorder would be added to the rack in the shed where there are no temperature controls so the temperature range could be from below 0F to over 100F (-18C to 38C).

Thanks for any input.
-Bill

If this is a serious installation you’ll need to purchase hardware that is IP rated for the outdoor environment it’s expected to operate in.

The phrase you’ll often see is hardened / rugged.

A hardened industrial switch will have a IP rating. The operating range will be at least -40’C ~ 75’C.

The device will be tested to meet vibration, RFI / EMI, Surge / Spike, Temp / Humidity etc.

The vast majority are fan less as such are not impacted by dust / debris. More expensive units all of the components are covered in a conforming material which negates all air born contamination.

Dual power input is typically offered to provide redundant input power. More expensive units offer optical SFP / SFP+ ports to provide higher bandwidth and lightning protection.

As it relates to lightning protection more expensive units incorporate time tested component’s such as SAD, GDT, MOV’s.

All of them are provided with a ground point and the entire case is metal.

The average person on a limited budget will typically just install an indoor rated switch - Don’t!

Buy once - Cry Once!

 

[The Automation Guy]

You are correct that the best practice is to keep the surveillance network separate from a home network. This can certainly be achieved by using completely separate networks, but you can also use VLANs if your network equipment supports it. VLANs are "virtual" lan segments and they can easily be set up to isolate traffic on one vlan segment from reaching another vlan segment.

If you want the option to use VLANs at some point in the future, you'll need to make sure the network switches you choose will support that functionality. Completely "dumb" switches will not have this functionality. Switches that support "layer 3" networking will definitely support it, but there are plenty of switches that fall somewhere in the middle - they support VLANs, but aren't fully "layer 3" capable. (Layer 3 functionality is NOT needed in a typical home setting and you don't need to base your purchase on whether a switch supports layer 3 or not).