Network poe switches

Raby

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Hi all
I plan to setup 12 cameras ,
right now I am testing 2.
I am using blue iris.
I am thinking of getting 3 tp-link switches TP-Link TL-SG1005P V2 (5 port , 4poe+ and 1 uplink)

The way I will setup these is the following:
connect the 12 cameras to the poe+ port on the switches
then connect each uplink port to another non poe gigabit switch(unmanaged) , and then connect this unmanaged switch to the router
and blue iris PC will be connected to the router

my concerns:

1) will this make any problems in bandwidth / delay for 4k camera ( let's assume all 12 cams are 4k) ?
2) will this affect my internet speed / ping for other PCs on the network ?
3) What if in the future I want to have the cameras on a separate subnet , replacing the non poe gigabit switch from unmanaged to managed should do the trick (with extra NIC in the blue iris PC)
or I must have poe switches with 2 up link ports?
 

wittaj

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Yes, you will have problems.

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a wifi camera and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

The same issue applies even with the hard-wired cameras trying to send all this non-buffer video stream through a router. Most consumer grade wifi routers are not designed to pass the constant video stream data of cameras, and since they do not buffer, you get these issues. The consumer routers are just not designed for this kind of traffic, even a GB speed router.

Maybe it doesn't happen right away but that doesn't mean it wasn't sitting there waiting to happen. Maybe another device on the wifi starts using more bandwidth, you have Alexa or some other Amazon product and now someone is sipping bandwidth through Amazon Sidewalk, a neighbor is sipping your wifi, or you have an ISP provided wifi and it is acting as a hotspot for other people on their system, or a neighbor added a wifi device and you are not getting interference. Tons of things can cripple the wifi connection, even wifi add ons you don't control like a neighbor.

My camera bandwidth demands are 350Mbps - that will bring any consumer wifi router to a standstill, even a GB router with a lot of RAM.

You need to either get a VLAN like the Edgerouter or a dual NIC system to keep those cameras from passing thru the router OR at the very least connect the cameras and the BI computer to the same switch and then the switch to the router.
 

Raby

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thanks for the reply
so if I want to got with 2 NICs, this means I need a managed switch and then connect this managed switch to the router and to BI PC 2nd NIC ?
OR the unmanaged non poe switch will work ?
 

wittaj

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No you can use an unmanaged dumb POE switch and simply assign each camera a static IP that is a different IP address range of your internet.

The cameras still need power that it can get from a POE switch.
 

Raby

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@wittaj and @TonyR
Thanks A Lot , now I get the idea of 2 NICs much more clearly
where can I find information about the VLAN configuration / diagram so I can compare them and choose what is better for me.
 

Flintstone61

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Well I would agree with a 2 Nics on the BI PC. one at 192.168.1.1 for isolated cams. and the other at what ever you want 192.168.0.1...
I have a question. If the POE switch was a "managed" switch could you make that a LAN addressed to the 1.1 subnet? and the rest of the network x.x.0.1?
 
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Flintstone61

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you still plug everything into the dumb switch. but leave the 2nd Nic isolated to cams.
Yeah one Subnet..Like in the Diagram..Bad....
Both my BI setups are Dual networks X.X.1.1 and X.X.0.1
But my 2nd adapter is Wifi.
My Pc's connection the Web is over Wifi, for the time being.
so that the ethernet network of cams can stay on x.x.1.1
 

wittaj

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And of course the dual NIC wiki:

 

TonyR

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Well I would agree with a 2 Nics on the BI PC. one at 192.168.1.1 for isolated cams. and the other at what ever you want 192.168.0.1...
I have a question. If the POE switch was a "managed" switch could you make that a LAN addressed to the 1.1 subnet? and the rest of the network x.x.0.1?
I don't use a managed switch but my understanding is that a feature that most (if not all) managed switches provide is the ability to set up VLANs wherein the mode of how the VLAN operates can be selected as "port based" or other ways. I mention "port based" because it seems very simple: as an example, log into the switch's webGUI with its pre-assigned IP address, username and password, configure it so that Ethernet ports 1, 2, 3 & 4 are on VLAN1 and ports 5,6,7 & 8 are on VLAN2 and "save". Now devices on VLAN1 cannot communicate with devices on VLAN2.
 

Flintstone61

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I'm thinking it must be easier to setup Vlans on some of the less complicated consumer grade switches.
or even the lower Tier Cisco Small Business switches.
This Enterprise switch I have, as I recall took quite awhile to Goolge search the way in. ( three of them), and of course the last one was they way in.
by then you forgot why you came in, and it's Lunch time.
 

The Automation Guy

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Dual NIC is essentially a cheaper and easier VLAN.
I'm not sure it's cheaper. You have the cost of the NIC and a second switch vs a single managed switch. I guess if you are buying a new enterprise switch at retail prices this would absolutely be true, but when you can get large capacity (24 and 48 POE port models) enterprise switches from resellers for $50-150 all day long, this is honestly a cheaper solution.

My advice for the OP would be to buy one of these enterprise switches off EBay. It will cost less than buying 4 "dumb" switches and it will be a better long term solution IMHO.
 

wittaj

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I have a $10 NIC and didn't need a second switch to make it work. I simply take the upload port from the POE switch and connect it to the second NIC instead of plugging it into a router.

I think most would say a dual NIC system is easier than setting up VLANs.
 

Nunofya

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I have a $10 NIC and didn't need a second switch to make it work. I simply take the upload port from the POE switch and connect it to the second NIC instead of plugging it into a router.

I think most would say a dual NIC system is easier than setting up VLANs.
How would that work if you also are using a dahua NVR pulling the cameras from the poe switch?
 

wittaj

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Take an available port on the POE switch and plug it into the 2nd NIC in the BI computer and pull the video feeds from the NVR that way. Or if the NVR has two WAN/LAN ports, use one of those to connect to BI computer.
 
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