Configuring PoE Interfaces on EX Series Switches

Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports supply electric power over the same ports that are used to connect network devices and enable you to plug in devices that require both network connectivity and electric power, such as VoIP phones, wireless access points, and some IP cameras. This reduces the amount of wiring in a network, and also eliminates the need to position a powered device near an AC power outlet, making network design more flexible and efficient.

You do not need to configure PoE unless you want to modify the default values or disable PoE on a specific interface.

This example describes a default configuration of PoE interfaces on an EX Series switch:

Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports supply electric power over the same ports that are used to connect network devices. These ports enable you to plug in devices that need both network connectivity and electric power, such as VoIP phones, wireless access points, and some IP cameras.

You can configure a PoE interface to have a power priority. The power priority determines which interfaces receive power if PoE power demands are greater than the maximum PoE power consumption. If the total power allocated for all interfaces exceeds the maximum PoE power consumption, PoE power to lower-priority interfaces is turned off and the power allocated to those interfaces drops to 0.

By default, PoE ports on EX Series switches are set to low power priority. You can configure a PoE port to have a high power priority setting. If a situation arises where there is not sufficient power for all the PoE ports, the available power is directed to the higher priority ports. Ports that connect to powered devices such as security cameras and emergency phones should be configured with a higher power priority.

Among PoE interfaces that have the same assigned priority, power priority is determined by the port number, with lower-numbered ports having higher priority.

For EX6200 and EX8200 switches, interface power priority determines the relative priority of the interfaces on a line card, not on the switch as a whole. The relative priority of interfaces residing on different line cards is determined by line card priority. For example, if line card 1 has a higher power priority than line card 2 and a power shortage occurs, power is removed from the PoE interfaces in this order:

• Low-priority interfaces on line card 2

• High-priority interfaces on line card 2

• Low-priority interfaces on line card 1

• High-priority interfaces on line card 1

You can manually configure PoE interface power priority, or you can enable LLDP power priority, which assigns each interface the power priority provided by the connected LLDP-enabled powered device. Table 2 describes how the switch converts LLDP power priorities to switch power priorities.

You can configure the power priority for a PoE port. If a situation arises where there is not sufficient power for all the PoE ports, the available power is directed to the higher priority ports, while power to the lower priority ports is shut down as needed.

This example describes how to configure a few high-priority PoE interfaces.