In this post, we’ll quickly explore how to activate or deactivate a camera via a Cisco router. In my setup, I’ve implemented a DIY surveillance installation. I’m using a PoE camera with a Cisco Small Business router. Specifically, this is the Cisco Smart Switch SG250-10P, which offers PoE functionality.

Activate/Deactivate PoE Camera from Cisco Router

Prerequisites

Before starting, you need to be able to connect via SSH to the router. It’s possible to create a service account with an SSH key for remote connection.

Next, you need to know which physical port the camera is connected to. In my case, it’s port number 2.

Activation

After establishing an SSH connection with the device, you can use the following commands to perform different operations:

cisco-sg250-10p# config
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# no logging console
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# int gi 2
cisco-sg250-10p(config-if)# power inline auto
cisco-sg250-10p(config-if)# exit
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# exit
cisco-sg250-10p# exit
  1. Access configuration mode.
  2. Disable logging echo.
  3. Select the appropriate interface.
  4. Enable Power over Ethernet (PoE) mode.
  5. Exit interface mode.
  6. Exit configuration mode.
  7. Terminate SSH session.

Deactivation

For deactivation, simply use the following commands:

cisco-sg250-10p# config
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# no logging console
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# int gi 2
cisco-sg250-10p(config-if)# power inline never
cisco-sg250-10p(config-if)# exit
cisco-sg250-10p(config)# exit
cisco-sg250-10p# exit
  1. Access configuration mode.
  2. Disable logging echo.
  3. Select the appropriate interface.
  4. Disable Power over Ethernet (PoE) mode.
  5. Exit interface mode.
  6. Exit configuration mode.
  7. Terminate SSH session.

Note

For a PoE camera that is active intermittently, it may be useful to set a fixed IP address to prevent it from being used by other equipment.

Conclusion

I hope this brief blog post has helped you learn how to manage PoE equipment deployed on your Cisco router. This can be useful if the equipment does not need to be permanently activated, such as in the case of a surveillance camera.

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