Problematic access to device on same subnet via two switches

[ruasonid]

I have a wired LAN with an IP camera and I'm having problems in accessing the camera (cannot ping it) in the planned network.

This (temporary) configuration works:

Camera (POE) - Cat6 - Netgear GS308P - Cat6 - Laptop

The camera has a fixed IP on a 192.168.0.1 subnet.

Using the laptop I can easily see and operate the camera

The planned configuration does not work:

Camera - Cat6 - Netgear GS308P - Cat6 - Asus RT N66U Router - Cat6 - Netgear GS208 Switch - Cat6 - PC

I cannot access the camera going in via wireless to the router either.

The PC in this case would be headless and run the recording software. I could run a cable from the PC to the GS308P (it could then talk to the camera) but I'd have another problem in that I'd be unable to remote in via the router and/or GS208 to manage the PC.

All devices are on the same subnet so I would not expect the extra gigabit switch hop to render the camera unreachable. Any thoughts on this please?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Are both your switches GS308P or is one a GS208?

If both are power over Ethernet switches this might be problematic.

Also if only one switch is POE I'm not sure that your router will pass the POE to both cameras.

To test the setup try powering each of the cameras with its own power supply and then see if you can get connectivity. You need to eliminate the potential POE issue while testing connectivity on your LAN. Your setup looks fine for Network connectivity it is the POE issue I'm not sure about.

 

[ruasonid]

Are both your switches GS308P or is one a GS208?

If both are power over Ethernet switches this might be problematic.

Also if only one switch is POE I'm not sure that your router will pass the POE to both cameras.

To test the setup try powering each of the cameras with its own power supply and then see if you can get connectivity. You need to eliminate the potential POE issue while testing connectivity on your LAN. Your setup looks fine for Network connectivity it is the POE issue I'm not sure about.

Thanks for your reply. I should make clear that there is only one camera and only one of each component. The configurations shown above are two alternatives using the same components. The GS308P is POE (camera is connected to POE) and the GS208 is gigabit only (no POE). It seems that connectivity is OK up to the GS308P and attached laptop.

The drop cable from GS308P to router or GS208P (I tried both) is on a non-POE port on the GS308P. Agree that it is worthwhile to power the camera separately for diagnostics. If that then works, what next? In theory, the second configuration above should work.

 

[don_bidyre]

I don’t know the switches you are using, but are they both operating purely as Layer 2 switches & not attempting to route traffic?

If they are routing then you’ll need separate subnets & suitable routing rules in all 3 network devices.

Can you access the router from your laptop via both switches (I assume the router address is also part of the same subnet)?

Presumably there is no conflict between the fixed camera IP & the ASUS DHCP range (if enabled)?

 

[ruasonid]

OK, found the problem. Removed the drop cable from the port on the GS308P to check and re-seat it. I found a small piece of insulation debris from the loft space on the connector. Likely the debris was stopping the conductors from making a good connection.

Thanks for your help.

 

[don_bidyre]

Good news, glad you’ve solved it! [emoji846]