16 (or more) port PoE's

[Radman01]

First, this is *not* about "Nighthawk Pro Gaming Switches", but that was the closest I could find. These are general questions about PoE switches, and I have been unable to find the answers anywhere online.

My question is, On a 16 port PoE (such as the Netgear FS116P-ProSAFE 16 Port 10/100 Desktop Unmanaged Switch with 8 Port PoE), or similar, the description often shows "16 ports, 8 PoE". I am guessing that this means that only 8 of the 16 ports are PoE? If so, why? What are the other 8 ports for? I am wanting to use one of these for a home security camera system, where all 12 to 15 of the cameras will need to be powered over the Cat5e cables. 

What kind of switch do I need to get so that I have enough ports that are powered? And what is "Managed" versus "Unmanaged"? 

As I said, I have looked online for this information and cannot find it -- even the spec sheets for the various switches don't give this info. So, any info provided for a newbie (me) concerning these switches would be * greatly * appreciated! Thanks...... 

[schumaku]

Hi, and welcome to the Netgear Community!
Most switches are handed by the Netgear Business BU, so the more comprehensive community section Netgear Community -> Business Solutions -> Switches

@Radman01 wrote:

My question is, On a 16 port PoE (such as the Netgear FS116P-ProSAFE 16 Port 10/100 Desktop Unmanaged Switch with 8 Port PoE), or similar, the description often shows "16 ports, 8 PoE". I am guessing that this means that only 8 of the 16 ports are PoE? If so, why? What are the other 8 ports for?

Yes, not all switch models offer PoE on all ports. It's about flexibility, one might want to connect other devices like printers, computers, whatever to the same switch. 

@Radman01 wrote:

 I am wanting to use one of these for a home security camera system, where all 12 to 15 of the cameras will need to be powered over the Cat5e cables. 

Depending on the cameras, the configuration (resolution, frame rates, ...), the NVR (network video recorder) or cloud solution, you might easily exceed the capability of a Fast Ethernet device - and the uplink port bandwidth might not be sufficient. Pure Fast Ethernet (10/100 Mb/s) switches are rarely deployed, trend goes to Gigabit Ethernet PoE switches, if many ports are used concurrently often in combination with 10 Gb/s ports for uplinks, network storage, ...

Another factor for the switch selection resp the PoE standard is the demand of power, there are diffferent levels like PoE, PoE+. Also the total amount of power available for PoE(+) devices can be limited - as it's not efficient to have hughe power supplies to power a relative small number of devices. 

@Radman01 wrote:

 What kind of switch do I need to get so that I have enough ports that are powered? And what is "Managed" versus "Unmanaged"?

For a pure flat network (no VLANs) a simple unmanaged switch might do the job. If the plan goes towards the configuration of multiple VLAN to segregate the surveillance, data/Internet, probably guest Internet, you look into Smart Managed Plus switches. If there are more features required like SNMP support, comprehensive logging, ... you look into the Smart Managed Pro devices. If there are some wireless access points and switches in the plan, you might want to have an eye to the Insight Managed switches and wireless APs.