How to schedule power supply on a PoE port?

It is quite common to supply power to a device via PoE using a Switch when deploying cloud managed wireless solutions, as it allows you to obtain full and remote control over that power line. For instance, you can easily plan when your connected devices should be switched on or off based on your needs.

PoE scheduling allows you to conveniently turn off devices whenever they are not needed. This helps to save energy and money, as well as the environment. For this reason, we strongly advise to supply power to your devices using one of our PoE Switches whenever possible, and to set up PoE scheduling as required by your deployment.

PoE scheduling requires a network to be configured with firmware version 3.5 or newer.

How to configure PoE scheduling?

The weekly PoE scheduling can be configured in the 'PoE Scheduling' tab of your Switch settings. To configure a schedule on a PoE port, you need to:

1. Log into the Plasma Cloud console;
2. Select the Organisation and Network containing your Switch of interest from the top right menu;
3. Navigate to Switches in the main menu on the left;
4. Click on the Switch you wish to configure in the Switch table;
5. You will be presented with another page with three tabs. Select the PoE Scheduling tab;

6. Select the schedule you wish to assign to a port or group of ports from the drop-down menu. If needed, a new schedule can be created using the "+" button next to the drop-down menu. You will see the timeline of the selected schedule right below as an easy reference;
7. Select the ports you want to assign this schedule to. You have the option to click on individual ports in the Switch graphic; select/deselect all ports using the provided buttons, or click-and-drag a group of ports. The selected ports will then become blue.

You may repeat steps 6. - 7. as many times as needed for different schedules.

8. Once you have configured all ports, click on the Save button.

You can also use the PoE Scheduling settings page to get an overview over the schedules assigned to your PoE ports. Simply select a schedule from the drop-down menu to visualize the ports using it in blue.

To learn more about our centralized schedules management, please check out this article.