PoE-out per port

PoE-out means the port supplies power over the same network cable. One cable to an access point on the ceiling or a camera outside, and no socket needed. In the configurator you set that per port.

Which devices have it

The PoE-out per port field only appears when your model has ports with PoE-out, and the dropdown then lists exactly those ports. That saves guessing: on many routers there is only one.

• One port: hAP ac, hAP ac lite, hAP ac³, hAP ax³, hEX S and RB450Gx4 on ether5; the L009 series on ether8; RB4011 on ether10; cAP ac, cAP ax and mAP on ether2.
• Four ports: hEX PoE and hEX PoE lite, PowerBox and PowerBox Pro, OmniTIK 5 PoE ac, RB260GSP, on ether2 through ether5.
• Seven or more: RB5009UPr+ on ether2 through ether8, CSS610-8P and CRS112-8P on ether1 through ether8, the netPower series, and the large switches such as CRS328-24P (24 ports) and CRS354-48P (48 ports).

If your model is not there and you expected PoE-out, check that you picked the right one. The PoE variants usually carry a P or a U in the type number, such as RB960PGS against RB760iGS.

The modes

You add a row, pick a port and a mode:

• auto-on: the router checks whether something is asking for power and switches on if so. This is the default and in almost every case what you want. If a laptop or a switch is plugged in by mistake, nothing happens.
• forced-on: always powered, without checking. Needed for equipment that does not announce itself as a PoE device, passive PoE gear or a splitter for example. Do not plug anything in here that you are not sure can take it; an ordinary network card can be damaged by voltage it does not expect.
• off: no power, the port works as a network port only. Set this explicitly on ports where an ordinary device will be plugged in, so it is clear later that this was deliberate.

You only need to list the ports you want to differ from what is on the device. Leave the list empty and the script does not touch PoE at all.

Powering an access point

This is the most common reason. You run one cable from the router or the switch to the ceiling, set that port to auto-on, and the access point comes up. If the same cable carries a VLAN trunk, that changes nothing about the power: power and data share the cable without getting in each other's way. See The Wi-Fi plan to work out where the access points should go.

Powering a camera

Cameras work the same way. Set the port to auto-on and put the camera in a VLAN of its own so it cannot reach the rest of the network. That is described in IP cameras, and for a larger system in CCTV.

What to watch

The configurator does not know how much power your device can supply. Power per port and the total budget are not in the device catalogue, so the tool cannot check whether four access points will run off one hEX PoE. Look that up in the specifications of your model and of what you hang on it.

• Budget. A device has a maximum per port and a maximum in total. Four ports that can each deliver 30 W rarely means a 120 W budget. Add up what you connect and keep headroom; PoE devices draw more while starting than afterwards.
• Power supply. The bundled adapter is often sized for the device itself and not for four cameras on top. Check whether your model needs a heavier one.
• Cable length. A hundred metres is the limit for Ethernet and roughly the limit for PoE too. Over long runs voltage is lost in the cable, so a device that comes up fine at ten metres can fall just short at ninety. Use decent cable with copper conductors, not copper-clad aluminium.
• Type of PoE. MikroTik ships passive PoE on many models and 802.3af/at on others. Passive PoE always puts voltage on the line, even on auto-on on older boards. Check what your model does before you hang something expensive off it.
• Outdoors. A camera or antenna outside belongs behind surge protection. Lightning travels in over the network cable and takes the switch with it.

What the script makes of it

One command per row under /interface ethernet, for example set ether5 poe-out=auto-on. The configurator writes nothing more: it leaves poe-priority, poe-voltage and the PoE-in settings alone. If you want to change those, do it by hand after pasting.

Check afterwards with /interface ethernet poe print what is set per port, and with /interface ethernet poe monitor ether5 what is actually being drawn.

If the device does not come up

• Is the port set to off, or missing from your list while the device was supposed to get power from it?
• Does the device announce itself as a PoE device? If not, auto-on stays off and forced-on is needed, provided the device can take it.
• Does it come up briefly and then drop? That is nearly always budget or cable length.
• Is there a switch without PoE in between? It does not pass the power along.

Read on: Bridge and ports for the rest of the port settings, Choosing your device if you still have to decide on a model, and IP cameras for a complete setup.