Design for IP Camera Reliability

Question for the pros:

I have a setup that requires 2-4 cameras mounted on remote outdoor locations. I am using Geovision IP cameras that can either be powered by POE or 12v DC. They have an onboard SD card if they lose connectivity to the DVR which will last for about 24 hours. My question is whether to use one POE switch for both power and network in which case if the switch dies I lose all cameras and power or do I get a non POE switch for network and use the power adapters to power each camera seperately in which case I have 3 devices which could fail and require a truckroll but if the switch dies at least I have the cameras powered and SD cards recording.

Thanks

My experience has been that corporate grade POE switches are far more reliable than wall-wart power supplies. When I needed reliable power back in the analog days, I used corporate-grade 12Vdc and 24Vac power supplies, which tended to be open frame supplies in enclosures.

I don't hear much about reliability problems on consumer grade POE switches, but if reliability is critical, going corporate might be worth the extra cost.

Geo has a program that is called vital sign monitor. You can also set up a setting to notify you of individual camera failure. I agree with other poster get a good POE switch and put it on a good UPS and your failure rate should be very low.

Thanks--really appreciate the feedback. I'm already using vital signs for centralized monitoring.

Any recommendations on POE switches/UPS? Right now I am using either Ubiquiti Toughswitch Pro 8 port or Netonix. I don't have a UPS in the solution right now as I am trying to find one that is hardened for operating in an outdoor pole mounted enclosure.

Ubiquiti is some good stuff, although no Cisco catalyst. You can always pick up some used catalyst switches cheap if you only need fast ethernet though.