Strange log message. Is this an error?

Tnx för the notify. I am in the middle of it, but will of course give feedback within a few days.

Regards
Peo

Around 170 hours of uptime now since I powered up this new RMA replaced switch January 23.

Now… This just appeared in my syslog:

Jan 30 16:38:29 switch0.incedo.org  2025-01-30T15:38:31Z switch0.incedo.org system: PoE power usage exceeds 95% threshold, remaining power is 0.0W

Jan 30 16:38:30 switch0.incedo.org  2025-01-30T15:38:33Z switch0.incedo.org system: PoE power usage is less than 95% threshold, remaining power is 327.3W

The switch was powered up jan 23, and this message came jan 30. As with the old switch before it was replaced, it was just EXACTLY 1 second and no port flap or data interruption. And again, normal total power draw is less than 50W. And its possible max value is around 10-20 W more. The network had no load at all at the time of this log event.

switch0.incedo.org> show poe
  PoE Mode : Consumption mode

  Total Power:375.0(W)
  PoE Usage:12(%)
  PoE Usage Threshold:95(%)
  Consuming Power:45.3(W)
  Allocated Power:NA  
  Remaining Power:329.7(W) 

  Averaged Junction Temperature: 34 (c), 93 (f).

  Port   State   PD  Class  Priority       Power-Up  Consumption (W)  MaxPower(W)  

  ----  ------  ---  -----  --------  -------------  ---------------  -----------  

     1  Enable   On      4       Low        802.3bt              5.6            -  
     2  Enable   On      5       Low        802.3bt             10.8            -  
     3  Enable   On      5       Low        802.3bt             10.7            -  
     4  Enable   On      5       Low        802.3bt             10.8            -  
     5  Enable  Off      0       Low        802.3bt              0.0            -  
     6  Enable   On      0       Low        802.3bt              5.3            -  
     7  Enable   On      4       Low  Force-802.3at              2.1            -  
     8  Enable  Off      0       Low        802.3bt              0.0            -  

And again… with the newly replaced switch, no ports flapped or anything when this happened. Everything worked as intended. It could bee seen that “show interfaces status” still show long uptime and that data sessions to the PoE powered devices did not go down. 

The fans dis not spin up when the switch logged this 95%+ power draw. This can bee seen on the fan MAX value that is very near the current rpm.

switch0.incedo.org> show hardware-monitor C
  Temperature Unit : (C)
  Temperature(%c)  Current    Max    Min  Threshold  Status  
  ---------------  -------  -----  -----  ---------  ------  
              MAC     35.0   37.0   20.0       85.0  Normal  
            BOARD     32.0   34.0   23.0      110.0  Normal  
              PHY     33.0   35.0   20.0       83.0  Normal  

  FAN Speed(RPM) Current  Max  Min Threshold Status Detect 
  -------------- ------- ---- ---- --------- ------ ------ 
            FAN1    3805 3837 3573       500 Normal        
            FAN2    3784 3827 3670       500 Normal        
 
  Voltage(V)  Current     Max     Min  Threshold  Status  
  ----------  -------  ------  ------  ---------  ------  
        3.3V    3.325   3.325   3.325    +6%/-6%  Normal  
         12V   12.093  12.093  12.093  +10%/-10%  Normal  

Now.. What real facts to we have?

• I have had another PoE switch for those PoE powered units with no issues at all. 
• It seems the messages that logs and restore 95%+ power draw is always exactly 1 second (strange! isn´t it?)
• It is impossible for my connected PoE powered units to draw this amount of power without a short circuit (Max worst case power for all six devices according to its devices specs are 5+4.5+13.5+4x26.4=128.6W. But According to the switch it mostly draw 45-48W in total during std usage.) The same comment has come from @FlamencoAssassin in the forum.
• No port flap or network outage caused by it
• This issue is not related to a specific switch as I have had it replaced over RMA as well as it has been seen for others as well. This message has “probably” been there for a lot of other people as well as you only notice it if looking into the logs. Most people only look there if the have seen real problems.
• As a single PoE++ port can deliver max of around 71W it is therefore a conclusion that not a single port wire short circuit could cause this message.

And what conclusions can we draw from this?

I have been around regarding software development, networking etc for over 20 years, but I am of course not a switch supplier. So this is my guess…

• Either a hardware bug in the whole product line of this switch OR a switch firmware bug

You could maybe add some debug log flags into the firmware to enable in the running config. If so, it is maybe possible to see what is happening. As it is now, I as a customer and you as supplier are blind to the ground cause of this message.

PS
I have NOT (not YET) seen the…

system: PethPse Port <NUM> - <PORT NAME> OnOff Trap Port Detection Status is Delivering Power

system: PethPse Port <NUM> - <PORT NAME> OnOff Trap Port Detection Status is Searching

on this newly replaced switch. Also a message that did not cause port flap or network outage. But I guess time will tell if these will come too…

The positive thing is that everything continues to work as it should without any outage. So the switch delivers and perform without interruption. But still…. What are you at Zyxel suggesting and what are you going to do about this issue?

Hi

Today this came in the syslog again…

Feb 10 14:24:26 switch0.incedo.org  2025-02-10T13:24:28Z switch0.incedo.org system: PoE power usage exceeds 95% threshold, remaining power is 0.0W
Feb 10 14:24:27 switch0.incedo.org  2025-02-10T13:24:30Z switch0.incedo.org system: PoE power usage is less than 95% threshold, remaining power is 326.7W

Again.. No port went down and no traffic stopped flowing…

I do not like this. The ONLY thing that stops me from yelling with capital letters is that the switch actually works very well and as intended despite these log messages coming from it.

As I have 6 PoE powered devices and PoE++ has a max capacity of 60W per port, even max on all ports cannot reach this logged power consumption. Well. If the switch would log 100% power on each port, i.e 60Wx6 it would be 96% of the 375W power budget. Then it could maybe log this. A switch bug of course then…

The Aruba 535 APs also has IPM (intelligent power monitoring). And the log from those did not say anything about reducing power. I.e they had plenty of power with no problem whatsoever.

What is your comment on this? Yes it is hard to guess anything else except a bug in the Switch! Hardware or firmware !

Also…

2025-02-09T19:22:10Z switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 6 - Switch2-attic OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Searching
2025-02-09T19:22:10Z switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 7 - Axis-garage-2 OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Searching
2025-02-09T19:22:11Z switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 6 - Switch2-attic OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Delivering Power
2025-02-09T19:22:11Z switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 7 - Axis-garage-2 OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Delivering Power

as the switch at other times than the 95% PoE power usage above have said "Search" and "Delivering" power on new newly replaced switch as well, and actually on the same two PoE powered units (units that I know are ok), I have set this as a test…

pwr interface 6 max-power 10000
pwr interface 7 max-power 10000
pwr interface 6 power-up 802.3at
pwr interface 7 power-up 802.3at 

The old Netgear ProSAFE 3300 28x-PoE switch was 802.3at and did not have this many PoE settings. The other 4 PoE powered units are very high quality business Aruba APs (1 x 505 plus 3 x 535) that are top of the line (left on default PoE settings 802.3bt). Testing these settings to see if it can be a compatibility issue between the switch and the connected devices. To bad this zyxel switch won't support the "PoE UsageThreshold (%)" command from the manual. If it had, I could maybe see a log message if drawing more power than the set threshold.

What is your comment on this? Yes it is hard to guess anything else except a bug in the Switch! Hardware or firmware !

I can do some testing with you to track this down. But I cannot spent too much time. And I can only do this as the switch actually works as it should despite these messages. Are there any debug or hidden log flags?

Good you are on it regarding log message regarding power outage..

Regarding "Port Detection Status is Searching/Delivering Power,", they have not been seen om my Aruba AP:s. When this occur random , not often....
(a message that I says is a bug in the switch or its firmware)

Feb  9 20:22:10 switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 6 - Switch2-attic OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Searching

Feb  9 20:22:11 switch0.incedo.org system: PethPse Port 6 - Switch2-attic OnOff Trap, Port Detection Status is Delivering Power

The conneced device has no knowledge of that this log message came in the switch (i.e was not affected in any way). The connected device have continous power and works flawlessly despite the messages from the switch. Logging in the conneced device I can see it has a very long uptime (i.e did not lose power), and I can also see that TCP sessions through this device also was intact. If it was a problem and power was lost I would also expect a link down and a link up log event for the connected PoE powered device. But such event did not come.

So the logs above seems to be random ghost log events without affecting anything...

Also note it has been seen on:

• more than one connected PoE device (Cisco SLM 2008 switch and a Axis M3026-VE outdoor web cam)
• occurred a hand full of times over 3 months without any reason
• and also seen on the new RMA replaced switch
• Also note that other people have logged this issue to you too…

However.. these have NOT been seen on my Aruba AP:s. Therefor I have a wild guess that it could be a PoE negotiations issue in firmware. A bug that at least seems to have no real imapact on the function.

What that answer enough to you question @Zyxel_Judy ?