If the channel is left programmed as Plug and Play, it will generally default the camera to the required settings when you plug the camera in (if the admin passwords match it does this whether you like it or not)
My preferred method is to set it up like this and it should be done with the cameras disconnected from the PoE ports:
- Manually program each camera IP address and admin password...nothing else. I use a PoE adaptor but as you have a PoE switch use that. Set camera 1 to 192.168.254.101, camera 2 to 192.168.254.102 and so on. Set just the IP address and the admin password, nothing else, no need to touch the gateway even if it appears wrong.
- In the NVR, edit each PoE channel. Change auto to Manual, enter the IP address for each channel as above. If your NVR uses the same admin password you can just check the box for 'use channel default'. Again no other changes needed. Click apply. After 10 seconds or so the entry on the camera page will update showing the correct address.
- Once you've programmed each channel - plug the camera into the correct port.
The reason I do it this way is that it's easier to swap out cameras later. If I replace 'Camera 5' with a different model, I just pre-program it to 192.168.254.105 and set its password then physically swap the camera - back online with the same address .
FYI - the reason you set up the port with the camera disconnected...is as I mentioned in the first paragraph. If you were to have program the camera with an IP address and password, then plug it into a channel set as plug and play on an NVR using the same password, it'll just fail to connect fro a short time then reprogram the camera the camera IP address undoing what you did in step 1 - really annoying.