Black Box ServSwitch manual Cable Requirements, Equipment Requirements

MATRIX SERVSWITCH™

2.5 Cable Requirements

Many switches of this type have what seems like ten million connectors on their rear panels: one for each CPU’s video cable, one for each keyboard cable, and a third for each mouse cable. The potential for tangling or mismatching cables is high.

By contrast, you can connect the Matrix ServSwitch to your CPUs with one CPU Cable (also called a “CPU Adapter Cable”) for each CPU. This single cable reaches the CPU’s video-output, keyboard, and mouse ports.

To connect other Matrix ServSwitches, you need two Matrix ServSwitch Expansion Cables for each chassis-to-chassis connection. (Each chassis also needs to have an Expansion Module installed in it.)

Finally, you can connect the Matrix ServSwitch to the shared monitors, keyboards, and mice with one User Cable (also called an “MKM Adapter Cable”) for each keyboard/monitor/mouse user station.

The exact variety or varieties of these cables that you’ll need will depend on the equipment you are connecting for your application. Refer to Appendix B for the available types of these cables and the corresponding product codes. Also refer to Chapter 1 and the Caution notice in Section 3.3.1 for information about maximum cabling distances.

NOTES

SVGA (over longer distances) and XGA video place special demands on cabling that the regular CPU Cables and User Cables typically cannot meet. For these applications, you should use coaxial cables that can carry video signals not only farther but also at higher resolutions. See Appendix B and the Caution notice in Section 3.3.1. You’ll also need a “Mac

Adapter for ServSwitch” (KV99MA) for each Mac CPU outputting high-res (greater than 640 x 480) video.

2.6 Equipment Requirements

If the CPUs you will be controlling through your Matrix ServSwitch are not all of the same type—especially if you’re using multiplatform Switches and the CPUs represent completely different hardware platforms (IBM, Sun, etc.)—you will have to be careful to choose a common monitor, keyboard, and mouse that adequately support all of the CPUs. For full details, see Section 3.2.

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