KH2508 / KH2516 User Manual
Cascaded Installations
The number of computers that can be added to your installation can be greatly expanded by performing a cascaded installation. Cascading involves using the KVM ports of a Parent KVM switch (one that is above a switch linked down from it) to connect to a Child KVM switch. Cascading adds capacity to a KVM installation, but the parent loses at least one KVM port for each cascaded KVM switch.
The KH2508 / KH2516 supports cascading up to 3 levels of KH2508 / KH2516 switches. When the KVM consoles of the
In cascaded installations, the number of bus connections between a parent and child KVM switch determines the number of users that can simultaneously access the KVM ports of a child switch. A bus connection is established by connecting a KVM port on the parent switch to a cascade port on the child switch. The KH2508 / KH2516 supports a maximum of two bus connections for each cascaded KH2508 / KH2516.
In order for both KVM consoles on the
If only a single bus connection is created between a parent switch and a child switch, then only one of the consoles connected to the parent switch will have access to a child switch at any time. However, the second console can still control and access the ports of the parent switch. This is called a blocked cascade configuration (see Blocked Cascade Configuration Installation Diagram, page 23). In a blocked cascade configuration, only one console of each child switch is available to access the KVM ports on the same level or a lower level switch.
KVM consoles connected to cascaded switches cannot access the ports of a parent switch(es) and can perform only port switching and user profile changes; no other administrative functions can be executed.
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