Chapter 2. Installation
Multilevel Installations
The number of computers that can be added to your installation can be greatly expanded by performing a multilevel installation. The KM0216 / KM0432 supports three types of multilevel installation:
Daisy chained
Cascaded
Daisy chained plus cascaded
Overview
Daisy chaining refers to connecting two KVM switches via dedicated daisy chain ports. The switches are strung together in a chain (see the diagram on page 21), similar to the way children make chains of daisies by tying the end of one daisy to the head of another.
When daisy chaining, none of the switch's KVM ports are used to connect to the next switch. The port capacity of a daisy chained installation is the total of all the KVM ports of all the KVM switches on the chain. For example, a KM0432 has 32 KVM ports. On an installation with eight daisy chained switches the number of available ports is 32 x 8 = 256.
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. With numerous Child switches linked down from the parent, the effect is reminiscent of the way water cascades down over a waterfall. Cascading adds capacity to a KVM installation, but the parent loses one KVM port for each cascaded KVM.
The KM0216 / KM0432 supports both daisy chaining and cascading. In addition, it supports combining the
Daisy Chaining
Up to 7 additional KM0216 / KM0432 units can be daisy chained together; each capable of supporting four independent consoles. The first KM0216 / KM0432 is considered the Master unit; the daisy chained KM0216 / KM0432s are considered Slaves.
In a complete daisy chained installation, the two (KM0216) or four (KM0432) consoles that belong to the Master switch can access and control all of the computers (up to 128 or 256) on the installation. The two / four consoles
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