SERVSWITCH™

3.3 Cascading in ServSwitch Systems

In a normal cascaded ServSwitch system, the shared monitor(s), keyboard(s), and mouse (mice) are directly attached to one or more “master” Serv-Switches, while all the CPUs are indirectly attached through “submasters” (subsidiary ServSwitches, ServSwitch Ultras, ServManagers, etc.) that provide port expansion but may or may not perform any control functions of their own. When you cascade in this way, you can expand your system to include up to 256 ports (sixteen 16-port submasters on a 16-port master unit).

CAUTION!

To avoid platform- and peripheral-mismatch problems, take these precautions:

1.In any application involving CPUs belonging to different platforms, we recommend that you use multiplatform Serv type switches (ServSwitch Ultras, ServManagers, etc.) as masters and submasters.

2.If you attach any PC-only submasters to a multiplatform master, make sure you attach o n l y IBM PC compatible CPUs to those submasters.

3.If you use any PC-only masters, we recommend that you use only PC-only submasters. If you must use any ServManager or ServSwitch Ultra submasters, make sure that you have those submasters set for the keyboard and mouse type you’re using with [Ctrl] Mxx [Enter], and make sure that those settings are saved in the submasters’ NVRAM with [Ctrl] K.

4.All of the CPUs attached to any PC-only submaster must use the same type of keyboard and mouse.

You can add submasters to your ServSwitch system as you need them. For each submaster you add to the system, you add as many ports as are on that submaster, minus the one port on each master “above” it that’s now occupied. Refer to Figure 3-2 on the next page:

•Connecting one 4-port submaster Serv unit to a 4-port master ServSwitch (top view) gives you a total of 7 ports: 4 on the submaster and another 3 (4 minus the one that the submaster is attached to) on the master.

•Connecting four 4-port submaster Serv units to a 4-port master ServSwitch (bottom view) gives you a total of 16 ports, 4 on each submaster. (All 4 ports on the master are now occupied.)

When you use Matrix ServSwitches as submasters, the setup is a little more compli- cated. Refer to Figure 3-3 on page 29: Connecting two 4-port Matrix ServSwitch submasters to an 8-port ServSwitch master gives you a total of 14 ports on that master. (Each of the masters in Figure 3-3 can access 14 ports, but while both masters share CPUs 1 through 8, CPUs 9 through 14 on either master can only be accessed by the monitors, keyboards, and mice on that master. Note that when we

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Black Box KV3108SA-R4, SW722A-R4, SW721A-R4, SW724A-R4, SW723A-R4, SW725A-R4 manual Cascading in ServSwitch Systems
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SW725A-R4, SW722A-R4, SW723A-R4, KV3108SA-R4, SW724A-R4 specifications

The Black Box SW721A-R4, SW724A-R4, KV3108SA-R4, SW723A-R4, and SW722A-R4 are cutting-edge network switches that cater to the demanding needs of modern data environments. These models are designed to provide high performance, reliability, and advanced features suitable for both enterprise-level deployments and smaller networks.

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