Specifications
22
SERVSWITCH™ AFFINITY
2.4 Cable Requirements
Many switches of this type have what seems like hundreds of 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 ServSwitch Affinity 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 ServSwitch Affinity units, you need two or more ServSwitch
Affinity Expansion Cables for each chassis-to-chassis connection. (Each chassis also
needs to have an Expansion Card installed in it.)
Finally, you can connect the ServSwitch Affinity 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 or 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.
2.5 Equipment Requirements
If the CPUs you will be controlling through your ServSwitch Affinity are not all of
the same type—especially if the CPUs represent completely different hardware
platforms (IBM, Sun, etc.)—you will have to be careful to choose a common
monitor, keyboard, and mouse combination that adequately supports all of the
CPUs. For full details, see Section 3.2.