Avocent SWITCHVIEW OSD - Operation manual

i
Installer/User Guide
SwitchView® OSD

INSTRUCTIONS
This symbol is intended to alert the user to the presence of important
operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature
accompanying the appliance.
DANGEROUS VOLTAGE
This symbol is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated
dangerous voltage within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient
magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.
POWER ON
This symbol indicates the principle on/off switch is in the on position.
POWER OFF
This symbol indicates the principle on/off switch is in the off position.
PROTECTIVE GROUNDING TERMINAL
This symbol indicates a terminal which must be connected to earth ground
prior to making any other connections to the equipment.

SwitchView
®
OSD
Installer/User Guide
Avocent, the Avocent logo, the Power of Being There,
SwitchView and AutoView are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Avocent Corporation or its affiliates. All other
marks are the property of their respective owners.
© 2004 Avocent Corporation. All rights reserved.

FCC Notification
Warning: Changes or modifications to this unit not expressly approved by the party
responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.
Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for
a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are
designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the
equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This equipment generates,
uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in
accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio
communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential area is likely to
cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the
interference at his own expense.
Canadian Notification
This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class A limits for radio noise emissions
from digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian
Department of Communications.
Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les
limites applicables aux appareils numériques de la classe A prescrites dans le Règle-
ment sur le brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le Ministère des Communications
du Canada.
VCCI Approvals
Agency Approvals
UL 1950, CSA C22. 2 No. 950, EN60950, IEC 950
FCC part 15A, EN55022, EN50082

SwitchView
®
OSD Installer/User Guide
Contents
Chapter 1 - Product Overview
Feature Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Chapter 2 - Installation
Basic Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Advanced Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Chapter 3 - Basic Operations
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Keyboard Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Keyboard Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
System Control & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Chapter 4 - On-Screen Display Operation
Activating OSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
The OSD Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Command Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Basic Channel Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The ID Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Administrator Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 5 - Channel Scanning
Choosing a Scanning Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Setting the Scanning Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Turning Scanning On and Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Setting the Scanning Dwell Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Scanning and Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 6 - Appendices
A: Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
B: Pairing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
C: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

CHAPTER
Product Overview
Contents
Feature Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1

Chapter 1: Product Overview 3
Product Overview
Feature Overview
The SwitchView OSD allows you to control up to 64 PCs with one keyboard,
monitor and mouse. Each computer can be up to 30 feet away from the
SwitchView OSD. The SwitchView OSD works with IBM PC/AT and PS/2
systems, and 100% compatible machines with support for VGA, SVGA, XGA
and XGA-II video. PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse peripherals are supported
through the rear of the unit.
Expansion for up to 64 computers
A SwitchView OSD unit will support from one to eight attached PCs, or
channels. If more than eight channels are needed, multiple units can be
cascaded together for expansion. Up to 2 tiers of units can be connected for
a total of 64 attached computers in one system.
AutoBoot technology
The AutoBoot feature boots all attached servers during initial power-up
or after a power failure. PCs are booted transparently without operator
intervention, and may be powered-up one-at-a-time or all at once. When
the power stabilizes, a channel may be selected. The first available channel
is automatically selected upon power-up of the base SwitchView OSD.
On-screen display capability
Configure and control your SwitchView OSD with on-screen menuing!
Name your computer channels anything you wish, then select the desired
computer from an easy-to-use menu. Secondary menus let you configure
and initiate channel scanning and other system features.
Advanced security for total control over system access
Use the advanced bi-level security feature to configure and control server
access for every type of user in the system. The administrator has full
access privileges; individual users can have viewing or viewing/editing
capability for each attached server.
IntelliMouse support
The SwitchView OSD offers full support for the Microsoft IntelliMouse.
OSD Configuration Utility
The OSD Configuration Utility allows the administrator to easily configure
and download a channel list with defined users and access privileges to the

4SwitchView OSD Installer/User Guide
entire system. This utility will also read and save your current configura-
tion for extra security.
Push-button & keyboard switching
In addition to using the on-screen menus, you can switch computer chan-
nels with a simple keyboard sequence. You can also cycle through active
channels with SwitchView OSD’s select button.
“Keep Alive” feature
SwitchView OSD’s “Keep Alive ”feature allows attached servers to power the
unit in the event of a SwitchView OSD power failure. This prevents attached
PCs from locking up and keeps you from losing time and data.
Built-in scanning capabilities
A built-in scanning feature allows you to automatically monitor, or scan,
your PCs without intervention. When keyboard activity is detected, scan-
ning is suspended until all activity stops. Scanning then resumes with the
next channel in sequence.
Figure 1 A typical SwitchView OSD configuration is shown below.
Compatibility
XGA/XGA-II support
If you wish to use XGA or XGA-II video, you will need to purchase an
adaptor available through Avocent.

CHAPTER
Installation
Contents
Basic Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Advanced Install . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2

Chapter 2: Installation 7
Installation
Basic Install
1. Power-down all computers that will be part of your SwitchView OSD system.
Connecting your Peripherals
2. Locate your PS/2 keyboard, VGA video monitor and PS/2 mouse.
3. Plug your VGA monitor cable into the blue port on the back of your
SwitchView OSD in the user console section. Plug your PS/2 keyboard
cable into the purple port and your PS/2 mouse cable into the green
port.

8SwitchView OSD Installer/User Guide
Connecting Computers to the SwitchView OSD
4. Locate your first expansion cable. There will be one 6-foot cable ending
with three connectors on each end: one 15-pin “HDD ” for your video,
one 6-pin miniDIN connector for a PS/2 keyboard connection, and one
6-pin miniDIN connector for a PS/2 mouse connection.
Choose an available port, labeled A-H, on the rear of your
SwitchView OSD unit. Plug the video expansion cable connector into the
blue port of your chosen channel. Plug the PS/2 keyboard expansion
cable connector into the purple port. Plug the mouse expansion cable
connector into the appropriate green port.
5. Plug the remaining ends of the video, PS/2 keyboard and mouse expan-
sion cables into the matching ports on your computer.
6. Locate your next set of expansion cables. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all
computers are properly attached to the SwitchView OSD.
B

Chapter 2: Installation 9
7. Locate the power cord that came with your SwitchView OSD unit. Plug
it into the power socket on the rear of the SwitchView OSD unit. Plug the
other end into an appropriate AC wall outlet.
8. Power-up your SwitchView OSD unit first, then power-up all
attached computers.
The SwitchView OSD and all attached computers should be powered-down before
servicing the unit. Always disconnect the power cord from the wall outlet.

10 SwitchView OSD Installer/User Guide
Advanced Install
Attaching Multiple SwitchView OSD Units to your System
1. Follow steps 1-6 of the Basic Install section.
2. Locate an available set of expansion cables. Choose an unused port,
labeled A-H, on the rear of your SwitchView OSD unit. Plug the video
expansion cable connector into the blue port of your chosen channel.
Plug the PS/2 keyboard expansion cable connector into the purple
port. Plug the PS/2 mouse expansion cable connector into the green PS/2
port.
3. Plug the remaining end of the video expansion cable into the blue port
of the user console section on your second SwitchView OSD unit. Plug the
PS/2 keyboard expansion cable connector into the purple port. Plug
the PS/2 mouse expansion cable connector into the green port.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for every cascaded SwitchView OSD unit in your system.
5. Power-up your SwitchView OSD units first, then power-up all
attached computers.

CHAPTER
Basic Operations
Contents
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Keyboard Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Keyboard Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
System Control & Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3

Chapter 3: Basic Operations 13
Basic Operations
Overview
Your SwitchView OSD may be operated in a non secure (no password
required) or secure (password required) mode. All units ship defaulted to
the non-secure mode. For information on implementing password security
see the “Administrator Functions ”section of chapter 4.
PCs may be powered-up one-at-a-time or all at once. No operator interven-
tion is required during booting. When the system stabilizes, a PC may be
selected via the on-screen display menu or keyboard hot-key sequence.
As the system stabilizes, the green LED over each channel will light,
indicating that the attached computer is powered on. A PC may now be
selected via the on-screen display menu or, if you are in non-secure mode,
the Select button or keyboard hot-key sequence. The amber LED will light
at the active computer.
AE
SELECT
BCD FGH

14 SwitchView OSD Installer/User Guide
Keyboard Control
The following notational conventions appear throughout this chapter to illus-
trate commands for operating the SwitchView OSD. Whenever you see one of
the symbols listed on the left side of the table, substitute the corresponding
steps or values listed on the right side of the table.
Convention Key Sequence or Value
<CM> Enter Command Mode:
1. Press and hold down the ‘Num Lock’ key.
2. Press and release the minus (-) key on the numeric keypad.
3. Release the ‘Num Lock’ key.
Note: For alternate hot-key sequences, see ‘System Control &
Maintenance’ later in this chapter.
<Enter> Press the ‘Enter’ or ‘Return’ key. The <Enter> command is
used to execute an instruction and exit from Command Mode.
Addr The letters over the LEDs on your SwitchView OSD
are your PCs' addresses. Enter the letter, A-H, for
the PC you're selecting. For cascaded systems, enter
the address of the base unit followed by the channel
of the system you want to select.
Example: You have a SwitchView OSD unit cascaded from
channel B of your base unit. To access the PC at channel C of
this second (cascaded) unit, enter BC.
<ESC> Press the ‘Escape’ key. The <ESC> command is used to exit
Command Mode without executing an instruction.