Device Access
Soft Zones
Soft zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling device discovery. Devices in the same soft zone automatically discover and communicate freely with all other members of the same zone. The soft zone boundary is not secure; traffic across soft zones can occur if addressed correctly. The following rules apply to soft zones:
•Soft zones that include members from multiple switches need not include the ports of the
•Soft zone boundaries yield to ACL zone boundaries.
•Soft zones can overlap; that is, a port can be a member of more than one soft zone.
•Membership can be defined by Fibre Channel address, domain ID and port number, or port worldwide name.
•Soft zoning supports FL_Ports and F_Ports.
Access Control List Hard Zones
Access Control List (ACL) zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling discovery and inbound traffic. ACL zoning is a type of hard zoning that is hardware enforced. This type of zoning is useful for controlling access to certain devices without totally isolating them from the fabric. Members can communicate with each other and transmit outside the ACL zone, but cannot receive inbound traffic from outside the zone. The following rules apply to ACL zones:
•The ACL zone boundary is secure against inbound traffic.
•ACL zones can overlap; that is, a port can be a member of more than one ACL zone.
•ACL zones that include members from multiple switches need not include the ports of the
•ACL zone boundaries supersede soft zone boundaries.
•Membership can be defined only by domain ID and port number. A switch module port can be a member of multiple ACL zones whose combined membership does not exceed 64.
Planning