306 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
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Zone management in interoperable fabrics
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Zone management in interoperable fabrics

McDATA Fabric and McDATA Open Fabric modes support zone activation using an M-series
management tool such as such as Data Center Fabric Manager (DCFM) or Web Tools. The
command line interface (CLI) can also be used as a zone management tool for both IM2 and IM3.
CLI commands are very limited in IM3. CLI commands for IM3 are available for Frame Redirect
support. All management tools can be launched at one time. Although, nothing prevents you from
attempting to make changes to the zone configuration at the same time, DCFM is the preferred
management tool.
The Defined Database is where special zones, such as, Frame Redirection and Traffic Isolation
zones, reside on Fabric OS switches. When joining switches in a mixed fabric, the Defined
Database does not merge with the M-series switch zoning databases. McDATA Fabric and McDATA
Open Fabric modes support zone activation, which allows fabric-wide and stand-alone zone
configurations, for Traffic Isolation and Frame Redirection only. You can create new zones, modify
existing zones, and then save these configurations to the Defined Database on the local Fabric OS
switch. This allows the distribution of the Defined Database to all Fabric OS switches in McDATA
Fabric mode in the case where the Fabric OS switches are used to control zone management for TI
and FR zones. When joining switches in a mixed fabric, the Defined Database does not merge with
M-series switches.

Zoning restrictions

Before creating or configuring a zone, note the following zoning characteristics and requirements
for McDATA Fabric and McDATA Open Fabric modes:
•There are four zoning limits that must be met:
-Maximum Number of Zones – 2047 (+1 for the default zone)
-Maximum Number of Members per Zone – 4096
-Maximum Number of Unique Zone Members per Zone Set – 4096
-Maximum Zone Set Definition Size – 2048 Kb
•IM2 and IM3 support LSAN zones to export devices across an FCR backbone. The FCR
backbone cannot be in IM2 or IM3, it must be in IM0.
•Only zoning by port WWN is allowed in IM3 only; you must use the port WWN of the device,
such as 10:00:00:00:c9:28:c7:c6.
•Zone members specified by node WWN are ignored.
•Zone database is managed on the DCFM management server.
•Fabric OS switches connected to M-EOS switches receive the effective configuration when a
zone merge occurs. (M-EOS only has an effective zone configuration and discards the defined
zone configuration when it sends merge information to the Fabric OS switch.) However, a zone
update sends the defined and effective configuration to all switches in the fabric.
•When no zoning configuration is in effect, and without default zoning enabled on an M-EOS
switch, by default, all ports are isolated and traffic is not permitted. This is unlike Brocade
behavior with Brocade Native mode enabled (and all data traffic is enabled). If the default zone
is disabled and there is no active configuration, then no device can communicate with any
other device in the fabric if zoning is disabled on a Fabric OS switch.
•Defining zones in the effective configuration or the Defined Database is allowed in IM2 only.
•Legacy McDATA switches do not support the Defined Database or merge propagation.