3 – Managing Fabrics

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Zoning a Fabric

3.4.1.1

Zones

A zone is a named group of ports or devices that can communicate with each other. Membership in a zone can be defined by port number, device Fibre Channel address, or device World Wide Name (WWN). Zone members can communicate only with members of the same zone. Zones can overlap; that is, a port or device can be a member of more than one zone.

Note: Domain ID conflicts can result in automatic reassignment of switch domain IDs. These reassignments are not reflected in zones that use domain ID and port number pairs or Fibre Channel addresses to define their membership. Be sure to reconfigure zones that are affected by a domain ID change. To prevent zoning definitions from becoming invalid when the membership is defined by domain ID/port number or Fibre Channel address, use the Set Config Switch command to lock domain IDs. Refer to the ”Set Config Command” on page A-24.

Three types of zones are supported. The following zone types define increasing restrictive levels of communication.

Soft zone

Access Control List (ACL) - hard zone

Virtual Private Fabric (VPF) - hard zone

3.4.1.1.1

Soft Zones

Soft zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling discovery. Members of 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. Soft zones that include members from multiple switches need not include the ports of the inter-switch links. Soft zone boundaries yield to ACL and VPF 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, port ID and domain ID, or worldwide name. Soft zoning supports all port modes.

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Q-Logic 59022-03 D manual Soft Zones