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50 Managing fabrics
Zoning a fabric
If EFCM or HAFM are used to manage the fabric, it is recommended to use EFCM or HAFM to manage
the fabric zoning. If EFCM or HAFM are not used and other McDATA switch models are in the fabric, it is
recommended to use SANpilot or Embedded Web Server to manage the fabric zoning. If all switches in
the fabric are McDATA 4Gb SAN switches, use the zoning management of these switches as described in
this manual. Zoning enables you to divide the ports and devices of the fabric into zones for more efficient
and secure communication among functionally grouped nodes.
The McDATA 4Gb SAN Switch supports port/domain zoning in Standard/Open Fabric interop mode,
other M-Series directors and edge switches do not. Therefore, only WWN zoning is supported in
Standard/Open Fabric interop mode when McDATA 4Gb SAN Switch is attached to other McDATA
switches. FC address zoning is not supported by other McDATA switches, and is not recommended for use
in McDATA 4Gb SAN Switch.
This subsection addresses the following topics:
• Zoning concepts, page 50
• Managing the zoning database, page 52
• Managing zone sets, page 56
• Managing zones, page 58
• Managing aliases, page 60
• Merging fabrics and zoning, page 61
Zoning concepts
The following zoning concepts provide some context for the zoning tasks described in this section:
• Zones, page 50
• Aliases, page 50
• Zone sets, page 51
• Zoning database, page 51
Zones
A zone is a named group of ports, devices, or aliases that can communicate with each other. Membership
in a zone can be defined by switch domain ID and port number, or device World Wide Name (WWN).
Devices within a zone can only communicate with other devices in the same zone. Zones can overlap; that
is, a device can participate in more than one zone. Zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling
discovery. Devices within the same zone automatically discover and communicate freely with all other
members of the same zone. The zone boundary is not secure; traffic across zones can occur if addressed
correctly. Zones that include members from multiple switches need not include the ports of the inter-switch
links.
• WWN entries define zone membership by the World Wide Name of the attached device. With this
membership method, you can move WWN member devices to different switch ports in different zones
without having to edit the member entry as you would with a domain ID/port number member.
Furthermore, unlike FCID members, WWN zone members are not affected by changes in the fabric
that could change the FC address of an attached device.
• Domain ID/Port number entries define zone membership by switch domain ID and port number. All
devices attached to the specified port become members of the zone. The specified port must be an
F_Port or an FL_Port.
Aliases
To make it easier to add a group of ports or devices to one or more zones, you can create an alias. An
alias is a named set of ports or devices that are grouped together for convenience. Unlike zones, aliases
impose no communication restrictions between its members. You can add an alias to one or more zones.
However, you cannot add a zone to an alias, nor can an alias be a member of another alias.