3 – Managing Fabrics
Zoning
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FCID entries define zone membership by the Fibre Channel address of the
attached device. With this membership method you can replace a device on
the same port without having to edit the member entry as you would with a
WWN member.
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.
3.7.3.2
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.
3.7.3.3
Zone Sets
A zone set is a named group of zones. A zone can be a member of more than one
zone set. Each switch in the fabric maintains its own zoning database containing
one or more zone sets. This zoning database resides in non-volatile or permanent
memory and is therefore retained after a reset. Refer to ”Configured Zonesets
Data Window” on page 3-15 for information about displaying the zoning database.
To apply zoning to a fabric, choose a zone set and activate it. When you activate a
zone set, the switch distributes that zone set and its zones, excluding aliases, to
every switch in the fabric. This zone set is known as the active zone set. Refer to
”Active Zone Set Data Window” on page 3-14 for information about displaying the
active zone set.
NOTE: Zones that are currently not in a zone set are considered to be part of
the “orphan zone set”. The orphan zone set is not an actual zone set,
but rather a way of displaying the zones that are not currently in a zone
set.