Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 192)

The transaction state after the merge depends on which switch is elected as the principal RBridge.
The newly elected principal RBridge retains the same transaction information it had before the merge.
Transaction data is discarded from any switch that lost its principal status during the merge.
• Merge conflicts
When a merge conflict is present, a merge does not take place and the ISLs will segment.
If the fabrics have different zone configuration data, the system attempts to merge the two sets of zone
configuration data. If the zones cannot merge, the ISLs will be segmented.
• A merge is not possible under any of the following conditions:
‐ Configuration mismatch: Zoning is enabled in both fabrics and the zone configurations that
are enabled are different in each fabric.
‐ Zone Database Size: The zone database size exceeds the maximum limit of another
switch.
NOTE
If the zone members on two switches are not listed in the same order, the configuration is considered
a mismatch, and the switches will segment from the fabric. For example: cfg1 = z1; z2 is different
from cfg1 = z2; z1 , even though the members of the configuration are the same. If zone
members on two switches have the same names defined in the configuration, make sure the zone
members are listed in the same order.
Fabric segmentation and zoning
If the connections between two fabrics are no longer available, the fabric segments into two separate
fabrics. Each new fabric retains the previous zone configuration.
If the connections between two fabrics are replaced and no changes have been made to the zone
configuration in either of the two fabrics, the two fabrics can merge back into one single fabric. If any
changes that cause a conflict have been made to either zone configuration, a fabric merge may fail.
Zone merging scenarios
The following tables provide information on merging zones and the expected results.
Zone merging scenarios: Defined and enabled configurations TABLE 33
Description Switch A Switch B Expected results
Switch A has a defined
configuration.
Switch B does not have a
defined configuration.
defined:cfg1 zone1:
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8a;
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8b
enabled: none
defined: none
enabled: none
Configuration from Switch A
propagates throughout the fabric in an
inactive state, because the
configuration is not enabled.
Switch A has a defined and
enabled configuration.
Switch B has a defined
configuration but no enabled
configuration.
defined: cfg1 zone1:
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8a;
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8b
enabled: cfg1
defined: cfg1 zone1:
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8a;
10:00:00:90:69:00:00:8b
enabled: none
Configuration from Switch A
propagates throughout the fabric. The
configuration is enabled after the
merge in the fabric.
Fabric segmentation and zoning
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