HP Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch for HP BladeSystem p-Class - Manual (Page 138)

138 Administering advanced zoning
• Merging and segmentation—The fabric is checked for segmentation during power-up or when a
switch is disabled or enabled, or when a new switch is added.
Two databases are used with zoning. The first database is the zone configuration database. This is
the data displayed as the
defined configuration
in the
cfgShow
command. It is stored in
nonvolatile memory by the
cfgSave
command. This database is a replicated database, which means
that all switches in the fabric has a copy of this database. When a change is made to the defined
configuration, the switch where the changes were made must close its transaction for the change to
get propagated throughout the fabric.
• Merging rules—Observe the following rules when merging zones:
• Merging two fabrics—Both fabrics have identical zones and configurations enabled. The two fabrics
join to make one larger fabric with the same zone configuration across the newly created fabric.
If the two fabrics have different zoning configurations, they are merged. If the two fabrics cannot join,
the ISL between the switches are segmented.
• Merge conflicts—When a merge conflict is present, a merge does not take place and the ISL
segments. Use the
switchshow
command to obtain additional information about possible merge
conflicts, because many non-zone related configuration parameters can cause conflicts
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 ISL segmenteds.
A merge is not possible if any of the following conditions exist:
Local and adjacent configurations If the local and adjacent zone database
configurations are the same, they remain unchanged
after the merge.
Effective configurations If there is an effective configuration between two
switches, the zone configuration in effect match.
Zone object naming If a zoning object has the same name in both the
local and adjacent defined configurations, the object
types and member lists must match. When comparing
member lists, the content and order of the members
are important.
Objects in adjacent
configurations
If a zoning object appears in an adjacent defined
configuration, but not in the local defined
configuration, the zoning object is added to the local
defined configuration. The modified zone database
must fit in the nonvolatile memory area allotted for the
zone database.
Local configuration modification If a local defined configuration is modified because
of a merge, the new zone database is propagated to
other the switches within the merge request.
Configuration mismatch Zoning is enabled in both fabrics and the zone configurations
that are enabled are different in each fabric.
Type mismatch The name of a zone object in one fabric is used for a different
type of zone object in the other fabric.
Content mismatch The definition of a zone object in one fabric is different from
the definition of zone object with the same name in the other
fabric.