Aliases, Zone sets, Zoning database – HP 8.20q Fibre Channel Switch User Manual
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HP SN6000 Fibre Channel Switch QuickTools Switch Management User Guide
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A zone can be a component of more than one zone set. Several zone sets can be defined for a fabric, but
only one zone set can be active at one time. The active zone set determines the zoning of the fabric.
Membership in a zone can be defined by switch domain ID and port number, device FCID, or device
WWN.
•
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 Fibre Channel address of an attached device.
•
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.
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 a zone, an alias
imposes 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.
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. See ”
” (page 34) for information about displaying the zoning database.
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.
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. See ”
” (page 33) for information about
displaying the active zone set.
Zoning database
Each switch has its own zoning database. The zoning database is made up of all aliases, zones, and zone
sets that have been created on the switch or received from other switches. The switch maintains two copies
of the inactive zoning database: one copy is maintained in temporary memory for editing purposes; the
second copy is maintained in permanent memory. Zoning database edits are made on an individual
switch basis and are not propagated to other switches in the fabric when saved.
The Merge Auto Save parameter determines whether changes to the active zone set that a switch receives
from another switch in the fabric will be saved to permanent memory on that switch. See ”
” (page 39) for information about zoning configuration.