Dell PowerVault 56F (16P Fibre Channel Switch) - Manual (Page 21)

support.dell.com Using Zoning 3-3
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When configuring switches in a fabric, optimize the fabric performance based on the
most significant expected use.
NOTES: Except for unique identifiers such as the switch name, domain name, and IP
address, all switches in a fabric must have the same firmware configuration. Switches
that are configured differently are isolated from the fabric.
Live switches may be cascaded; however, the domain IDs must be different. If the
domain IDs of any of the switches are identical, the fabric will segment and a fabric
segment error will be reported. This problem can be resolved by rebooting one of the
switches with a conflicting domain ID.
PowerVault 51F and higher switches run on version 2.0 of the software only. To be
compatible with the PowerVault 50F software, these switches must be configured
using VC Encoded Address Mode, which limits the switch count in a fabric to 32 and
the number of multicast groups to 31. Refer to your switch’s Installation and Trouble-
shooting Guide for more information.
Cascaded topologies using multiple switches give switching system designers a
powerful, flexible set of resources to create a high-performance, robust storage area
network (SAN) or data center backbone.
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A new fabric contains no zone configuration information. When you connect a new
fabric to an existing zoned fabric, all switches in the new fabric inherit the zone config-
uration data. If a zone configuration is enabled, the same configuration becomes
enabled in the new switches. After this operation, the cfgShow command displays
the same output on all switches in the joined fabric, including the new switches.
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NOTE: To modify a zoned fabric, Dell recommends that you never change an existing
zone, but rather replace it with a newly configured zone.
1. Map out the desired fabric changes.
See Figure 1-1 in Chapter 1, "Introduction," for an example of a zoned fabric.
2. Define the new core aliases.
3. Delete the unwanted core aliases.
4. Define the new zones.
5. Delete the unwanted (old) zones.
6. Save the configuration.
NOTE: Dell recommends that you save a new configuration under a different
name than the currently enabled configuration so that your current configuration
will remain available in case the new configuration fails.