Hardware-Enforced Zoning; Software-Enforced Zoning - HP AE370A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch 4/12 Administrator's Manual

• Prevents hosts from discovering unauthorized target devices.
• Ensures that the name server does not return any information to an unauthorized initiator in response to
a name server query.
• Is exclusively enforced through selective information presented to end nodes through the fabric Simple
Name Server (SNS). When an initiator queries the name server for accessible devices in the fabric, the
name server returns only those devices that are in the same zone as the initiator. Devices that are not
part of the zone are not returned as accessible devices.
Fabric OS uses hardware-enforced Zoning (on a per-zone basis) whenever the fabric membership or zone
configuration changes.

Software-enforced Zoning

Zoning enables users to restrict access to devices in a fabric. Software-enforced Zoning prevents hosts from
discovering unauthorized target devices, while hardware-enforced Zoning prevents a host from accessing a
device it is not authorized to access.
Software-enforced Zoning:
• Is also called
hardware-assisted Zoning
• Is available on 1 Gbit/sec, 2 Gbit/sec, and 4 Gbit/sec platforms.
• Prevents hosts from discovering unauthorized target devices.
• Ensures that the name server does not return any information to an unauthorized initiator in response to
a name server query.
• Does not prohibit access to the device. If an initiator has knowledge of the network address of a target
device, it does not need to query the Name Server to access it, which could lead to undesired access
to a target device by unauthorized hosts.
• Is exclusively enforced through selective information presented to end nodes through the fabric Simple
Name Server (SNS). When an initiator queries the name server for accessible devices in the fabric, the
soft Zoning Name Server Zoning
,
.
fabric-based Zoning session-based Zoning, or
, ,
Fabric OS 5.2.x administrator guide 347