Merging Fabrics And Zoning; Zone Merge Failure; Zone Merge Failure Recovery - HP StorageWorks 8/20q User Manual

Merging fabrics and zoning

If you join two fabrics with an inter-switch link, the active zone sets from the two fabrics attempt to merge
automatically. The fabrics may consist of a single switch or many switches already connected together. The
switches in the two fabrics attempt to create a new active zone set containing the union of each fabric's
active zone set. The propagation of zoning information affects only the active zone set, not the configured
zone sets, unless Merge Auto Save is turned on.

Zone merge failure

If a zone merge is unsuccessful, the inter-switch links between the fabrics become isolated due to the zone
merge failure, which generates an alarm. The reason for the E_Port isolation can also be determined by
viewing the port information. See
A zone merge will fail if the two active zone sets have member zones with identical names, but differ in
membership or type. For example, consider Fabric A and Fabric B each with a zone named ZN1 in its
active zone set. Fabric A ZN1 contains a member specified by Domain ID 1 and Port 1; Fabric B ZN1
contains a member specified by Domain ID 1 and Port 2. In this case, the merge would fail because the
two zones have the same name, but different membership.
A zone merge may also fail if the merged zones/members exceed the maximum zoning limits. See
"Viewing zoning limits and

Zone merge failure recovery

When a zone merge failure occurs, the conflict that caused the failure must be resolved. You can correct a
failure due to a zone conflict by deactivating one of the active zone sets or by editing the conflicting zones
so that their membership is the same. You can deactivate the active zone set on one fabric if the active
zone set on the other fabric accurately defines your zoning needs. If not, you must edit the zone
memberships, and reactivate the zone sets. After correcting the zone membership, reset the isolated ports
to allow the fabrics to join.
NOTE: If you deactivate the active zone set in one fabric and the Merge Auto Save parameter is enabled,
the active zone set from the second fabric propagates to the first fabric and replaces all zones with
matching names in the configured zone sets.
For more information about adding and removing zone members, see
more information about resetting a port, see
Table 17
properties" (page 37) for more information on zoning limits.
HP StorageWorks 8/20q Fibre Channel Switch QuickTools Switch Management User Guide
for more information.
"Resetting a port" (page 98).
"Managing zones" (page 43). For
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