Zone Enforcement; Zone Set Distribution; Enabling Full Zone Set Distribution - HP Cisco MDS 9216 - Fabric Switch Configuration Manual

Chapter 30 Configuring and Managing Zones
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m

Zone Enforcement

Zoning can be enforced in two ways: soft and hard. Each end device (N port or NL port) discovers other
devices in the fabric by querying the name server. When a device logs in to the name server, the name
server returns the list of other devices that can be accessed by the querying device. If an Nx port does
not know about the FC IDs of other devices outside its zone, it cannot access those devices.
In soft zoning, zoning restrictions are applied only during interaction between the name server and the
end device. If an end device somehow knows the FC ID of a device outside its zone, it can access that
device.
Hard zoning is enforced by the hardware on each frame sent by an Nx port. As frames enter the switch,
source-destination IDs are compared with permitted combinations to allow the frame at wirespeed. Hard
zoning is applied to all forms of zoning.
Note Hard zoning enforces zoning restrictions on every frame, and prevents unauthorized access.
Switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family support both hard and soft zoning.

Zone Set Distribution

You can distribute full zone sets using one of two methods: one-time distribution or full zone set
distribution .
Table 30-1
One-Time Distribution
Distributes the full zone set immediately.
Does not distribute the full zone set information
along with the active zone set during activation,
deactivation, or merge process.
This section describes zone set distribution and includes the following topics:
•
•
•
•

Enabling Full Zone Set Distribution

All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family distribute active zone sets when new E port links come up
or when a new zone set is activated in a VSAN. The zone set distribution takes effect while sending
merge requests to the adjacent switch or while activating a zone set.
To enable full zone set and active zone set distribution to all switches on a per VSAN basis using Fabric
Manager, follow these steps:
OL-16184-01, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 3.x
Table 30-1 lists the differences.
Zone Set Distribution Differences
Enabling Full Zone Set Distribution, page 30-25
Enabling a One-Time Distribution, page 30-26
About Recovering from Link Isolation, page 30-27
Importing and Exporting Zone Sets, page 30-27
Full Zone Set Distribution
Does not distribute the full zone set immediately.
Remembers to distribute the full zone set
information along with the active zone set during
activation, deactivation, and merge processes.
Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide
Zone Set Distribution
30-25