About Device Aliases; Device Alias Features - HP Cisco MDS 9216 - Fabric Switch Configuration Manual

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
Distributing Device Alias Services
All switches in the Cisco MDS 9000 Family support Distributed Device Alias Services (device alias) on
a per VSAN basis and on a fabric-wide basis. Device alias distribution allows you to move host bus
adapters (HBAs) between VSANs without manually reentering alias names.
This chapter includes the following sections:
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About Device Aliases

When the port WWN of a device must be specified to configure different features (zoning, QoS, port
security) in a Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch, you must assign the right device name each time you
configure these features. An inaccurate device name may cause unexpected results. You can circumvent
this problem if you define a user-friendly name for a port WWN and use this name in all the
configuration commands as required. These user-friendly names are referred to as device aliases in this
chapter.

Device Alias Features

Device aliases have the following features:
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OL-16184-01, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 3.x
About Device Aliases, page 31-1
Device Alias Databases, page 31-2
Legacy Zone Alias Conversion, page 31-5
Device Alias Statistics Cleanup, page 31-6
Default Settings, page 31-8
The device alias information is independent of your VSAN configuration.
The device alias configuration and distribution is independent of the zone server and the zone server
database.
You can import legacy zone alias configurations without loosing data.
The device alias application uses the Cisco Fabric Services (CFS) infrastructure to enable efficient
database management and distribution. Device aliases use the coordinated distribution mode and the
fabric-wide distribution scope (see
When you configure zones, IVR zones, or QoS features using device aliases, and if you display these
configurations, you will automatically see that the device aliases are displayed along with their
respective pWWNs.
C H A P T E R
Chapter 13, "Using the CFS
Cisco MDS 9000 Family CLI Configuration Guide
31
Infrastructure").
31-1