Q-Logic 59022-03 D Manuel D’Utilisation

3 – Managing Fabrics

Zoning a Fabric

3-10

59022-03 D

A zone is a named group of ports or devices that can communicate with each 
other. Membership in a zone can be defined by port number, device Fibre 
Channel address, or device World Wide Name (WWN). Zone members can 
communicate only with members of the same zone. Zones can overlap; that is, a 
port or device can be a member of more than one zone.

Three types of zones are supported. The following zone types define increasing 
restrictive levels of communication. 

■

Soft zone

■

Access Control List (ACL) - hard zone

■

Virtual Private Fabric (VPF) - hard zone

Soft zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling discovery. Members of 
the same soft zone automatically discover and communicate freely with all other 
members of the same zone. The soft zone boundary is not secure; traffic across 
soft zones can occur if addressed correctly. Soft zones that include members from 
multiple switches need not include the ports of the inter-switch links. Soft zone 
boundaries yield to ACL and VPF zone boundaries. Soft zones can overlap; that 
is, a port can be a member of more than one soft zone. Membership can be 
defined by Fibre Channel address, port ID and domain ID, or worldwide name. 
Soft zoning supports all port modes.

Domain ID conflicts can result in automatic reassignment of switch 
domain IDs. These reassignments are not reflected in zones that use 
domain ID and port number pairs or Fibre Channel addresses to define 
their membership. Be sure to reconfigure zones that are affected by a 
domain ID change. To prevent zoning definitions from becoming invalid 
when the membership is defined by domain ID/port number or Fibre 
Channel address, use the Set Config Switch command to lock domain 
IDs. Refer to the 

.