HP AE370A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch 4/12, Administrator'S Manual

Page: 351 / 447

Fabric OS 5.2.x administrator guide 351
Rules for configuring zones
Observe the following rules when configuring zones.
• If security is a priority, you should use hard Zoning.
• The use of aliases is optional with Zoning, and using aliases requires structure when defining zones.
However, aliases aid administrators of a zoned fabric to understand the structure and context.
• Evaluate the security requirements of the fabric. If additional security is required, add Secure Fabric OS
into the fabric.
• If the fabric includes a switch and you support a third-party switch product, they are only able to use
WWN Zoning; other types of Zoning, including QuickLoop, are not supported.
• QuickLoop
Evaluate whether the fabric will also use QuickLoop Fabric Assist (QLFA) or QuickLoop (QL). If you are
running Fabric OS v4.x, consider the following before creating and setting up QLFA zones:
•
QuickLoop Zoning. QuickLoop/QuickLoop zones cannot run on switches running Fabric OS
v4.x. However, Fabric OS v4.x can still manage (create, remove, update) QuickLoop zones on any
non-v4.x switch.
• QuickLoop Fabric Assist. Fabric OS v4.x cannot have a Fabric Assist host directly connected to
it. However, targets on a Fabric OS v4.x switch can still be part of a Fabric Assist zone if a Fabric
Assist host is connected to a non-v4.x switch.
• Zone changes
Zone changes in a production fabric can cause a disruption of I/O when an RSCN is generated
because of the zone change and the HBA is unable to process the RSCN fast enough. Although RSCNs
are a normal part of a functioning SAN, the pause in I/O might not be acceptable. For these reasons,
you should perform zone changes only when the resulting behavior is predictable and acceptable.
Changing HBA drivers can rectify the situation.
• Final verification
After changing or enabling a zone configuration, confirm that the nodes and storage can identify and
access one another. Depending on the platform, you might need to reboot one or more nodes in the
fabric with the new changes.
The zone configuration is managed on a fabric basis. Zoning can be implemented and administered
from any switch in the fabric (it is best to use a newer switch such as the SAN Switch 4/32, 4/64 SAN
Switch, or a Director) that has an Advanced Zoning license enabled. When a change in the
configuration is saved, enabled, or disabled per the transactional model, it is automatically (by closing
the transaction) distributed to all switches in the fabric, preventing a single point of failure for zone
information.
NOTE: Zoning commands make changes that affect the entire fabric. When executing fabric-level
configuration tasks, allow time for the changes to propagate across the fabric before executing any
subsequent commands. For a large fabric, you might want to wait several minutes between commands.
Creating and managing zone aliases
A zone alias is a logical group of ports, WWNs, or AL_PAs. You can simplify the process of creating
zones by first specifying aliases, which eliminates the need for long lists of individual zone member names.
Be aware that if you are creating a new alias using
aliCreate w, “1,1”
, and a user in another telnet
session executes
cfgEnable
(or
cfgDisable
, or
cfgSave
), the other user’s transaction will abort your
transaction and you will receive an error message. Creating a new alias while there is a zone merge
taking place might also abort your transaction. For more details about zone merging and zone merge
conflicts, refer to ” Adding a new switch or fabric ” on page 363.