3 – Managing Fabrics
Zoning a Fabric
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3.7.7
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 only affects the active zone
set, not the configured zone sets, unless Interop Auto Save is turned on.
3.7.7.1
Zone Merge Failure
If a zone merge is unsuccessful, the inter-switch links between the fabrics will
isolate due to a zone merge failure, which will generate an alarm. The reason for
the E_Port isolation can also be determined by viewing the port information. Refer
to
”Port Information Data Window” on page 5-8
and the
”Show Command” on
page A-91
(Port keyword).
A zone merge will fail if the two active zone sets have member zones with
identical names that differ in membership or type. For example, consider Fabric A
and Fabric B each with a soft 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
will fail because the two zones have the same name, but different membership.
3.7.7.2
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. Refer to
”Managing Zones” on page 3-52
for information about adding and removing zone
members. Refer to
”Resetting a Port” on page 5-15
for information about resetting
a port.
Note:
If you deactivate the active zone set in one fabric and the Interop Auto
Save parameter is enabled, the active zone set from the second fabric
will propagate to the first fabric and replace all zones with matching
names in the configured zone sets. If the zone sets to merge have the
same Zone A that only differ in the type of zone (soft vs. ACL), the
zone sets will merge. If this is a two switch fabric, Switch 1 will state
that Zone A is soft and Switch 2 will state that Zone A is ACL.
