EZSwitchSetup Administrator's Guide v6.4.0 (53-1001344-03, June 2010)

42 EZSwitchSetup Administrator’s Guide

53-1001344-03

Zoning management

Zoning enables you to partition your fabric into logical groups of devices that can access each

other. For example, you can partition your fabric into two zones, winzone and unixzone, so that your

Windows servers and storage do not interact with your UNIX servers and storage.

Zones can be configured dynamically. They can vary in size, depending on the number of

fabric-connected devices, and devices can belong to more than one zone. Because zone members

can access only other members of the same zone, a device not included in a zone is not available

to members of that zone.

Zone members may be specified by fabric location (domain, port index) only, or by device name

(node name or port WWN). Zones whose members are specified by fabric location are port-based,

and zones whose members are directly specified by device WWN are device-based. In port-based

zoning, all devices that are connected to ports that are in the same zone can communicate with

each other, and a device can join a zone simply by being connected to a member port. In

device-based zoning, devices are explicitly specified as members of the same zone. These devices

can communicate with each other regardless of where they are located in the fabric.

EZSwitchSetup creates zones for you automatically, based on your configuration choices in Setup.

• If you chose Typical Zoning, a port-based zoning scheme was created. This zoning scheme

creates a two member zone for every possible pairing of H and S ports connected on the

Configure Ports and Connect Devices screen. This ensures that any host device connected to

an H port is able to communicate with any storage device connected to an S port. This remains

true even if you move a device, assuming you connect the device to the correct type of port (H

or S).

• If you chose Custom Zoning, you created a device accessibility matrix during setup. The device

accessibility matrix creates a device-based zoning scheme. By default, every connected host

device can communicate with every connected storage device, as in typical zoning. You can

use the device accessibility matrix to selectively disallow communications between certain

devices, creating a device partitioning scheme that is enforced by zoning. Because custom

zoning is device-based, you may freely move your devices to different ports without affecting

accessibility relationships. If you add or permanently remove devices, you should reconfigure

the accessibility matrix.

• If you chose Advanced Zoning, you were given direct access to the zoning database through

Web Tools, and you created a zoning scheme of your own. EZManager can validate and display

accessibility relationships based on your scheme, and it can replace your scheme with Typical

Zoning or Custom Zoning. If you want to edit your scheme, you must return to Setup and chose

Advanced Management to start Web Tools. For specific information about using Web Tools for

zoning, see the Web Tools Administrator’s Guide.