HP StorageWorks 2/16V Brocade Fabric Manager Administrator's Guide (53-1000019 - Page 235

Managing Zoning Offline 15 The Zone Administration module displays the location of each zone database: either fabric (for the active zone database) or offline repository. For offline zone database only, the Zone Administration module also displays the following: • timestamp when the zone database was created • timestamp when the zone database was last saved to the repository • timestamp when the zone database was last saved to the fabric • list of users who loaded a zone database for editing using the zone editor or the compare/merge tool These values are not applicable to the active zone database. From the Zone Administration module, you can launch the Zone Editor Tool, from which you can edit the zone databases offline, without affecting the zone database on the fabric. Use Cases for Offline Zoning Following are some reasons you might want to create, edit, and modify zone databases offline: • You want to make changes to the zone database now, but apply them later, for example: - If you make incremental changes to zoning on an ongoing basis, but want to apply the changes to the fabric during scheduled downtime. - If you are expecting new servers to be delivered later in the week, but want to make changes to zoning now and apply the changes after the servers are delivered and ready to go online. • You want to keep multiple copies of the zone database and switch between them. For example, if you want to allow specific servers access to tape drives for backup during specific time windows, you can have multiple zone databases (one or more for backup and one for normal operation) and switch between them easily. • You want to analyze the impact of changes to storage access before applying the changes. For example, if you deploy a new server and want to ensure that the zoning changes result in only the new server gaining access to specific storage devices and nothing else. See "Comparing Two Zone Databases" on page 15-7. • You want to create a mirror fabric for redundancy For example, if you want to mimic the fabric used in Production for redundancy purposes, you can take a copy of the zone database from Production and apply it to a different mirror fabric. See "Copying a Zone Database from One Fabric to Another" on page 15-7. Requirements for Offline Zoning Offline zone management is supported only on fabrics where the seed switch is running Fabric OS v5.x or higher. Offline zone management is not supported on the SilkWorm AP7420. Access Control Only users with the following roles can update the zone databases: • Admin Fabric Manager Administrator's Guide Publication Number: 53-1000196-01-HP 15-3