HP StorageWorks 2/24 FW 07.00.00/HAFM SW 08.06.00 McDATA Products in a SAN Env - Page 231

Zoning Physical Planning Considerations 5 Directors and fabric switches support a user configuration that partitions attached devices into restricted-access groups called zones. Devices in the same zone can recognize and communicate with each other through switched port-to-port connections. Devices in separate zones cannot recognize name server or route table information and therefore cannot communicate with each other. Figure 5-7 illustrates an Intrepid 6064 Director with three zones (four devices per zone). ZONE 1 ZONE 2 ZONE 3 Intrepid 6064 Director Figure 5-7 Director Zoning Zoning is enabled and enforced by one of the following processes: • Software-enforced zoning - For earlier versions of director or fabric switch firmware (prior to E/OS Version 6.0), device configuration at a fabric element enforces zoning by limiting access to name server information in response to a device query. Only devices in the same zone as the requesting device are returned in the query response. This type of zoning is also called name server zoning or soft zoning. • Hardware-enforced zoning - For later versions of director or fabric switch firmware (E/OS Version 6.0 and later), device configuration at a fabric element enforces zoning by programming route tables that strictly prevent Fibre Channel traffic between devices that are not in the same zone. This type of zoning is also called hard zoning. Physical Planning Considerations 5-25