HP StorageWorks 8/80 HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.1.x administrator guide (5697 - Page 193

8 Administering Advanced Zoning About zoning Zoning enables you to partition your SAN into logical groups of devices that can access each other. A device can communicate only with other devices connected to the fabric within its specified zone. For example, you can partition your SAN into two zones, winzone and unixzone, so that your Windows servers and storage do not interact with your UNIX servers and storage. When zoning is enabled, devices that are not included in a zone configuration are inaccessible to other devices in the fabric. 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. When using a mixed fabric-that is, a fabric containing two or more switches running different fabric operating systems-you should use the switch with the highest Fabric OS level to perform zoning tasks. For switches running Fabric OS 6.0.x or earlier, zoning is a licensed feature. Switches running Fabric OS 6.1.x or later do not require a license. Before you configure zones, you must install the Advanced Zoning licenses on all Fabric OS 6.0.x or earlier switches in the fabric. If a Zoning license is removed, you must make sure it is re-installed properly on the affected switch before enabling the zoning configuration. Failure to follow these steps can cause inconsistency of the zoning configuration on the affected switches should a zoning operation be attempted from a remote switch in the fabric. On the affected switches, an error message indicates that the Zoning license is missing. You can use zones to logically consolidate equipment for efficiency or to facilitate time-sensitive functions; for example, use zoning to create a temporary zone to back up nonmember devices. Any zone object connected to the fabric can be included in one or more zones. Zone objects can communicate only with objects within the same zone. For example, consider Figure 10, which shows configured zones, Red, Green, and Blue. • Server 1 can communicate only with the Loop 1 devices. • Server 2 can communicate only with the RAID and Blue zone devices. • Server 3 can communicate with the RAID device and the Loop1 device. • The Loop 2 JBODs are not assigned to a zone; no other zoned fabric device can access them. JBOD Loop 2 Server2 Blue zone Server1 Fibre Channel Fabric Hub Loop 1 RAID Server3 Red zone Green zone Figure 10 Zoning example To list the commands associated with zoning, use the zoneHelp command. For detailed information on the zoning commands used in the procedures, see the Fabric OS Command Reference or the online man page for each command. Before using the procedures, you should become familiar with the zoning concepts described in the following sections. Fabric OS 6.1.x administrator guide 193