HP StorageWorks 8/80 HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.1.x administrator guide (5697 - Page 203

Broadcast zones and FC-FC routing If you create broadcast zones in a metaSAN consisting of multiple fabrics connected through an FC router, the broadcast zone must include the IP device that exists in the edge or backbone fabric as well as the proxy device in the remote fabric. See "Using the FC-FC routing service" on page 211 for information about proxy devices and the FC router. Upgrade and downgrade considerations If you upgrade from a Fabric OS version earlier than 5.3.0 to Fabric OS 5.3.0 or later, you must rename any existing zones named "broadcast" before you upgrade. The firmware download fails if a pre-5.3.x switch has a zone with the name of "broadcast" in the effective configuration. When downgrading to a firmware version earlier than Fabric OS 5.3.0, you must remove or disable the broadcast zone. The firmware downgrade fails if a zone with the name of "broadcast" is part of the effective configuration. High Availability considerations with broadcast zones If a switch has broadcast zone-capable firmware on the active CP (Fabric OS 5.3.x or later) and broadcast zone-incapable firmware on the standby CP (Fabric OS version earlier than 5.3.0), then you cannot create a broadcast zone because the zoning behavior would not be the same across an HA failover. If the switch failed over, then the broadcast zone would lose its special significance and would be treated as a regular zone. Loop devices and broadcast zones Delivery of broadcast packets to individual devices in a loop is not controlled by the switch. Consequently, adding loop devices to a broadcast zone does not have any effect. If a loop device is part of a broadcast zone, then all devices in that loop receive broadcast packets. Best practice: All devices in a single loop should have uniform broadcast capability. If all the devices in the loop can handle broadcast frames, then add the FL_Port to the broadcast zone. Backward compatibility with pre-5.3.0 switches In a broadcast zone, you should not include any members connected to switches running firmware versions earlier than Fabric OS 5.3.0. For pre-5.3.0 switches, the "broadcast" zone name does not have any special significance and a broadcast zone appears as a regular zone. If a broadcast zone has any members that are connected to pre-5.3.0 switches, then those devices are zoned together. Broadcast packets are checked only for local devices in the fabric. If a remote switch is running pre-5.3.0 firmware, the broadcast zone does not have any effect on devices connected to that remote switch. The zone --validate command can flag devices that are part of a broadcast zone and are connected to a pre-5.3.0 switch. It is strongly recommended that you run zone --validate whenever zone configurations are changed or any devices are moved in a fabric. Broadcast zones and default zoning The default zoning mode defines the device accessibility behavior if zoning is not implemented or if there is no effective zone configuration. The default zoning mode has two options: • All Access-All devices within the fabric can communicate with all other devices. • No Access-Devices in the fabric cannot access any other device in the fabric. If a broadcast zone is active, even if it is the only zone in the effective configuration, the default zone setting is not in effect. If the effective configuration has only a broadcast zone, then the configuration appears as a No Access configuration. To change this configuration to All Access, you must put all the available devices in a regular zone. See "Activating default zones" on page 403 for additional information about default zoning. Fabric OS 6.1.x administrator guide 203