# Changing Zone Types

SANbox zone merge is based on soft zoning, and does not support hard zoning. Zone merge on SANbox2 and SANbox2-64 switches does support both soft and hard (VPF and ACL) zoning.

To change a SANbox2 or SANbox2-64 zone type, do the following:

1. In the faceplate display, select the switch with the zone type you want to change.

2. Click the Zoning button to open the Edit Zoning dialog.

3. In the Zone Sets tree, select the zone to change.

4. Open the Edit menu and select Set Zone Type to open the Set Zone Type dialog.

5. Open the Zone Type pull-down menu and select Soft, VPF, or ACL.

* Soft zoning is the least restrictive type of zoning.

* ACL zoning is hard zoning and is enforced by hardware and defines access to a given port. ACL zones need not include inter-switch links.

* VPF zoning is hard zoning that defines ports that can communicate with each other. VPF zones must include inter-switch links. On a SANbox2-64 switch, a VPF zone cannot extend beyond the ports of a single I/O blade.