# SANbox2 Zoning

A zone is a named group of ports or devices that can communicate with each other. Zoning is available for all FC-SW-2 switches in the fabric. Zoning enables you to divide the ports and devices of the fabric into zones for more efficient and secure communication among functionally grouped nodes. Managing zones involves creating a zone and adding and removing member port/devices. Zone members can communicate only with members of the same zone. Zones can overlap; that is, a port or device can be a member of more than one zone. Membership in a zone can be defined by port number, device Fibre Channel address, or device world wide name (WWN).

Note: All zones that are not members of a zone set belong to the orphan zone set. The orphan zone set is saved on SANbox2 switches, but not on SANbox with E_Port switches.

Zoning Concepts

* Orphan zones and aliases are allowed.

* You cannot edit an active zone set.

* The three types of zones are Soft, VPF (hard zone), and ACL (hard zone).

* The entire zoning database can be saved to either temporary or permanent memory.

* The zoning limits for a fabric are:

- Maximum number of zonesets is 256

- Maximum number of zones is 256

- Maximum number of zones per zone set is 256

- Maximum number of aliases is 256

- Maximum number of zoneset members in the zoning database is 1000

- Maximum number of members per zone is 2000

- Maximum number of members per aliases is 2000

- Maximum total number of members (supported) is 2000.

Zone Types

Three types of zones are supported. The following zone types define increasing restrictive levels of communication:

1. Soft zoning

2. Access Control List (ACL) - hard zoning

3. Virtual Private Fabric (VPF) - hard zoning

Soft Zoning

Soft zoning is the least restrictive type of zoning, and is the default zoning type. Soft zones can overlap; that is, a port or device can be a member of more than one zone. Inter-switch links need not be zoned. Zone membership can be defined by Fibre Channel address, domain ID and port number, worldwide name, or a combination. Soft zoning supports all port modes.

Hard Zoning

Hard zoning is hardware enforced zoning. The two types of hard zoning are Access Control List (ACL) and Virtual Private Fabric (VPF).

ACL zoning is hard zoning and is enforced by hardware and defines access to a given port. Membership can be defined only by domain ID and port number. ACL zoning supports all port modes except TL_Ports.

VPF zoning is hard zoning that is hardware enforced by configuring each port with a list of other ports that may transmit to it. Membership can be defined only by domain ID and port number. VPF zoning supports all port modes.

Aliases

To make it easier to add a group of ports or devices to one or more zones, you can create an alias. An alias is a named set of ports or devices that are grouped together for convenience. Unlike zones, aliases impose no communication restrictions between its members. You can add an alias to one or more zones. However, you cannot add a zone to an alias, nor can an alias be a member of another alias.

Zoning Database

Each switch has its own zoning database. The zoning database is made up of all aliases, zones, and zone sets that have been created on the switch or received from other switches. The switch maintains two copies of the zoning database: one copy is maintained in temporary memory for editing purposes; the second copy is maintained in permanent memory. When you modify aliases, zones, and zone sets, these changes are made to the temporary zoning database. If you reset the switch or lose power to the switch before saving the permanent zoning database, the changes will be lost.

The FC-SW-2 Auto Save and Default Visibility zoning configuration parameters affect how the zoning database is managed throughout the fabric. The FC-SW-2 Auto Save parameter controls whether the temporary zoning database is automatically saved in permanent memory. The Default Visibility parameter determines the level of communication that is permitted between devices when there is no active zone set.