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About Enhanced Zoning
S e n d d o c u m e n t a t i o n c o m m e n t s t o m d s f e e d b a c k - d o c @ c i s c o . c o m .
Advantages of Enhanced Zoning
Table 19-2
Family.
Table 19-2
Advantages of Enhanced Zoning
Basic Zoning
Administrators can make simultaneous
configuration changes. Upon activation, one
administrator can overwrite another administrator's
changes.
If a zone is part of multiple zone sets, you create an
instance of this zone in each zone set
The default zone policy is defined per switch. To
ensure smooth fabric operation, all switches in the
fabric must have the same default zone setting.
To retrieve the results of the activation on a per
switch basis, the managing switch provides a
combined status about the activation. It does not
identify the failure switch.
To distribute the zoning database, you must
reactivate the same zone set. The reactivation may
affect hardware changes for hard zoning on the local
switch and on remote switches.
The MDS-specific zone member types (IP address,
symbolic node name, and other types) may be used
by other non-Cisco switches. During a merge, the
MDS-specific types can be misunderstood by the
non-Cisco switches.
The fWWN-based zone membership is only
supported in Cisco interop mode.
Changing from Basic Zoning to Enhanced Zoning
To change to the enhanced zoning mode from the basic mode, follow these steps:
Verify that all switches in the fabric are capable of working in the enhanced mode.
Step 1
If one or more switches are not capable of working in enhanced mode, then your request to move to
enhanced mode is rejected.
Set the operation mode to enhanced zoning mode. By doing so, you will automatically start a session,
Step 2
acquire a fabric wide lock, distribute the active and full zoning database using the enhanced zoning data
structures, distribute zoning policies and then release the lock. All switches in the fabric then move to
the enhanced zoning mode.
Cisco MDS 9000 Family Configuration Guide
19-28
lists the advantages of the enhanced zoning feature in all switches in the Cisco MDS 9000
Enhanced Zoning
Performs all configurations within a
single configuration session. When you
begin a session, the switch locks the
entire fabric to implement the change.
References to the zone are used by the
zone sets as required once you define
the zone.
Enforces and exchanges the default
zone setting throughout the fabric.
Retrieves the activation results and the
nature of the problem from each remote
switch.
Implements changes to the zoning
database and distributes it without
reactivation.
Provides a vendor ID along with a
vendor-specific type value to uniquely
identify a member type.
Supports fWWN-based membership in
the standard interop mode (interop
mode 1).
Chapter 19
Configuring and Managing Zones
Enhanced Zoning Advantages
One configuration session for
the entire fabric to ensure
consistency within the fabric.
Reduced payload size as the
zone is referenced. The size
is more pronounced with
bigger databases.
Fabric-wide policy
enforcement reduces
troubleshooting time.
Enhanced error reporting
eases the troubleshooting
process
Distribution of zone sets
without activation avoids
hardware changes for hard
zoning in the switches.
Unique vendor type.
The fWWN-based member
type is standardized.
OL-6973-03, Cisco MDS SAN-OS Release 2.x
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