Enhanced Zoning
Enhanced Zoning
The zoning feature complies with the FC-GS-4 and FC-SW-3 standards. Both standards support the basic
zoning functionalities explained in the previous section and the enhanced zoning functionalities described in
this section.
About Enhanced Zoning
The following table lists the advantages of the enhanced zoning feature in all switches in the Cisco Nexus
5000 Series.
Table 78: 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 Cisco-specific zone member
types (symbolic node name, and
other types) may be used by other
non-Cisco switches. During a
merge, the Cisco-specific types can
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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.
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.
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