HP StorageWorks Fabric Manager 5.x Administrator Guide (AA-RUQSF-TE, September 2005)

Fabric Manager 5.x administrator guide 165
13 Managing zones
Fabric Manager uses HP StorageWorks Advanced Web Tools to configure and administer zoning.
Advanced Web Tools is an optional licensed product that runs on the HP Fabric OS. This chapter provides
Advanced Web Tools instructions for switches running Fabric OS 5.0. If you have switches running an
earlier version of the Fabric OS, see the HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 5.x Advanced Web Tools
administrator guide document supporting the corresponding version.
NOTE: A zoning license and administrative privileges are required to access the zone administration
module in Advanced Web Tools.
In previous versions of Fabric Manager, when Advanced Web Tools functions were required, you had to
launch and log in to Advanced Web Tools separately. With Fabric Manager 5.0 and later, you do not
have to log in to Advanced Web Tools. Fabric Manager uses the previously gathered switch user name
and password to auto-authenticate with Advanced Web Tools and opens the appropriate module for you.
If the switch username and password do not exist or are invalid, you are prompted to enter the correct
username and password. Fabric Manager then stores that information.
Note that the username and password that you use to start Fabric Manager are not used for authenticating
with the switch and these are typically not the same accounts.
NOTE: If you plan to add a switch to a fabric that uses zoning, discover that switch with Fabric Manager
and run a merge check between that switch and the fabric to which you plan to add it. This check identifies
any zoning and configuration mismatches before you physically connect the switch. See ”” on page 230
for information about running a merge check on the fabric.
Introduction to zoning
Zoning enables you to partition your SAN into logical groups of devices that can access one another. For
example, you can partition your SAN into two zones, winzone and unixzone, so that your Windows
servers and storage do not interact with your UNIX servers and storage.
Zones can be configured dynamically. They can vary in size, depending on the number of fabric
connected devices, and devices can belong to more than one zone. Because zone members can access
only other members of the same zone, a device not included in a zone is not available to members of that
zone.
When using a mixed fabric–that is, a fabric containing Fabric OS 4.x, 3.x, and 2.x switches–use the most
advanced switches to perform zoning tasks.
When zone or Fabric Assist (FA) zone members are specified by fabric location (domain, area) only, or by
device name (node name or port WWN) only, zone boundaries can be enforced at the hardware level,
and the zone is called a hard zone.
When zone elements are specified by fabric location (domain, area) and other elements of the same zone
are specified by device name (node name or port WWN), zone enforcement depends on name server
lookups and the zone is called a soft zone.
For more specific information about zoning concepts, see the HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 5.x
administrator guide.