Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide (OL-16597-01, July 2009)

Related Topics
• Device Alias Modes, page 569
• Using Cisco Fabric Services, page 299
Device Alias Requirements
Device aliases have the following requirements:
• You can only assign device aliases to pWWNs.
• There must be a one-to-one relationship between the pWWN and the device alias that maps to it.
• A device alias name is restricted to 64 alphanumeric characters and may include one or more of the
following characters:
◦ a to z and A to Z
◦ Device alias names must begin with an alphabetic character (a to z or A to Z).
◦ 1 to 9
◦ - (hyphen) and _ (underscore)
◦ $ (dollar sign) and ^ (up caret)
Zone Aliases Versus Device Aliases
The following table compares the configuration differences between zone-based alias configuration and device
alias configuration.
Table 81: Comparison Between Zone Aliases and Device Aliases
Device AliasesZone-Based Aliases
You can define device aliases without specifying the
VSAN number. You can also use the same definition
in one or more VSANs without any restrictions.
Aliases are limited to the specified VSAN.
Device aliases can be used with any feature that uses
the pWWN.
Zone aliases are part of the zoning configuration. The
alias mapping cannot be used to configure other
features.
Only pWWNs are supported.You can use any zone member type to specify the end
devices.
Device aliases are not restricted to zoning. Device
alias configuration is available to the FCNS, zone,
fcping, and traceroute applications.
Configuration is contained within the zone server
database and is not available to other features.
Device Alias Databases
The device alias feature uses two databases to accept and implement device alias configurations.
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide
568 OL-16597-01
Distributing Device Alias Services
Device Alias Requirements