HP StorageWorks Fabric Interoperability: Merging Fabrics Based on M-series and B-series Fibre Channel Switches Application Notes (AA-RUQQL-TE, November 2009)

Zone name restrictions
The zone name field must contain the ASCII characters that specify the name without including any
required fill bytes.
Zone names must follow these rules:
• The name must be between 1 and 64 characters in length.
• All characters must be in the 7-bit ASCII format.
• The first character must be a letter, either uppercase (A–Z) or lowercase (a–z).
• Any character other than the first character can be uppercase (A–Z), lowercase (a–z), a single-
digit number (0–9), dash (-), or underscore (_).
• M-series Fabric mode also allows the caret (^) and dollar sign ($) in zone names.
Activating zones in M-series Fabric mode
Activating zones is the creation of zone configurations on legacy M-series switches. M-series default
zone and M-series safe zone replace B-series default zoning. You can activate M-series default zone
or M-series safe zone, but not both. Activating the default zone enables any device in the default
zone to see any other device in the default zone. If the default zone is disabled and no zones are
active, then devices connected to the switch are unable to communicate.
Default zone
A default zone is available in McDATA Fabric Mode (for M-series switches) and interopmode 2 (for
B-series switches). A default zone consists of all devices that are not members of a zone in a currently
enabled (active) zone set. If a zone set is active, then all connected devices that are not included in
at least one of the zones in the active zone set are included in the default zone. You can enable or
disable the default zone separately from the active zone set. If no zone set is enabled, then all devices
are considered to be in the default zone.
Default zoning adds devices not explicitly zoned to a default zone in M-series fabrics. When a device
is added to a configured zone, it is automatically removed from the default zone. Default zoning is
fabric-wide and is exchanged during E_Port initialization between adjacent switches. If zoning is
changed after E_Port initialization, the update is propagated throughout the fabric through a standard
zone update.
Safe zone
Safe zoning is a fabric-wide parameter that ensures that the resulting zone set of two merged fabrics
is consistent with the premerged zone sets. When you enable safe zone, the default zone must be
disabled and the zoning configuration of neighboring switches must match completely before the
zoning can merge.
NOTE:
Safe zoning mode is available in B-series switches, interopmode 2 only.
To allow a B-series switch into an M-series Native fabric, safe zoning must be disabled. This allows
the B-series switch to join the fabric even though the zone sets do not match. After the fabric and zone
merges are completed, safe zoning can be re-enabled.
HP StorageWorks Fabric Interoperability: Merging Fabrics Based on M-series and B-series Fibre
Channel Switches Application Notes 17