User's Manual

3 – Planning
Device Access
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3.2.1
Soft Zones
Soft zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling device discovery. Devices
in the same soft zone automatically discover and communicate freely with all
other members of the same zone. The soft zone boundary is not secure; traffic
across soft zones can occur if addressed correctly. The following rules apply to
soft zones:
 Soft zones that include members from multiple switches need not include
the ports of the inter-switch links.
 Soft zone boundaries yield to ACL zone boundaries.
 Soft zones can overlap; that is, a port can be a member of more than one
soft zone.
 Membership can be defined by Fibre Channel address, domain ID and port
number, or worldwide name.
 Soft zoning supports FL_Ports and F_Ports.
3.2.2
Access Control List Hard Zones
Access Control List (ACL) zoning divides the fabric for purposes of controlling
discovery and inbound traffic. ACL zoning is a type of hard zoning that is
hardware enforced. This type of zoning is useful for controlling access to certain
devices without totally isolating them from the fabric. Members can communicate
with each other and transmit outside the ACL zone, but cannot receive inbound
traffic from outside the zone. The following rules apply to ACL zones:
 The ACL zone boundary is secure against inbound traffic.
 ACL zones can overlap; that is, a port can be a member of more than one
ACL zone.
 ACL zones that include members from multiple switches need not include
the ports of the inter-switch links.
 ACL zone boundaries supersede soft zone boundaries.
 Membership can be defined only by domain ID and port ID. A switch port
can be a member of multiple ACL zones whose combined membership does
not exceed 128.