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Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switch CLI Software Configuration Guide
OL-16597-01
Chapter 1      Configuring and Managing Zones
Zone Sets
About the Default Zone
Each member of a fabric (in effect a device attached to an Nx port) can belong to any zone. If a member 
is not part of any active zone, it is considered to be part of the default zone. Therefore, if no zone set is 
active in the fabric, all devices are considered to be in the default zone. Even though a member can 
belong to multiple zones, a member that is part of the default zone cannot be part of any other zone. The 
switch determines whether a port is a member of the default zone when the attached port comes up. 
Note Unlike configured zones, default zone information is not distributed to the other switches in the fabric. 
Traffic can either be permitted or denied among members of the default zone. This information is not 
distributed to all switches; it must be configured in each switch. 
Note When the switch is initialized for the first time, no zones are configured and all members are considered 
to be part of the default zone. Members are not permitted to communicate with each other.
Configure the default zone policy on each switch in the fabric. If you change the default zone policy on 
one switch in a fabric, be sure to change it on all the other switches in the fabric. 
Note The default settings for default zone configurations can be changed.
The default zone members are explicitly listed when the default policy is configured as permit or when 
a zone set is active. When the default policy is configured as deny, the members of this zone are not 
explicitly enumerated when you view the active zone set. 
Configuring the Default Zone Access Permission
To permit or deny traffic to members in the default zone, perform this task:
About FC Alias Creation
You can assign an alias name and configure an alias member using the following values:
• pWWN—The WWN of the N port is in hex format (for example, 10:00:00:23:45:67:89:ab).
• fWWN—The WWN of the fabric port name is in hex format (for example, 
10:00:00:23:45:67:89:ab).
• FC ID—The N port ID is in 0xhhhhhh format (for example, 0xce00d1).
Command Purpose
Step 1
switch# configuration terminal
Enters configuration mode.
Step 2
switch(config)# zone default-zone permit vsan 
vsan-id
Permits traffic flow to default zone 
members.
switch(config)# no zone default-zone permit vsan 
vsan-id
Denies (default) traffic flow to default 
zone members.