Cisco Nexus 5000 Series - Zone Implementation; Active and Full Zone Sets

Zone Implementation
Cisco SAN switches automatically support the following basic zone features (no additional configuration is
required):
•
Zones are contained in a VSAN.
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Hard zoning cannot be disabled.
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Name server queries are soft-zoned.
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Only active zone sets are distributed.
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Unzoned devices cannot access each other.
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A zone or zone set with the same name can exist in each VSAN.
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Each VSAN has a full database and an active database.
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Active zone sets cannot be changed, without activating a full zone database.
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Active zone sets are preserved across switch reboots.
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Changes to the full database must be explicitly saved.
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Zone reactivation (a zone set is active and you activate another zone set) does not disrupt existing traffic.
If required, you can additionally configure the following zone features:
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Propagate full zone sets to all switches per VSAN.
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Change the default policy for unzoned members.
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Interoperate with other vendors by configuring a VSAN in the interop mode. You can also configure
one VSAN in the interop mode and another VSAN in the basic mode in the same switch without disrupting
each other.
•
Bring E ports out of isolation.
Active and Full Zone Sets
Before configuring a zone set, consider the following guidelines:
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Each VSAN can have multiple zone sets but only one zone set can be active at any given time.
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When you create a zone set, that zone set becomes a part of the full zone set.
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When you activate a zone set, a copy of the zone set from the full zone set is used to enforce zoning,
and is called the active zone set. An active zone set cannot be modified. A zone that is part of an active
zone set is called an active zone.
•
The administrator can modify the full zone set even if a zone set with the same name is active. However,
the modification will be enforced only upon reactivation.
•
When the activation is done, the active zone set is automatically stored in persistent configuration. This
enables the switch to preserve the active zone set information across switch resets.
•
All other switches in the fabric receive the active zone set so they can enforce zoning in their respective
switches.
Cisco Nexus 5000 Series NX-OS SAN Switching Configuration Guide, Release 5.2(1)N1(1)
134 OL-27583-01
Configuring and Managing Zones
Information About Zoning