Zoning (Cisco, Brocade and Mc Data)

What are the basic steps we should follow while doing zoning?


Cisco MDS switch (Managed by Cisco Fabric Manager):
- Create Alias (Optional)
- Create a Zone name
- Add the Alias or WWN's to Zone
- Add the Zone to zoneset 
- Activate the Zoneset


Brocade Silkworm switch (Manged by Brocade Fabric Manger):

- Create Alias (Optional)

- Create a Zone name

- Add the Alias or WWN's to Zone

- Add the Zone to Configuration 

- Enable the Configuration.

Mcdata Switch (Managed by Connectrix manager):

- Create Alias (Optional)

- Create a Zone name

- Add the Alias or WWN's to Zone

- Add the Zone to zoneset 

- Activate the Zoneset

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1. Create alias (this step is optional)

An alias is a name assigned to a device or group of devices. By creating an alias you can assign
a familiar name to a device, or you can group multiple devices into a single name.

An alias must be a unique alpha-numeric string beginning with an alpha character. The
underscore character ( _ ) is allowed and alias names are case sensitive

Aliases can greatly simplify the administrative process; however, they are not required to
define zones.

i.e alicreate "a_host1_hba0","50:06:0b:00:00:bc:be:22"

or alicreate "a_host1_hba1","1,2"

2. Create zone

A zone is a group of devices that can communicate with each other. Zone membership can
include ports, WWNs, or aliases, or any combination of these. And, a device can be included in
more than one zone.

To define a zone, specify the list of members to be included and assign a unique zone name;
the zone name must be a unique alpha-numeric string beginning with an alpha character.

i.e. zonecreate “z_aixhosts","a_aix01;a_aix02;a_aix03;10:00:00:60:69:00:00:8a;1,2"

3. Create a Zoneset or Zone Configuration (We should add the Zone to Zoneset/Configuration)

A zone configuration is a group of zones that are enforced whenever that zone configuration is
enabled. And, a zone can be included in more than one zone configuration.

To define a zone configuration, specify the list of zones to be included and assign a zone
configuration name; the zone configuration name must be a unique alpha-numeric string
beginning with an alpha character.

i.e cfgadd "production1","z_aixhosts"

4. Enable zone configuration

To enable a zone configuration, select the zone configuration to be enabled. The configuration
is downloaded to the switch hardware.

i.e cfgenable production1

note: use cfgsave to save the modified zone configuration. i.e. cfgsave