Administrator Guide

372 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
53-1002920-02
Zone merging
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• Merging and segmentation
The fabric is checked for segmentation during power-up, when a switch is disabled or enabled,
or when a new switch is added.
The zone configuration database is stored in nonvolatile memory by the cfgSave command. All
switches in the fabric have a copy of this database. When a change is made to the defined
configuration, the switch where the changes were made must close its transaction for the
changes to be propagated throughout the fabric.
If you have implemented default zoning, you must set the switch you are adding into the fabric
to the same default zone mode setting as the rest of the fabric to avoid segmentation.
• Merging rules
Observe these rules when merging zones:
- Local and adjacent configurations: If the local and adjacent zone database configurations
are the same, they will remain unchanged after the merge.
- Effective configurations: If there is an effective configuration between two switches, the
effective zone configurations must match.
- Zone object naming: If a zoning object has the same name in both the local and adjacent
defined configurations, the object types and member lists must match. When comparing
member lists, the content and order of the members are important.
- Objects in adjacent configurations: If a zoning object appears in an adjacent defined
configuration, but not in the local defined configuration, the zoning object is added to the
local defined configuration. The modified zone database must fit in the nonvolatile
memory area allotted for the zone database.
- Local configuration modification: If a local defined configuration is modified because of a
merge, the new zone database is propagated to other the switches within the merge
request.
- TI zones: If there is an effective configuration between two switches and TI zones are
present on either switch, the TI zones are not automatically activated after the merge.
Check the TI zone enabled status using the zone
--show command, and if the status does
not match across switches, issue the cfgEnable command.
• Merging two fabrics
Both fabrics have identical zones and configurations enabled, including the default zone
mode. The two fabrics will join to make one larger fabric with the same zone configuration
across the newly created fabric.
If the two fabrics have different zone configurations, they will not be merged. If the two fabrics
cannot join, the ISL between the switches will segment.
• Merge conflicts
When a merge conflict is present, a merge will not take place and the ISL will segment. Use the
switchShow or errDump commands to obtain additional information about possible merge
conflicts, because many non-zone-related configuration parameters can cause conflicts. Refer
to the Fabric OS Command Reference for detailed information about these commands.
If the fabrics have different zone configuration data, the system attempts to merge the two
sets of zone configuration data. If the zones cannot merge, the ISL will be segmented.