Users Guide

362 Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide
53-1002920-02
Zone database size
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Zone database size
The maximum size of a zone database is the upper limit for the defined configuration, and it is
determined by the amount of flash memory available for storing the defined configuration.
Use the cfgSize command to display the zone database size.
The supported maximum zone database size is 2 MB for systems running only Brocade DCX,
DCX-4S, and DCX 8510 platforms. The presence of any other platform reduces the maximum zone
database size to 1 MB.
Virtual Fabrics considerations: If Virtual Fabrics is enabled, the sum of the zone database sizes on
all of the logical fabrics must not exceed the maximum size allowed for the chassis (1 MB). The
maximum size limit is enforced per-partition, but is not enforced chassis-wide. If the chassis size
limit is exceeded, you are not informed of this and unpredictable behavior may occur. It is your
responsibility to keep track of the chassis-wide zone database size.
ATTENTION
In a fabric with some switches running Fabric OS 7.0.0 or later and some switches running Fabric OS
versions earlier than 7.0.0, if you execute the cfgSave or cfgEnable command from a pre-7.0.0
switch, a zone database size of 128 KB is enforced.
To avoid this problem, use the switch with the latest Fabric OS version to perform zoning tasks, as
described in “Best practices for zoning” on page 343. Alternatively, make sure that your pre-7.0.0
switches are upgraded with the latest patch release.
Zone configurations
You can store a number of zones in a zone configuration database. The maximum number of items
that can be stored in the zone configuration database depends on the following criteria:
• Number of switches in the fabric.
• Number of bytes for each item name. The number of bytes required for an item name depends
on the specifics of the fabric, but cannot exceed 64 bytes for each item.
When enabling a new zone configuration, ensure that the size of the defined configuration does not
exceed the maximum configuration size supported by all switches in the fabric. This is particularly
important if you downgrade to a Fabric OS version that supports a smaller zone database than the
current Fabric OS. In this scenario, the zone database in the current Fabric OS would have to be
changed to the smaller zone database before the downgrade.
You can use the cfgSize command to check both the maximum available size and the currently
saved size on all switches. If you think you are approaching the maximum, you can save a partially
completed zone configuration and use the cfgSize command to determine the remaining space.
The cfgSize command reports the maximum available size on the current switch only. It cannot
determine the maximum available size on other switches in the fabric.
NOTE
The minimum zone database size is 4 bytes, even if the zone database is empty.
For important considerations for managing zoning in a fabric, and more details about the maximum
zone database size for each version of the Fabric OS, refer to “Zone database size” on page 362.