Deployment Guide

NOTE: For a list of supported Fibre Channel switches, see the Dell PowerVault MD Series Support Matrix at
Dell.com/powervaultmanuals.
Figure 1. Example of Switch Zoning on SAN on an MD38xxf-series Fibre-Channel Storage Array
World Wide Name Zoning
There are several different switch zoning techniques used across various SANs. When configuring zoning with
your storage array, using a 64 bit World Wide Name (WWN) to uniquely identify each component in your Fibre
Channel switch fabric is recommended. An advantage of using WWN port zoning (also called soft zoning) is
that it allows you to remove and/or replace cabling to and from the fabric without reconfiguring the existing
zone logic.
When implemented on the Fibre Channel switch, port WWN zoning causes the host server to query the World
Wide Identifier (WWID) name of all attached physical disks and/or expansion enclosures each time it accesses
Hardware Installation 10