HP StorageWorks Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide (5697-7344, March 2008)

Fabric OS 6.x administrator guide 335

In Figure 23, a dedicated path between Domain 1 and Domain 4 exists, but is not the shortest path. In this

situation, if failover is enabled, the TI zone traffic uses the shortest path, even though the E_Ports are not in

the TI zone. If failover is disabled, the TI zone traffic stops until the dedicated path is configured to be the

shortest path.

Figure 23 Dedicated path (but not the shortest path)

General rules for TI zones

Note the following general rules for TI zones:

• A given N_Port can be a member of only a single TI zone. This rule is enforced during zone creation or

modification.

• An E_Port can be a member of only a single TI zone. The same checking is done as described for

N_Ports.

If multiple E_Ports are configured that are on the lowest cost route to a domain, the various source ports

for that zone are load-balanced across the specified E_Ports.

• The TI zones appear in the defined zone configuration only and do not appear in the effective zone

configuration. A TI zone only provides Traffic Isolation and is not a “regular” zone.

• A TI zone must include a set (two or more) of E_Ports forming an end-to-end path. Inclusion of N_Ports

is optional.

• Each TI zone is interpreted by each switch and each switch considers only the routing required for its

local ports. No consideration is given to the overall topology and to whether the TI zones accurately

provide dedicated paths through the whole fabric.

For example, in Figure 24, the TI zone was configured incorrectly and E_Port “3,9” was erroneously

omitted from the zone. The domain 3 switch assumes that traffic coming from E_Port 9 is not part of the

TI zone and so that traffic is routed to E_Port 11 instead of E_Port 12, if failover is enabled. If failover is

disabled, the route is broken and traffic stops.

• You create and modify TI zones using the zone command. Other zoning commands, such as

zoneCreate, aliCreate, and cfgCreate, cannot be used to manage TI zones.

Domain 1 Domain 3

Domain 4

Domain 2

= Dedicated Path

= Ports in the TI zone