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Zoning Brocade switches: zoning overview

Storage area networks (SANs) are deployed at most larger organizations, and provide centralized
administration for storage devices and management functions. When multiple clients are accessing
storage resources through a SAN, you need a way to limit which targets and logical units each initiator
can see. Typically LUN masking is used on the storage array to limit which initiators can see which
logical units, and zoning is used on the SAN switches to limit which initiators can see which targets. In
the next five blog posts, I plan to provide a step-by-step guide to zoning Brocade switches.
Brocade zoning comes in two main flavors. There is hard zoning (port-based zoning), which allows
you to create a zone with a collection of switch ports. The second zoning method is soft zoning
(WWN-based zoning), which allows you to create a zone with one or more WWNs. There are tons of
documents that describe why you would want to use each form of zoning. I typically use the following
two rules to determine which zoning method I will use:
1. Will I ever need to move the host to a different switch or port? If so, I will implement soft zoning.
2. Are there any policies that require me to lock an initiator to a specific port? If so, I will use hard
zoning.
I prefer soft zoning, since it provides tons of flexibility when dealing with switch upgrades, faulty SFPs,
and defective hardware. But each location has different policies, so its best to to take that into
account each time you design or implement your zone layout.
To implement zoning on a Brocade switch, the following tasks need to be performed:
1. Add aliases for each port / WWN
2. Add the aliases to a zone
3. Add the zone to a configuration
4. Save and enable the new configuration
Brocade provides awesome zoning documentation, which you can access though the help and
zonehelp commands:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> zonehelp
aliAdd
Add a member to a zone alias
aliCopy
Copy a zone alias
aliCreate
Create a zone alias
aliDelete
Delete a zone alias
aliRemove
Remove a member from a zone alias
aliRename
Rename a zone alias
aliShow
Print zone alias information
cfgAdd
cfgCopy
cfgCreate
cfgDelete
cfgRemove
cfgRename
cfgShow
Add a member to a configuration

Copy a zone configuration
Create a zone configuration
Delete a zone configuration
Remove a member from a configuration
Rename a zone configuration
Print zone configuration information
zoneAdd
zoneCopy
zoneCreate
zoneDelete
zoneRemove
Add a member to a zone

Copy a zone
Create a zone
Delete a zone
Remove a member from a zone
zoneRename
zoneShow
Rename a zone
Print zone information
cfgClear
cfgDisable
cfgEnable
cfgSave
cfgSize
cfgActvShow
cfgTransAbort
Clear all zone configurations

Disable a zone configuration
Enable a zone configuration
Save zone configurations in flash
Print size details of zone database
Print effective zone configuration
Abort zone configuration transaction
Reading through (i.e., running help <command>) the help sections prior to implementing your zone
layout will save you a lot of hassle, especially when you start to ask yourself questions like Does
cfgremove or cfgdelete remove an entry from a configuration?. Well, that is all for today. Tomorrow I
will discuss aliases, and how to use the ali* commands to create and manage them.
Zoning Brocade switches: creating aliases

In my previous Brocade post, I talked about Brocade zoning, and mentioned at a high level what is
required to implement zoning. Prior to jumping in and creating one or more zones in your fabric, you
should add aliases to describe the devices that are going to be zoned together. An alias is a
descriptive name for a WWN or port number, which makes your zone configuration much easier to
read (if you are the kinda person who can spout off the WWNs of all of the devices in your fabric, you
can kindly ignore this post). Brocade switches come with a number of commands to manage aliases,
and these commands start with the string ali:
aliCreate Creates a new alias
aliDelete Deletes an alias
aliRemove Removes an entry from an alias
aliRename Renames an existing alias
aliShow Shows the aliases
To create a new alias, you will first need to locate the WWN(s) or port(s) you want to assign to the
alias. The easiest way to do this is by running switchshow on the switch (you can also use the Emulex
or QLogic host utilities to gather WWN information):
Fabric1Switch1:admin> switchshow
switchName:
Fabric1Switch1
switchType:
16.2
switchState:
Online
switchMode:
Native
switchRole:
Principal
switchDomain: 1
switchId:
fffc01
switchWwn:
10:00:00:60:69:c0:32:a4
switchBeacon: OFF
Zoning:
ON (Brocade3200)
port 0: id N2 Online
F-Port 10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:eb
F-Port 10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:ea
port 2: id N2 No_Light
F-Port 21:00:00:e0:8b:1d:f9:03
F-Port 21:01:00:e0:8b:3d:f9:03
port
7: id N2 No_Light
Once you know the port numbers or WWNs, you can run the alicreate command, passing it the name
of the alias to create, as well as the port or WWN to associate with the alias (if you assign more than
one port or WWN to the alias, they need to be separated with a semi-colon):
Fabric1Switch1:admin> alicreate CentosNode2Port1, 21:00:00:e0:8b:1d:f9:03
After an alias is created, you can view it with the alishow command:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> alishow CentosNode2Port1
alias: CentosNode2Port1
21:00:00:e0:8b:1d:f9:03
If you make a typo while adding a WWN or port to an alias, you can run aliadd to add the correct
WWN or port to the alias, and then execute aliremove to remove the entry that was incorrectly added.
If you make a typo in the alias name, you can run alirename to rename the entry. That is all for today.
In my next blog post, I will talk about how to create zones.
Zoning Brocade switches: creating zones

I previously talked about creating aliases on Brocade switches, and am going to use this post to
discuss zone creation. Zones allow you to control initiators and targets can see each other, which
enhances security by limiting access to devices connected to the SAN fabric. As previously discussed,
we can assign an alias to each initiator and target. Once an alias is assigned, we can create a zone
and add these aliases to it. Brocade managed zones with the zone* commands, which are listed
below for reference:
zoneadd Add a member to an existing zone
zoneCopy Copy an existing zone
zonecreate Create a new zone
zoneDelete Delete a zone
zoneRemove Remove a one from the configuration
zoneRename Rename a zone
zoneShow Show the list of zones
To create a new zone, we can run the zonecreate command with the name of the zone to create, and
the list of aliases to add to the zone:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> zonecreate CentOSNode2Zone1, NevadaPort1; CentosNode2Port1
Once the zone is created, we can view it with the zoneshow command:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> zoneshow CentOSNode2Zone1
zone: CentOSNode2Zone1
NevadaPort1; CentosNode2Port1
Now that we have a zone, we need to add it to the switch configuration and then enable that
configuration. I will discuss that in more detail when I discuss managing Brocade configurations.
Zoning Brocade switches: Creating configurations

Ive previously talked about creating Brocade aliases and zones, and wanted to discuss zone
configurations in this post. Brocade zone configurations allow you to group one or more zones into an
administrative unit, which you can then apply to a switch. Brocade has a number of commands that
can be used to manage configurations, and they start with the string cfg:
cfgadd Add a member to the configuration
cfgcopy Copy a zone configuration
cfgcreate Create a zone configuration
cfgdelete Delete a zone configuration
cfgremove Remove a member from a zone configuration
cfgrename Rename a zone configuration
cfgshow Print zone configuration
To create a new configuration, you can run the cfgcreate command with the name of the configuration
to create, and an initial zone to place in the configuration:
Fabric1Switch1:admin>cfgcreate SANFabricOne, CentOSNode1Zone1
Once the configuration is created, you can add additional zones using the cfgadd command:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> cfgadd SANFabricOne, CentOSNode1Zone2
To ensure that your changes persistent through switch reboots, you can run cfgsave to write the
configuration to flash memory:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> cfgsave
Starting the Commit operation...
0x102572c0 (tRcs): May 8 08:51:37
INFO ZONE-MSGSAVE, 4, cfgSave completes successfully.
cfgSave successfully completed
To view a configuration, you can run the cfgshow command:

Fabric1Switch1:admin> cfgshow
Defined configuration:
cfg:
SANFabricOne
CentOSNode1Zone1; CentOSNode1Zone2; CentOSNode2Zone1;
CentOSNode2Zone2
CentOSNode1Port1; NevadaPort1
CentOSNode1Port2; NevadaPort2
alias: CentOSNode1Port1
21:00:00:1b:32:04:86:c3
alias: CentOSNode1Port2
21:01:00:1b:32:24:86:c3
21:00:00:e0:8b:1d:f9:03
21:01:00:e0:8b:3d:f9:03
alias: NevadaPort1
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:eb
alias: NevadaPort2
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:ea
Effective configuration:
cfg:
SANFabricOne
21:00:00:1b:32:04:86:c3
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:eb
21:01:00:1b:32:24:86:c3
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:ea
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:eb
21:00:00:e0:8b:1d:f9:03
10:00:00:00:c9:3e:4c:ea
21:01:00:e0:8b:3d:f9:03
Now you may notice in the output that there is a defined and effective configuration. The effective
configuration contains the configuration that is currently running on the switch, and the defined
configuration contains the configuration that is saved in flash. To make the configuration in flash
effective, the cfgenable command needs to be run (this should be run after you make
alias/switch/configuration changes and issue a cfgsave):
Fabric1Switch1:admin> cfgenable SANFabricOne
Starting the Commit operation
0x1024f980 (tRcs): Apr 29 20:44:39
INFO ZONE-MSGSAVE, 4, cfgSave completes successfully.
cfgEnable successfully completed
Once the cfgenable runs, the effective configuration will be updated to match the configuration you
have defined and saved. This completes this part of the Brocade series, and the final installation will
cover switch backups and putting all the pieces together.
Zoning Brocade switches: Putting it all together

I wanted to conclude my Brocade zoning posts by discussing a couple of best practices. Two issues I
have seen in the real world are inconsistent and non-descriptive names, and a lack of configuration
backups. Using descriptive names such as Fabric1Switch1Port8 or AppServer1Port1 makes the
output quite a bit more readable, which is extremely helpful when you are trying to gauge the impact
of a faulty initiator or SFP at 3am.
Backing up the configuration on a switch is super easy to do, and there are a number of tools
available to automate this process (I have written pexpect scripts to do this). To perform a manual
backup of a switch configuration, you can run the configupload utility:
Fabric1Switch1:admin> configupload
Server Name or IP Address [host]: 192.168.1.125
User Name [user]: matty
File Name [config.txt]: switch1config.txt
Protocol (RSHD or FTP) [rshd]: ftp
Password:
upload complete
This will prompt you for the IP of a server to write the configs to, as well as the name of the file to write
the configuration to. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Brocade switches over the past few
years, and really enjoy the simplicity and power that they provide in their CLI. Nice!
Zoning Brocade switches - Tutorial
This tutorial provides a quick walk-through of setting up zoning on a Brocade

switch. It is not a comprehensive review of the topic, but it may give you some
familiarity with the commands and syntax necessary to set up zoning in the
Brocade environment.
What is zoning?
Zoning provides a way to logically group together the components of a SAN.
Ports, interfaces and even switches themselves can be grouped together into
configurations that work together to make SANs more orderly and less daunting.
Managing configurations
All zoning in the Brocade environment is done within configurations. A
configuration contains aliases and zones.
An alias is a tool to simplify repetitive port numbers or WWN entries into an
easy-to-remember name. For instance: rather than typing in the WWN
"50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17" in zoning operations, one could use an alias to
identify the WWN as being "DF350_intfc_0". Aliases can also be used to identify
multiple ports or WWNs by a single name. All zoning commands accept aliases as
valid parameters.
A zone is a set of devices that access one another. All devices connected to a
Fabric may be configured into one or more zones. Devices that are in the same
zone can see each other, devices that are in different zones can not.
Commands used in this example
alicreate : Creates new zone aliases. Assigns a name to a list of alias
members. Alias members can include port numbers (for example; 1,2 indicates
switch 1, port 2) or WorldWide? names. If there are multiple alias members, all
members must be separated by semicolons within the list of alias members.
example : alicreate "df350_intfc_0", "50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17"
zonecreate : Groups a list of zone members under a zone name. Zone
members can include port numbers, WorldWide? names, or aliases created by
the alicreate command. Multiple zone members must be separated by
semicolons within the list of zone members.
example : zonecreate "c2zone", "snowtop_c2; df350_intfc_1"
cfgcreate : Assigns a configuration name to a list of configuration members.
The configuration members are all zones Multiple configuration members are
separated by semicolons.
example : cfgcreate "c2config", "c2zone"
cfgenable : Checks a specified configuration for errors and makes it the active
configuration of the switch. Note: No zoning is applied to the switch until the
cfgenable command completes successfully. If there is already an active
configuration, cfgenable will replace the active configuration with the specified
configuration.
example : cfgenable "c2config"
cfgdisable : Deactivates a specified configuration
example : cfgdisable "c2config"
cfgsave : Saves zoning information to switch's flash memory. Configuration will
not survive a reboot of the switch until the configuration is saved.
cfgclear : Deactivates and removes all zoning information from active memory.
To remove a configuration from flash memory, run cfgsave after cfgclear.
zoneshow : Shows zoning configuration.
switchshow : Shows overall configuration of switch. WWNs, login types (F-port,
L-Port etc.) port status and some general switch info show up in switchshow.
Setting up a zoning configuration
The following example sets up a switch so that the LUNs presented on controller
0 of a DF350 Fibre unit are presented either to controller 2 or controller 3 of a
Sun Solaris host depending on which configuration is activated.
Please note : If ANY ports on a switch are in an active zone
configuration, ALL ports on the switch MUST be zoned in order to be
useable. Since this example only uses ports 4-7 of the switch, ports 0-3
would not be useable until they were included in the active zoning
configuration.
'Another note : Usually it is best to zone by WWN, rather than by port
number. That way, if a port goes bad the user just has to move the
affected interface cable to a different port on the switch and the zoning
should still be in place.
login: admin
Password:
sw2400_68:admin> switchshow
switchName: sw2400_68
switchType: 3.2
switchState: Online
switchRole: Principal
switchDomain: 1
switchId: fffc01
switchWwn: 10:00:00:60:69:20:13:c0
port 0: sw No_Light
port 1: sw No_Light
port 2: sw No_Light
port 3: sw No_Light
port 4: sw Online F-Port 50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
port 5: sw Online F-Port 50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17
port 6: sw Online F-Port 20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23
port 7: sw Online F-Port 20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
sw2400_68:admin> alicreate "df350_intfc_0", "50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17"
sw2400_68:admin> alicreate "df350_intfc_1", "50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d"
sw2400_68:admin> alicreate "snowtop_c2", "20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45"
sw2400_68:admin> alicreate "snowtop_c3", "20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23"
sw2400_68:admin> zoneshow
alias: df350_intfc_0
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
alias: snowtop_c2
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
alias: snowtop_c3
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23
no configuration in effect
sw2400_68:admin> zonecreate "c2zone", "snowtop_c2; df350_intfc_1"
sw2400_68:admin> zonecreate "c3zone", "snowtop_c3; df350_intfc_1"
zone: c2zone snowtop_c2; df350_intfc_1
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
alias: snowtop_c2
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
alias: snowtop_c3
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23
sw2400_68:admin> cfgcreate "c2config", "c2zone"
sw2400_68:admin> cfgcreate "c3config", "c3zone"
cfg: c2config
c2zone
cfg: c3config
c3zone
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
alias: snowtop_c2
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
alias: snowtop_c3
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23
sw2400_68:admin> cfgenable "c2zone"
error: "c2zone" is not a configuration
sw2400_68:admin> cfgenable "c2config"
zone config "c2config" is in effect
cfg: c2config
c2zone
cfg: c3config
c3zone
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:17
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
alias: snowtop_c2
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
alias: snowtop_c3
20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:23
cfg: c2config
zone: c2zone 20:00:00:e0:69:c0:08:45
50:00:0e:10:00:00:00:5d
What does this configuration look like on the Sun Solaris host?
After a reconfiguration boot, this is what the host sees when the " c2config "
configuration is used on the switch.
# format
Searching for disks...done
c2t0d1: configured with capacity of 32.45GB

AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0 <SUN9.0G cyl 4924 alt 2 hd 27 sec 133>
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0
1. c2t0d0 <HITACHI-DF350F-0000 cyl 17 alt 2 hd 8 sec 65>
/pci@6,4000/fibre-channel@2/sd@0,0
Changing the configuration
To change the configuration, simply log into the switch and activate the "
c3config " configuration that we created earlier.
sw2400_68:admin> cfgenable "c3config"
zone config "c3config" is in effect
After a reconfiguration boot, the Sun Solaris host now sees the new
configuration. The LUNs that used to be presented to controller 2 are now
presented to controller 3:
# format
Searching for disks...done
AVAILABLE DISK SELECTIONS:
0. c0t0d0 <SUN9.0G cyl 4924 alt 2 hd 27 sec 133>
/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/sd@0,0

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BROCADE

Zoning Brocade switches: zoning overview

Add a member to a configuration

Add a member to a zone

Clear all zone configurations

Zoning Brocade switches: creating aliases

Zoning Brocade switches: creating zones

Zoning Brocade switches: Creating configurations

To view a configuration, you can run the cfgshow command:

Zoning Brocade switches: Putting it all together

Zoning Brocade switches - Tutorial

This tutorial provides a quick walk-through of setting up zoning on a Brocade

c2t0d1: configured with capacity of 32.45GB

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