> # Information About Zoning

> Zoning has the following features:

> - A zone consists of multiple zone members.
> - Members in a zone can access each other; members in different zones cannot access each other.
> - If zoning is not activated, all devices are members of the default zone.
> - If zoning is activated, any device that is not in an active zone (a zone that is part of an active zone set) is a member of the default zone.
> - Zones can vary in size.
> - Devices can belong to more than one zone.
> - A physical fabric can have a maximum of 16,000 members. This includes all VSANs in the fabric.
> - A zone set consists of one or more zones.
> - A zone set can be activated or deactivated as a single entity across all switches in the fabric.
> - Only one zone set can be activated at any time.
> - A zone can be a member of more than one zone set.
> - A zone switch can have a maximum of 500 zone sets.
> - Zoning can be administered from any switch in the fabric.
> - When you activate a zone (from any switch), all switches in the fabric receive the active zone set. Additionally, full zone sets are distributed to all switches in the fabric, if this feature is enabled in the source switch.
> - If a new switch is added to an existing fabric, zone sets are acquired by the new switch.
> - Zone changes can be configured nondisruptively. New zones and zone sets can be activated without interrupting traffic on unaffected ports or devices.
> - Zone membership criteria is based mainly on WWNs or FC IDs.
> - Port world wide name (pWWN)—Specifies the pWWN of an N port attached to the switch as a member of the zone.
> - Fabric pWWN—Specifies the WWN of the fabric port (switch port’s WWN). This membership is also referred to as port-based zoning.
> - FC ID—Specifies the FC ID of an N port attached to the switch as a member of the zone.
> - Interface and switch WWN (sWWN)—Specifies the interface of a switch identified by the sWWN. This membership is also referred to as interface-based zoning.
> - Interface and domain ID—Specifies the interface of a switch identified by the domain ID.
> - Domain ID and port number—Specifies the domain ID of an MDS domain and additionally specifies a port belonging to a non-Cisco switch.
> - IPv4 address—Specifies the IPv4 address (and optionally the subnet mask) of an attached device.
> - IPv6 address—The IPv6 address of an attached device in 128 bits in colon(:)-separated hexadecimal format.
> - Default zone membership includes all ports or WWNs that do not have a specific membership association. Access between default zone members is controlled by the default zone policy.
> - You can configure up to 8000 zones per VSAN and a maximum of 8000 zones for all VSANs on the switch.

> This section includes the following topics:

> - Zone Implementation
> - About the Edit Local Full Zone Database Tool
> - About Zone Sets
> - About the Default Zone
> - About the Default Zone
> - About FC Alias Creation
> - Zone Enforcement
> - Zone Set Distribution
> - About Recovering from Link Isolation
> - Zone Set Duplication
> - About Backing Up and Restoring Zones
> - About Zone-Based Traffic Priority
> - About Broadcast Zoning
> - About LUN Zoning
> - About Read-Only Zones
> - About Enhanced Zoning
> - Merging the Database
> - Smart Zoning

> Copyright 2010-2015, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.