Windows Knowledge Base

[Brocade] SAN Zoning - Guideline and considerations

Below are some guidelines and considerations when setting up your SAN fabric.
First, Create a detailed diagram of the fabric, showing all the switches with their ISLs. The diagram will assist with accountability. It will help to account for every port in the fabric.

Then, Create diagrams for each switch in the fabric. This diagram will account for every port type in the fabric. (F_Port, FL_Port, E_Port etc.)
If the fabric is going to contain different speed switches,e.g, 2/4G and 8Gs, the user will need to take this into account when setting up zoning
If the zoned fabric is going to contain unused ports, with nothing connected to them, the user may consider turning off the port. This is a decision that will affect the security of the fabric.
and If the fabric is has multiple zones enabled within it, it is probably best to configure one zone at a time and then test it with the Zone Analyzer via Web Tools. Do not create all the zones at once; it will be troublesome to debug. After the first zone is setup in the fabric, the user may plug in devices and then test the connections to confirm that everything is functioning properly. This process may seem a little tedious, but it will save time and money trying to debug this after creating all the zones and then plugging in the devices.