Dell PowerVault 56F (16P Fibre Channel Switch) - Manual (Page 11)

support.dell.com Introduction 1-1

      



This guide contains information and examples of zoning for the Dell™ PowerVault™
5xF switches, using commands run through a Telnet interface.
One or more PowerVault switches make up a Fibre Channel fabric—an infrastructure
that is the backbone for deploying and managing IT resources as a network. You can
arrange devices on the same fabric into logical groups.
Zoning helps to segment storage area networks (SANs) by setting up barriers
between different operating environments and creating logical fabric subsets. With
zoning you can:


Increase environmental security where and when it is needed.


Optimize information technology (IT) resources in response to user demand and
changing user profiles.


Customize environments as needed.


Integrate support for heterogeneous environments by isolating systems that
have different operating environments or uses.


Create fabric functional areas by separating test or maintenance areas from pro-
duction areas.


Designate closed user groups by including certain zone devices for exclusive use
by zone members.


Simplify resource utilization by consolidating equipment logically for convenience.


Facilitate time-sensitive functions by creating a temporary zone used to back up a
set of devices that are members of other zones.


Secure fabric areas by providing another level of software security to control port
level access.
Zoning does not affect switch performance because it is based on the Simple Name
Server (SNS) protocol and does not impact SNS. Switch performance is hardware-
based.
Figure 1-1 shows how you can use zoning to create logical device subsets within a
SAN. This type of zoning enables resource partitioning for management and access
control.