This is a Q&A from SAN School Lesson 3.
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Zoning -- why is port zoning more secure? You said that there are two types of zoning, WWN and port and that port zoning is more secure.

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I learned most of the things I know about zoning by playing with the older Brocade 2800 switches. Newer switches offer better security when zoning using WWN or physical ports. On the Brocade 2800, WWN zoning is accomplished in software, and port zoning is done at the hardware ASIC level. When using hard or "port" zoning, frames not destined to the zoned ports are barred by the hardware from those ports. Soft zoning or "WWN" zoning uses only software (the name server) to enforce the zones (this is changing with newer switches) and frames are not barred from being transmitted between nodes that are not in the same zone.

Chris

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This was first published in March 2004

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