topic Zoning and LUN masking. in Disk

Zoning and LUN masking.

Leif Halvarsson_2 — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 10:02:26 GMT

Hi,
Is it possible to do Zoning (in the switch) on LUN level or does Zoning only apply to ports or WWNs.

If I want to prevent hosts from acessing a certain LUN or tape drive, do I have to use LUN masking in the HBA , Storage router or Raid controller.

Re: Zoning and LUN masking.

Massimo Bianchi — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:15:37 GMT

Hi Leif,
AFAIK the zoning refers to the port on the FC switch, you cannot directly prevent one lun in the middle of a bunch to be seen.

For your pourpose you need some special software like the Secure Manager (by HP) if you are using VA, EVA , XP family storage, or some proprietary software if using EMC, Clarion.

On the latter, you can have a tool to configure the visibility of each disk.

If your question spans over including tapes... then i admin my ignorance.

HTH,
Massimo

Re: Zoning and LUN masking.

Vincent Fleming — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 11:46:11 GMT

Leif,

Most of the switch manufacturers have announced their intention to provide LUN-level zoning within the switches, but none have yet delivered it. I understand that Brocade should have it soon - within the next 6 months.

If you can wait, then that's the way to go... although it may require you to replace some/all of your switches.

Good luck,

Vince

Re: Zoning and LUN masking.

Leif Halvarsson_2 — Wed, 09 Jul 2003 12:23:22 GMT

Hi,
Thanks for your answeres.
As it is not possible to zone on LUN level, zoning can not be used alone. Some kind of additional acess restricion must be used.

Most (not all) HBAs support LUN masking but it is not very convinient. You have to set up masking for every HBA in the SAN. Luckily I have only a small SAN.

Re: Zoning and LUN masking.

Christian Schwartz-Søre — Thu, 10 Jul 2003 11:55:48 GMT

You might wanna take a look at OVSAM, Open View Storage Area Manager and Storage Allocator, a product capable of handling LUN presentation/restriction at the host level from a central point of view.

Regards
christian