Fibre Channel Zone Server MIB
Extracted elements (26)
A single StorageType object (t11ZsServerDatabaseStorageType) is defined per Fabric/switch pair and applies to all seven Zone Set Database tables. This ensures consistency: a database whose storage type is 'permanent' cannot be partially volatile.
Application_ID value 0xFF is reserved by T11 (documented in INCITS T11/06-679v0) solely for locks established via ACA, which have no native Application_ID. This assignment allows the same Application_ID field to uniquely identify any active lock whether established by ACA or EACA.
Flow control is not applied to notifications in this MIB because all defined notifications are triggered by control-plane events (not data-plane). Estimating a maximum rate is impractical (it depends on concurrent operators and reconfiguration frequency), and the added complexity is unwarranted.
The 'copy' database model in Enhanced mode mirrors FC-GS-5 behavior where changes are staged before commit. The MIB agent takes a snapshot at lock acquisition, applies SNMP SetRequests to the copy, and only overwrites the committed database upon a successful CMIT request.
Basic Zoning mode provides backward compatibility with FC-GS-4 and earlier Fibre Channel Generic Services specifications. If any switch in a Fabric does not support Enhanced mode, only the Basic request set may be used across the entire Fabric.
Switching the Zone Server to Enhanced mode (via t11ZsServerOperationMode) requires all devices in the Fabric to be capable of Enhanced mode; if any device is not, the request fails and t11ZsServerChangeModeResult reflects the failure. FC-GS-5 makes no provision for switching back from Enhanced to Basic mode.
A row in t11FLockTable can be modified or deleted via t11FLockRowStatus only when the row's t11FLockInitiatorType is 'snmp'. Rows created by other means (SSB, CLI) cannot be deleted via SNMP.
In Enhanced mode, t11ZsServerCommit can only be set by the SNMP entity identified by t11FLockInitiator, and only while the Fabric lock for the Zone Server is held by SNMP SetRequests.
SNMP SetRequests that modify zoning definitions under Enhanced mode MUST first obtain the Fabric lock for the Zone Server via the T11-FC-FABRIC-LOCK-MIB, to serialize SNMP access with in-band FC-GS-5 management requests.
t11ZsServerDistribute can only be set (to 'zoneSetDb') when operating in Basic mode; it is inconsistent to set it when t11ZsServerOperationMode is 'enhanced' or when a distribution is already in progress.
t11ZsSetRowStatus cannot be set to 'active' unless the corresponding t11ZsSetName is unique within the Fabric's Zone Server database on the switch.
A Zone Server operates in either Basic mode (compatible with FC-GS-4) or Enhanced mode (requiring all Fabric switches to support it). The t11ZsServerOperationMode object controls the mode; the default is Basic. Enhanced mode requires a Fabric lock before any write to the Zoning Database.
In Enhanced mode, the Zone Server maintains a 'copy' database (a snapshot taken at Fabric lock acquisition) that absorbs SNMP SetRequest changes. Changes become permanent only after a commit via t11ZsServerCommit; uncommitted changes are discarded when the lock is released.
t11ZsServerDefaultZoneSetting controls the Default Zone behavior in Enhanced mode: 'permit' allows communication among Default Zone members; 'deny' (the default) prohibits it. This setting governs all ports not explicitly assigned to any active Zone.
t11ZsServerMergeControlSetting governs how a new switch may join the Fabric: 'allow' (default) permits joining if Zoning Databases can be merged; 'restrict' requires the joining switch's Zoning Database to be identical to the Fabric's Zoning Database.
The t11FLockTable contains one entry per active Fabric lock, representing a current lock, an in-progress SNMP-initiated lock attempt, or a failed SNMP-initiated lock attempt. It is indexed by fcmInstanceIndex, fcmSwitchIndex, t11FLockFabricIndex, and t11FLockApplicationID.
The t11ZsNotifyControlTable provides independent per-notification enable/disable control for all notification types in t11ZsNotificationGroup (zone merge success/failure, request rejections, default zone changes, zone set activation/deactivation). Included notification-control objects are read-only to allow querying the values sent in the most recent notification.
The Zone Set Database is modeled as seven MIB tables (t11ZsSetTable, t11ZsZoneTable, t11ZsSetZoneTable, t11ZsAliasTable, t11ZsZoneMemberTable, t11ZsAttribBlockTable, t11ZsAttribTable); the Active Zone Set is modeled as four read-only tables (t11ZsActiveTable, t11ZsActiveZoneTable, t11ZsActiveZoneMemberTable, t11ZsActiveAttribTable).
Two distinct Fabric-locking mechanisms exist: Acquire Change Authorization (ACA), used for server sessions (e.g., Enhanced Zoning), and Enhanced Acquire Change Authorization (EACA), which identifies the locking application via an Application_ID. Both are represented in the t11FLockTable.
Zone membership may be specified by five mechanisms, encoded in the T11ZsZoneMemberType textual convention: N_Port_Name (01), Domain_ID and physical port (02), N_Port_ID (03), Node_Name (04), Alias Name (05), F_Port_Name (06), or vendor-specific (0xE0–0xFF).
T11-FC-FABRIC-LOCK-MIB is assigned the OID mib-2 159. This MIB module manages locks on a Fibre Channel Fabric to ensure serialized access to management data such as the Zoning Database.
T11-FC-ZONE-SERVER-MIB is assigned the OID mib-2 160. This MIB module manages Fibre Channel Zone Servers supporting both Basic and Enhanced Zoning Management as defined in FC-GS-5.
SNMP write access to the Zoning Database in Enhanced mode requires that the management application first obtain the Fabric lock via T11-FC-FABRIC-LOCK-MIB, ensuring serialized and authenticated access. The t11FLockInitiator object records the SNMPv3 securityName (or snmpCommunitySecurityName for v1/v2c) of the lock requester, providing an audit trail for zoning configuration changes.
t11FLockStatus tracks Fabric lock state: 'settingUp' (ACA/EACA in progress) transitions to 'active' on success, or 'rejectFailure' (with reason codes in t11FLockRejectReasonCode/Exp/VendorCode) or 'otherFailure' on failure. Non-SNMP rows are only instantiated when 'active'.
t11FLockApplicationID is an OCTET STRING of SIZE(1) that identifies the application holding a Fabric lock. The reserved value 0xFF (255 decimal) is used to represent locks established via ACA (which have no native Application_ID), allowing uniform identification of all lock types.
T11ZoningName is an OCTET STRING of SIZE(1..64) that must begin with an ASCII letter (upper or lower case) followed by letters, digits, or the symbols ($-^_). It represents zone, zone set, and alias names as stored in the Fibre Channel Zoning Data Structure.