The MIB module for the management of Fibre Channel Zoning
Servers, both for Basic Zoning Management and for Enhanced

Zoning Management, as defined in the FC-GS-5 specification.

FC-GS-5 defines (in-band) management operations for
manipulating the Zone Set Database, some for use in Basic
mode (e.g., 'Add Zone Set (AZS)', etc.), and some for use in
Enhanced mode (e.g., Create Zone Set (CZS)', etc.).  When
Enhanced Zoning Management is in use, FC-GS-5 requires that
these in-band management operations be rejected unless they
are issued within the context of a GS-5 server session.  The
use of a server session ensures serialized access to the
Zoning Database since the Fabric lock for the Zone Server
must be obtained as a part of establishing the server
session to the Zone Server.

Thus, if and when this MIB is used for Enhanced Zoning
Management, SNMP SetRequests that request the modification
of zoning definitions must be serialized with respect to
the GS-5 requests to modify the Zoning Database.  This is
achieved by requiring that an SNMP management application
must first obtain the Fabric lock for the Zone Server
before attempting to modify any zoning definitions.  The
companion T11-FC-FABRIC-LOCK-MIB module is defined as a means
of obtaining the Fabric lock for the Zone Server (or any
other server).

In Enhanced Zoning Management, a Zone Server keeps track of
changes requested in the zoning definitions, but does not
update its Zone Set Database unless there is (and until
there is) a 'commit' operation.  To model this behavior,
this MIB module assumes that a Zone Server (in Enhanced
mode) takes a snapshot of its Zone Set Database as and when
the Fabric lock (for the Zone Server application) is
obtained; this snapshot is used to create what is herein
called the 'copy' database.  It is this 'copy' database
that is then updated by SNMP SetRequests (while the Fabric
is locked).  If and when a 'commit' operation is requested
(while the Fabric is still locked), the 'copy' database is
then used to overwrite the previously committed contents of
the Zone Set Database, and the new Zone Set Database is
distributed to all other switches in the Fabric.  When the
lock is released, any changes made that were not
'committed' are discarded.

When this MIB is used for Basic Zoning Management, the same
set of MIB objects as used for Enhanced mode are used to
make changes to the Database of a Zone Server on a
particular switch, but the changes take immediate effect at
that switch without an explicit commit.  The distribution of

those changes to Zone Servers on other switches in the
Fabric is subsequently requested through the use of a
separate set of MIB objects.

The management information specified in this MIB module
includes the Zoning Database for each of one or more Fibre
Channel Fabrics.  A Zoning Database is a combination of the
Fabric's Zone Set Database and its Active Zone Set.  The
Active Zone Set is the Zone Set currently enforced by the
Fabric; a Zone Set Database is a database of the Zone Sets
available to be activated within a Fabric.  All the MIB
objects representing a Zone Set Database are modifiable at
any time (irrespective of the value of any RowStatus
object), whereas all objects representing the Active Zone
Set are always read-only (except to deactivate it and/or
activate a different one).

Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).  This version
of this MIB module is part of RFC 4936;  see the RFC
itself for full legal notices.