Managing Virtual Fibre Channel Zones in VMM

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

Zones are used to connect a Fibre Channel array to a host computer or virtual machine (VM). Specifically, the storage array target ports are mapped to the HBA ports on the host or to the virtual HBA (vHBA) ports for the VM. The HBA and vHBA ports are referred to as initiator ports. The zoning process is also known as onboarding.

You can create zones for a host, a VM, or both. For Hyper-V failover clusters, a zone is needed for each host computer in the cluster.

Zones are grouped into zonesets, which use common Fibre Channel fabric devices. When all zones in a zone set have been added, modified, or removed as needed, the zoneset must be activated. Zoneset activation pushes information for each zone down to the Fibre Channel switches in the selected fabric.

Only members of the same zone can communicate with each other.

Use the following procedures to create new zones and then activate the zoneset. If you want to add a storage array to a Hyper-V cluster, you need to zone the array to each host computer first. Similarly, if you want to add an array to a guest cluster, you need to zone the array to each VM first.

To create a new zone

1. Open the VMs and Services workspace.

2. In the Services pane, right-click the applicable VM, and then click Properties.

3. On the Properties page, click the Storage tab, click Add, and then click Add Fibre Channel Array.

4. On the Create New Zone dialog box, do the following:

   1. In the Zone Name box, enter a name for the zone.

   2. In the Storage Array box, select an array from the drop-down list.

   3. In the Fabric box, select a switch from the drop-down list.

   4. Under Storage array target ports, select the applicable WWPM port or ports.

   5. Under Virtual machine initiator, select the applicable WWPM port or ports.

   6. When complete, click Create.

   7. To view zone aliases in the user interface that are available for selection, click Show aliases.

Use the following procedures to activate an inactive zoneset.

To activate a zoneset

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. Under Name, click the applicable inactive zoneset and then on the Home tab, click Activate Zoneset.

Use the following procedures to edit zone information or remove a zone from a zoneset.

To edit zone name and description or to remove a zone

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. Under Name, right-click the applicable zoneset, and then click Properties.

3. On the Properties page, click the Zones tab.

4. To edit a zone in a zoneset, click Edit, and change the zone name and description as needed.

5. To remove a zone from a zoneset, click Remove, click Yes, and then click OK.

To edit storage array zoning

1. Open the VMs and Services workspace.

2. In the VMs and Services pane, right-click the applicable host, and then click Properties.

3. On the Properties page, click the Storage tab.

4. Under Storage, scroll down to Fibre Channel Arrays, click Edit, click the applicable array, and then do the following:

   1. Click Modify zoning to edit zoning information.

   2. Click View existing zoning to view zoning information.

   3. Click New to assign the storage array to a new zone.

5. When complete, click OK.

Use the following procedures to view the zonesets associated with a fabric.

To view zonesets

1. Open the Fabric workspace, and then click Fibre Channel Fabric.

2. Under Name, right-click the applicable fabric, and then click Properties.

3. On the Properties page, click the Zonesets tab.

Managing Virtual Fibre Channel in VMM