Have a look at https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5989/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a0080662d35.html#wp1754823   Changing from Basic Zoning to Enhanced Zoning   To change to the enhanced zoning mode from the basic mode, follow these steps:   Step 1 Verify that all switches in the fabric are capable of working in the enhanced mode.   If one or more switches are not capable of working in enhanced mode, then your request to move to enhanced mode is rejected.   Step 2 Set the operation mode to enhanced zoning mode. By doing so, you will automatically start a session, acquire a fabric wide lock, distribute the active and full zoning database using the enhanced zoning data structures, distribute zoning policies and then release the lock. All switches in the fabric then move to the enhanced zoning mode. ... View more

Found some answers https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/11_x/licensing/cisco_dcnm_licensing_guide_11_x.html#concept_143D1BDEED9845A8A758A7D331619FF4 Cisco DCNM-SAN Client with Licensed Fabric The following table displays the Cisco DCNM-SAN Client features that work with licensed fabric with a minimum of one licensed switch on the fabric.                                                                 Feature Licensed Fabric                             Unlicensed Fabric Multiple client open sessions                                   Y                                                           N Multiple fabric open                                                 Y                                                           N Remote client session                                              Y                                                           N Show Path                                                               Y                                                           N Single fabric opened locally to DCNM server, as only client session                                                                                Y                                                           Y IOA                                                                         Y                                                           N Table 8. Cisco DCNM-SAN Client Features Which means • If you are using a remote Cisco DCNM SAN client, you will not be able to open any unlicensed fabric. The fabric needs to be licensed, and therefore the Cisco DCNM Essential license will not work. • If you are trying to open an unlicensed fabric from SAN client running on the Cisco DCNM server, you will be able to open only one unlicensed fabric at a time. Therefore, if we must have a minimum of 2 advanced licenses (one per fabric) DCNM-SAN-M93-K9 MDS 9300 DCNM SAN Adv. Feat. for MDS 9300 ... View more

The most important step is: copy running startup and make sure any changes made in the running config are saved and availabe in case of a reboot. If both configs are identical, either command copy running tftp: or copy startup tftp: gives the same result. ... View more

device-alias enhanced mode has this feature; changing the pwwn of a alias, updates automatically all zones referencing this alias. command is: device-alias mode enhanced ... View more

>>>>I don't have enhanced device aliases enabled, using basic Hi ! Would be interested to know, how you handle the situation, if a HBA must be replaced, therefore new pwwn, and the alias appears in dozens of zones. Isn't this a nightmare; for exactly this reason I would like to use enhanced device-alias. Would also be interested to know, how Brocade is managing this ? ... View more

Thanks! I use pwwn zoning; enhanced device-alias, because a change of the pwwn will automatically update the zoning; in basic mode, I assume you have to do zoneset activation. The problem I have is that I prepare the setup/configuration, without any server/storage and therefore flogi/fcns database is empty.  ... View more

What is also strange, that both commands are providing identical output ?   Another caveat: one device-alias is missing, which appears in the zoning configuration => no error !   show zoneset active vsan 100 zoneset name fabric-a vsan 100   zone name clesx03_zone vsan 100     device-alias svc1p20     device-alias svc1p30     device-alias svc2p20     device-alias svc2p30     device-alias svc3p20     device-alias svc3p30     device-alias svc4p20     device-alias svc4p30     device-alias svs00464_adapter0     device-alias svs00465_adapter0     device-alias svs00466_adapter0     device-alias svs00467_adapter0     device-alias v7000q_1_adapter0 …….   MDS-A-1(config)# show zoneset vsan 100 zoneset name fabric-a vsan 100   zone name clesx03_zone vsan 100     device-alias svc1p20     device-alias svc1p30     device-alias svc2p20     device-alias svc2p30     device-alias svc3p20     device-alias svc3p30     device-alias svc4p20     device-alias svc4p30     device-alias svs00464_adapter0     device-alias svs00465_adapter0     device-alias svs00466_adapter0     device-alias svs00467_adapter0     device-alias v7000q_1_adapter0 …….   ... View more

Hi I agree 100%; there are a few things, that mandate pwwn zoning: eg. device-alias and NPV. Reg. security: with port-based zoning: miscable a server, and the zoning is ok; the only feature which avoids the disaster is masking/mapping on the storage device. (btw. would this not also apply to a rogue server, unless you also fake the pwwn ?).   ... View more

we Need more information:  show device-alias internal validation-info and  reviewing the syslogs for the switch where the commit was issued. (show logging log) ... View more