Patent ID: 8161134

Claim:
A method for facilitating enforcement of device interoperability requirements in a storage area network (SAN), the storage area network including a fibre channel fabric comprising at least one switch, the method comprising: receiving a first frame, the first frame including header information including a source device identity relating to a source device and a destination device identity relating to a destination device; determining whether the source device and destination device are members of a first negative zone, wherein the first negative zone corresponds to a SAN-implemented zone having a first associated negative zone attribute prohibiting communication between members of the first negative zone, wherein the members of the first negative zone are non-interoperable; preventing the first frame from reaching the destination device in response to a determination that the source device and destination device are members of the first negative zone, wherein the first negative zone is a logical zone identifying devices that are not permitted to communicate with one another such that the members of the first negative zone are not permitted to communicate with one another; and wherein the method is implemented at the at least one switch.