1. A method for automatic verification of a zone configuration of a plurality of network switches comprising: accessing an actual zone configuration comprising a plurality of network switching devices, said actual zone configuration for defining the switching devices which are actually part of the zone; accessing a machine-readable map of said network, said map providing a pre-determined zone configuration defining the switching devices which should be part of the zone; and automatically verifying that the actual zone configuration of network switching devices correlates with the pre-determined zone configuration defined by the machine-readable map.