An initiator emulator is implemented on a control plane of a switch fabric connected to target ports of a storage array having storage configured with logical partitions. After an initiator port of a server logs into the switch fabric and is blocked from discovering the target ports, the initiator emulator, acting as proxy for the initiator port, discovers information that indicates logical partition masking enforced at the target ports for the initiator port. The initiator emulator determines allowed (initiator (I), target (T)) (I, T) port combinations that should be allowed access via the switch fabric based on the information from the discovery. The initiator emulator configures the switch fabric with one or more zones based on the allowed (I, T) port combinations. The initiator emulator then sends to the initiator port an indication of a zone change to the switch fabric.