A technique is disclosed for managing in-order-delivery of data traffic in a storage area network which includes at least one host device adapted to communicate with at least one storage device via a fiber channel fabric. When a change in at least one route in the fiber channel fabric is detected, a first zone, flow and/or device in the network which is affected by the route change is identified, and frames associated with the first zone/flow/device are temporarily dropped for a temporary time period T. In one embodiment, the first zone/flow/device includes at least one device which is sensitive to the order in which data traffic is received. According to a specific implementation, a second zone/flow/device in the network which is affected by the route change, and which is not sensitive to the order in which data traffic is received may also be identified, and frames associated with the second zone/flow/device forwarded to their destination address during the temporary time period T.