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THe_ZiPMaN
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi 5.1 update 2 and FC Tape Library

I premise I know the following is an unsupported configuration, but anyway I'd appreciate any help.

A client of mine has a vSphere Infrastructure based on ESXi 5.1 on an IBM Bladecenter H. To backup the servers on tape he uses Veeam Backup & Replication on a VM.

The Tape library is an IBM TS3200 with 2 FC HH-LTO4 drives.

On the VM with Veeam we enabled PVID and on the Fibre Channel Switches (Brocade v.6.4.2b) we configured the zoning making the tape visible to both the ESXi Host and to the VM.

In the properties of the VM we added the IBM Tape and IBM Media scsi devices and inside the VM they have been recognized and used until last friday.

On friday we installed the 5.1 update 2 and the patch of Feb 1st. After the update, without touching anything else, the Tape Drive is not recognized anymore by the ESXi Host.

The Media changer is correctly seen by both the host and the VM but not the same for the Tape.

Does something changed with u2 in this area? Do someone encountered the same problem? Do someone have a possible solution?

In the worst case we will resume an old blade with ESXi free to dedicate to the backup VM, but I'd like to avoid this kind of workaround.

Many thx in advance to whoever can help me.

Flavio

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JonathanKohler
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I can't find anything about passthrough IBM tape/scsi being changed in 5.1U2.

That said, when you say PVID, do you mean NPIV for Fiber Channel?

If so, NPIV should allow you to zone that FC tape library directly to the VM (don't zone it to the ESXi host), so that VM will directly see the tape drive as an FC tape drive, not through a passthrough emulated device as you indicated before.

This should bypass the tape drive needing to be recognized by ESXi.

Jonathan

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THe_ZiPMaN
Contributor
Contributor

Ops... yes, of course NPIV (I just finished configuring a BTN network switch and made confusion Smiley Happy )

I though it worked as you said, but when I tried, in september, I've not been able to have the tape directly seen by the VM.

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JonathanKohler
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Enthusiast

Have you checked this blog article out:

http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2008/10/27/connect-a-fibre-attached-tape-device-to-a-vm-on-esx/

NPIV on ESXi has always been vague and tricky, and it is very easy to miss a step.

Given your current situation, it might be worth while tracking it down end to end again.

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THe_ZiPMaN
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Contributor

I checked again but found nothing different from that tutorial.

On the other hand it worked like a charm until last week... only when we upgraded to 5.1u2 it stopped to work.

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