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nariyo
Contributor
Contributor

FC Tape library on VM guest OS still not supported with ESXi4.0?

Hello all,

I have a problem with IBM TS3100 FC tape library that VM guest OS does not see the tape library via Fiber channel connection.

I do know by serching this comunity that VM does not formally support FC tape.

but i found some have successfully implemented the backup with FC tape library with ESXi3.5 or older version.

Some people also mentioned about NVIP to make it possible but there are some other people saying it is still not possible.

our HBA is Qlogic 8Gb Fibre Channel expansion card on IBM HS22V blade and FC switch is Brocade 10-port 8 Gb SAN Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter.

I hope someone professional here would be able to advise a hint for me to make the backup possible withought having have to get physical servers.

Thank you.

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VMmatty
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I've had good success turning SCSI tape drives into iSCSI targets by using an IP bridge. The same company that makes these SCSI to iSCSI bridges (AttoTech) also makes a fiber channel to iSCSI bridge. That would let you present the tape drive directly to a virtual machine via the guest iSCSI initiator instead of involving ESXi at all.

You'll notice some degredation in performance from a 4Gb fiber channel interface to a 1Gb iSCSI interface (maybe less with link aggregation), but it would accomplish the goal. These devices can be expensive but if you are looking to be completely virtualized then this is a great way to get there.

http://www.attotech.com/products/product.php?cat=5&scat=10&sku=IPBR-2700-DR0&PHPSESSID=ec42efca0d815...

Matt | http://www.thelowercasew.com | @mattliebowitz
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nariyo
Contributor
Contributor

Hello VMmatty,

Thank you for your information.

I understand that turning FC into iSCSI is one possible solution for me.

However i can not afford any additional cost for this...

Below thread were what I found on this community but as those were posted some time ago, Im wondering if someone succeeded to implement backup with FC tape drive in another better ways.

http://communities.vmware.com/message/508855#508855

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/179768

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