Serical Fax and SCSI tape drive issues

[phismith]

I have few issues I coudl use some help on. First a little back ground information:

I've recently converted a Server 2003 DC to a VM. The new hardware is an HP ML350 running ESX 4.

First off is faxing, I am able to send. However the documents will appear garbeled and cut off. My guess here is I need to adjust my modem setting? But am unsure. The modem is external connected over serial.

The second issues is with a SCSI internal tape drive. The device is seen in the BIOS as 2 ,6. I've gone into the hardware setup of the VM and added a SCSI device at the ID. However the device still does not show up in device manager and does not work in backup exec.

The final issue is more of a question. I would like the ability to monitor a usb APC unit from the virtual machine. I know USB was unsupported until recently. Has anyone had any luck in this area or have any suggestions?

Thanks!

[AndreTheGiant]

I've recently converted a Server 2003 DC to a VM

DC conversion is not a good idea. I hope you have done a cold conversion

First off is faxing, I am able to send. However the documents will appear garbeled and cut off. My guess here is I need to adjust my modem setting? But am unsure. The modem is external connected over serial.

The modem is the same as before?

Serial virtualization works fine, so could be simple a modem setup error.

The second issues is with a SCSI internal tape drive. The device is seen in the BIOS as 2 ,6. I've gone into the hardware setup of the VM and added a SCSI device at the ID.

Try to add as a SCSI device on a new SCSI controller (simple change the SCSI ID into the VM using for example 1,6).

The final issue is more of a question. I would like the ability to monitor a usb APC unit from the virtual machine.

If you have ESX you can try to use the apcupsd daemon into the service console.

Or try to use VIMA.

Andre

[phismith]

I think I will end up wishing I did a cold conversion, nothing I read suggested that I do so. What are the known issues?

I will try some other things with the serial modem, faxing worked just fine before, however the modem is older.

I will also continue to try alternative SCSI ports, I've tried several already but will keep on.

Do you have more pointers for USB? I've used VMware server in the past so some of this is still new to me.

Thanks.

[AndreTheGiant]

I think I will end up wishing I did a cold conversion, nothing I read suggested that I do so. What are the known issues?

Conversion could be file consistent, but not DB consistent.

For DB a good solution is stop DB services and do a hot conversion, or simply do a cold conversion.

For AD the best solution is not do a (cold) conversion at all but make a dcpromo on a new Windows Server.

Make a hot conversion of a DC could creare bad db problem.

however the modem is older.

But it works fine on the phisical machine?

Do you have more pointers for USB?

You can find on the discussions.

At this point seem that your cannot yet virtualized it.

But you can use Service Console or VIMA to connect a UPS agent.

Andre

[phismith]

Well I guess the good news is the conversion went ok. THe VM is up and running with no reported issues so far. The bad news is the physical machine that was virtuilized suffered a mass system failure around 2 this morning. So all we have now is the VM and tape backups.

The modem worked just fine with the old physical machine. I've seen very little about serial issues with ESX. I plan to try a different modem, if I can find one.

When reviewing the SCSI issue this AM I noticed the only device option I have is for a CDROM drive, regardless of what port I select. Is this normal?

Thanks for all the help.

[AndreTheGiant]

For the modem maybe on the old server it was connected to COM2, instead of COM1 (on the VM).

In this case you have loose the configuration of the serial line (or of the modem).

Just try to reconfigure you modem to see if something change.

Andre

[phismith]

I am doing so now. Most of my testing will have to wait until after 5. For some reason people dont like their server going down durning normal hours.

[dab]

When reviewing the SCSI issue this AM I noticed the only device option I have is for a CDROM drive, regardless of what port I select. Is this normal? What for a SCSI Controller do you use for the tapedrive? Is it still supported in ESXi 4, since SCSI-160 controllers where dropped ...

Daniel

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[phismith]

The SCSI issue is resolved. I found an Adptec 7901 card that was deteced by ESX and it saw the tape drive right away. Added it to the Virtual Machine and life is good!