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ssmichel
Contributor
Contributor

USB External HP DAT72 using ESX 3.5 U4 dont work?

I´ve tried to use HP DAT72 (External USB) + ASUStek NCL-DS Systemboard with ESX 3.5 U4 and in console i got this (using linux commands):

[root@vm-lab proc]# cd scsi/
[root@vm-lab scsi]# ls
aic79xx  scsi  sg  usb-storage-0  vsa0
[root@vm-lab scsi]# cd usb-storage-0/
[root@vm-lab usb-storage-0]# ls
3
[root@vm-lab usb-storage-0]# cat 3
   Host scsi3: usb-storage
       Vendor: Hewlett Packard
      Product: DAT72 USB Tape
Serial Number: 4855310811594B36
     Protocol: Transparent SCSI
    Transport: Bulk
         GUID: 03f001254855310811594b36
     Attached: Yes

The problem is that i can´t add this device on vCenter 2.5 or acessing this host by vClient , in Configuration > Storage adapters the device don´t appear.

So i installed ESXi on same hardware and works fine !

- ESXi 3.5 + HP DAT72 (External USB) + ASUStek NCL-DS Systemboard - The device appear on vCenter 2.5 and i cant add this device to my virtual machine

I know that USB devices don´t works fine but in this scenario the device works OK, i would know why using ESX3.5 U4 i can´t get the same result ?

Message was edited by: RDellimmagine for formatting

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4 Replies
asatoran
Immortal
Immortal

I think you may have answered your own question. ESX3.5 does NOT support USB. While you may have gotten it to work earlier, VMWare will not be testing USB devices with each update it releases. That is what "not supported" means. No guarantee that it will work.

So if U4 "broke" your USB tape drive, your alternative it is to use a different backup device (something not USB) or to use a USB-over-IP adapter.

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ssmichel
Contributor
Contributor

I dont wanna bother you to repeat this conclusion but this means that ESXi 4.0 support the device (USB DAT) and ESX 3.5 U4 do´t ?

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asatoran
Immortal
Immortal

USB is NOT supported in ESX.

Because VMWare does not support direct USB connections in ESX3.5, VMWare will not guarantee that any USB device will work. (The exception is booting ESXi from a USB flash drive.)

Basically, you were lucky to get the tape drive to work previously. But your luck ran out when you updated ESX. So buy another tape drive that uses a supported connection protocol (e.g: iSCSI) or get a USB-over-IP adapter like the Keyspan Digikey. I don't know if the USB-over-IP adapter has sufficient performance for a tape drive, so you might have to get a new tape drive anyway. Otherwise, you'll have to switch to a hosted product such as VMWare Workstation6, Server2, Player2 or Fusion, which all support USB2 connections to the virtual machines.

ssmichel
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks for the answer,

I will use this same hardware config with ESXi 3.5 U2 + vCenter 2.5 - tested with Linux host and works fine for our needs

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