ESXi v4.1, SBS2008, BackupExec v12.5, IBM Ultrium HH4

[malloc100]

Hi,

we are running a Dell PowerEdge 2950, 2x Xeon X5460, 20 GB RAM, Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) 6.

Furthermore there is a IBM Ultrium HH4 tape drive connected to a

000:013:08.0 Mass storage controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic Dell SAS 5/E Adapter

There is nothing else connected to that controller.

We first tried to passthrough the entire controller to the

Windows SBS 2008 guest, but VMware states that the machine doesnt

support passthrough. So my first question: Why does the host does not

support it? The CPU should? I cant find any regarding settings in the

BIOS but simply VT support On/Off which ist set to on.

Now we give

the guest direct access to the streamer via direct-scsi-device. Because

of VMware does not see the streamer by default I had to use this

command:

esxcli nmp satp addrule --satp VMW_SATP_LOCAL --driver="mptsas" -description="myrule"

After

restarting the host the streamer was detected an mapped into the guest.

SBS2008 see the streamer and installed a driver. BackupExec v12.5 also

see the streamer and installs its own driver.

Every time we try to

make a backup with that streamer BackupExec starts and after some

bytes written to the tape it stops with error-message:

V-79-57344-34030 invalid command sent to storage-device

Is there a solution for this behavior ?

Kind regards

maLLoc

[malloc100]

Hi again,

we now tried the original Microsoft driver, the BackupExec driver and at least the latest driver from IBM from july 2010. Always the same: I can correct inventory media, every 2nd try i can initialize media and backup will abort immediately or after some bytes written to the tape.

maLLoc

[hupewe]

Hey,

we have just the same Problem with Backup Exec 2010 R2 . We see the Tape, it starts and then after a few moments teh connection is broken.

Any Ideas ?

Regards

[

|m-1618597]

[Linch]

Hello,

We had similar config - PE2950 with dual Xeon and IBM HH4, ESX 4.0, BackupExec 12. The Pass-Through didn't work out...

So we moved the SAS (LTO4) to an R710 (+ the BE12 VM) and the backup worked like a charm (running for an year now). The SAS controller is configured as a pass-through device.

I hope it helps.

-Kalin

[duansworld]

Having the same problem with Data Protector 6.11.  Is there a solution for this other than moving the drive to a new system?

Duan

[duansworld]

Just to note.  The drive worked fine in ESX 3.5.

[DSTAVERT]

There is no official support for SAS attached tape devices. Adaptec Parallel SCSI only. Since you didn't create your own post and include all the relevant information about your system I can only suggest that you do a search in the forums for your controller. There are posts with successful installations. Some devices have OEM direct support.

[Paulvankampen]

Hi,

I had much problems with the IBM Ultrium HH4 connected to a DELL 6Gpbs SAS HBA under VMWARE ESX 4. De back-up software I use is Brightstor Arcserve Backup 11.5. (Windows 2003 sp2) De error was unable to position media (error code E3855 ) and Incomplete session, Attempting to repair.

After a long search on internet I could not find the correct awnser for mij problem.

At last I found some about VMware incompatibility with SAS adapters so I have configured the DELL 6Gpbs SAS HBA in passtrough mode.

I add the DELL 6Gpbs SAS HBA to the virtual machine. The virtual machine (Windows 2003) regonized de Dell adapter and loaded the driver for de Dell adapter.

After loading the driver Windows also found de IBM Ultium HH4 drive.

Everithing is working fine now.

I hope that mij post can help many poeple who have this kind of problems.

Kind regards

Paul van Kampen

Vocomservice