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mschauf1
Contributor
Contributor

Connect HP SAS Tape Drive to ESX 6.5

Hi,

I've got 1 HP DL380 Gen9 + HP H241 HBA + HP Ultrium 3000 SAS and installed ESX 6.5

Is it possible to connect that Tape Drive to a Windows VM and use it with Veeam for Backups? If yes, how can I do that?

Many thanks in advance,

Markus

6 Replies
mschauf1
Contributor
Contributor

No ideas/hints so far?

Thanks for any help!

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rcporto
Leadership
Leadership

Not sure if it is supported or will works, but check if helps: Configuring vendor-supported tape drives and media changers on VMware ESX/ESXi 4.x/5.x (1016407) | V...

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto
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simonlaw
Contributor
Contributor

I am having the same problem trying to attach a SAS tape drive to a vm on ESXi 6.5. There isn't a choice in the settings of vm for adding SCSI device. Can someone please help?

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vijayrana968
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

As far as I know, this is not supported by VMware, In case of any issue VMware wont help you on this. BUT, the recommended method by vendors and partners, is to use what is commonly referred to as VM Direct Path I/O, or PCI Passthrough....this can leveraged from Intel Directed I/O or AMD IOMM based on MB your host is built up with.

Below is the blog how to get it enabled, however this is for USB but you can do it for SCSI devices as well like for Tape library.

Enable USB Support for ESXi with VMDirectPath

Several things to keep in mind with that VM in vmotion, svmotion HA etc perspective. For virtual infra backup, I will recommend a physical server, VM has its own drawbacks. Additionally you can try virtual tape software provided by Starwind.  Virtual Tape Library (VTL) – Storage and Backup Solutions from StarWind

Additional Resources :

Configuring vendor-supported tape drives and media changers on VMware ESX/ESXi 4.x/5.x (1016407) | V...

Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on a VMware ESX or VMware ESXi host (1010789) | VM...

NetxRunner
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

BTW starwind offers a tape redirector software StarWind Tape Redirector - Free Tool from StarWind! - Starwindsoftware.com that allows you to mount your physical tape to any physical or virtual machine over iSCSI. And it's free which is great.

OlegMineev
Contributor
Contributor

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