ESXi 5.1 Update 3 patch 9 connectivity to FC tape library

[3dsachin]

Hey Guys

Little Background: Existing backup server is Backup exec 2010 R3 and configured on B200 M3 blade in UCS 5108 chassis. We are moving away from from legacy backup system to Veeam and would like to preserve the ability to do tape restores using backup exec. So, I am trying to virtualize the backup exec server.

I am trying to connect Quantum scaler I40 to my ESXi 5.1 host connected via FC. I am not very good with drawing yet I have tried best to present my setup. There are 2 drives in Tape library HP and IBM. After zoning ESXi host with tape library, both tape drives show upon scanning HBA. However, HBA is showing one dead path and also the quantum library is not able to discover these drives.

fc.20100025b50000df:20100025b50a007f-fc.500308c38d7d6000:500308c38d7d6001-
  UID: fc.20100025b50000df:20100025b50a007f-fc.500308c38d7d6000:500308c38d7d600                                                                               1-
  Runtime Name: vmhba3:C0:T0:L1
  Device: No associated device
  Device Display Name: No associated device
  Adapter: vmhba3
  Channel: 0
  Target: 0
  LUN: 1
  Plugin: (unclaimed)
  State: dead
  Transport: fc
  Adapter Identifier: fc.20100025b50000df:20100025b50a007f
  Target Identifier: fc.500308c38d7d6000:500308c38d7d6001
  Adapter Transport Details: Unavailable or path is unclaimed
  Target Transport Details: Unavailable or path is unclaimed
  Maximum IO Size: 33553920

Requesting all you experts out there for your advise. I am really stuck

[3dsachin · Accepted solution]

I figured out the problem. VMkernel.log was showing the quantum tape library as unclaimed. Following https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1026157, I was able to run the following command to claim it.

esxcli storage nmp satp rule add --satp="VMW_SATP_LOCAL" --vendor="QUANTUM" --model="Scalar i40-i80"

It has started showing path as ACTIVE and the robotic library has been detected upon HBA re-scan.

Next would be to make it available within backup software.

[daphnissov]

Be aware, though, that what you're doing is highly unsupported, so tread at your own risk.