I got an Overland Neo T24 (FC) library, and want to use it in a virtual machine running Windows 2016 Standard, do you know if its supported by the ESXi 6.5 to then configure it in the VM?

[carlosLOGON]

I got an Overland Neo T24 (FC) library, and want to use it in a virtual machine running Windows 2016 Standard, do you know if its supported by the ESXi 6.5 to then configure it in the VM?

[TheBobkin]

Hello carlosLOGON​,

The only 'supported' Overland devices on any version of ESXi are the Snap ranges:

https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/vcl/result.php?search=Overland&searchCategory=all

That being said, whether it is jury-riggable or not I am unaware but it doesn't appear to be currently supported.

Bob

[daphnissov]

ESXi does not support any tape libraries to be passed through to VMs, AFAIK.

[TheBobkin]

Hello,

To clarify as Chip stated, Tape in general has not been supported on ESXi since 4.x but this doesn't mean it is not possible:

VMware Knowledge Base

VMware Knowledge Base

Unsupported for various reasons but I have seen instances of it working (until it was not and they called me :smileygrin: ).

Obviously there are a multitude of Your Mileage May Vary factors at play but there are also a multitude of ways it can feasibly be achieved including USB or PCI passthrough or via iSCSI presented to the VM.

Good thread on it here (and I am sure there are others):

Connect HP SAS Tape Drive to ESX 6.5

Bob

[TheBobkin]

I will admit that I have not seen tape in the wild in probably 3 or more years as there are better cold/lukewarm storage alternatives, OP is asking specifically regarding FC connected so NPIV (direct to VM bypassing host) and zoning it correctly might be a possible solution - but they also asked 'supported' which is a no unless you are going to support it yourself.

Do note that in 'unsupported' there is always an element of whether something is supportable or not e.g. some things cannot be fixed or will be unstable/unreliable by their very nature.

Bob