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ESXi vSphere 4.1 not able to detect LTO-4 tape drive on SAS connector

Dear All,

I have a ESXi 3.5 running on Dell PowerEdge 2950. It is connected to a LTO-3 tape drive via SCSI connector and my Windows Server 2003 VM is able to detect the drive for backup purposes.

We have a new Dell PowerEdge R710 running ESXi vSphere 4.1 and I want to connect our new LTO-4 tape drive to this new server via SAS connector. But the Windows Server 2003 VM (now in ESXi vSphere 4.1) cannot detect the new LTO-4 tape drive.

Please help!

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

You need to use VMDirectPath and a dedicated PCI controller to implement this solution. You will need to dedicate the entire controller to the backup vm so that the vm OS can detect the controller, and the LTO-4 tape.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010789 for more information on VMDirectPath I/O Passthrough.

check the following are correct:-

Please check the following for any configuration issues.

* The tape hardware must be connected to a VMWare-supported Adaptec SCSI controller.
* The tape hardware must be SCSI ID addressed and cannot be LUN addressed.
* The virtual and physical SCSI Id's must match each other.
* Fiber connected tape devices are not supported.
* Tape devices cannot be connected to RAID controllers.
* Tape devices should not share a BUS with any other non-tape device, and should be given their own dedicated SCSI controller.
* The SCSI controller for the guest VM should be configured as a LSI Logic SCSI card and not the BUS logic card.
* BUS sharing must be disabled

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1016407

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1000024

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1026157

This has been discussed many times, See solutions here

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26802040/vmware-esxi-4-1-ibm-ts3100-SAS-tape-library-LTO5-drive.html

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26833601/vmware-esxi-4-1-windows-2008-r2-ibm-ts3100-or-3573-tape-library.html

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26861128/Will-a-PowerVault-TL2000-Tape-drive-work-on-a-virtual-running-on-VMware-ESXi-4-1.html

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/26902242/Connect-HP-SW-Ultrium-3000-to-ESX-server.html

But the ONLY supported VMware solution is to use an Adaptec SAS card. (as you'll read in the KB aritlces)

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