ESXi 5 and SAS Expansion Cards
Hi All,
I recently bought an HP DL385 to run ESXi 5.
I would like to buy an SAS expansion card so a Virtual Machine can access the HP 1/8 G2 LTO-5 Ultrium 3000 SAS Tape Autoloader we have.
I've never done this before, so need help finding out;
I recently bought an HP DL385 to run ESXi 5.
I would like to buy an SAS expansion card so a Virtual Machine can access the HP 1/8 G2 LTO-5 Ultrium 3000 SAS Tape Autoloader we have.
I've never done this before, so need help finding out;
What card to buy
Where to get the drivers; and
How to get a virtual machine to detect the autoloader
SOLUTION
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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Backups crash, tapes do not load, backups do not finish, VM crashes, tape drive or loader not found.
Hence why VMware Support through it out of support, to Partners, eg Symantec to solve!
I would not make any guarantees.
You assumption is correct, and that is the theory.
Hence why VMware Support through it out of support, to Partners, eg Symantec to solve!
I would not make any guarantees.
You assumption is correct, and that is the theory.
ASKER
You say they through it to vendors, does HP have an approved setup?
The difficulty here, is the finger pointing between
VMware, HP, IBM, Dell, Overland, Symantec Backup
HP can sell you an approved SCSI Card to work with the Tape Drive or Library, or any vendor, but the issue becomes with the software you use. (and VMware do not support it, and will not entertain Support calls, and refer you to Software Backup Vendor and Tape Drive Vendor).
When clients ask us to resolve this matter, we have a success rate of 40%! (60% failure).
The majority of our clients now use Physical Machine or Disk Based backup/SAN Snapshot Backup, instead of tape!
VMware, HP, IBM, Dell, Overland, Symantec Backup
HP can sell you an approved SCSI Card to work with the Tape Drive or Library, or any vendor, but the issue becomes with the software you use. (and VMware do not support it, and will not entertain Support calls, and refer you to Software Backup Vendor and Tape Drive Vendor).
When clients ask us to resolve this matter, we have a success rate of 40%! (60% failure).
The majority of our clients now use Physical Machine or Disk Based backup/SAN Snapshot Backup, instead of tape!
ASKER
40% seems extremely poor, do you have any more info on this, as i'd need to back it up to my manager...
I would refer you to my opening post http:#a38360675 and refer to the VMware Documentation about VMware Support.
ASKER
Thanks for the info. Not what I wanted to hear, but it looks like backup servers can go on to virtual machines, but the vendors wont support the solution.
We're going to buy a very cheap server and an entry level SAN.
We're going to buy a very cheap server and an entry level SAN.
ASKER
When you say they are not reliable? What happens / can I expect?
I have the budget to buy a new backup server, but I'd rather use a VM and buy a SAN. But I can only do this if the pass-though/direct-path works once setup.
The autoloader has a SAS out card, am I correct in thinking I can buy an HP PCI SAS card for the ESX server and enable VM Direct Path I/O, so it is picked up in a VM?