Addressing a FC MSL4048 tape library using a Windows VM in vSphere.

[BWHandling]

Hi

I am trying to attach a MSL4048 tape library to a Windows Server 2003 VM in a vSphere 4.1 cluster.

We are not using any zoning on the FC switch.

I am able to see the 2 tape drives and they are reporting as "HP Ultrium 4-SCSI SCSI Sequential Device" (See attached)

The problem is when I submit anything to the device in Symantec Backup Exec it fails as offline.

Does anyone have any ideas on what we can do to make it work or if it is possible to make it work? It does seem possible given the amount of detail seen in the properties of the device in Backup Exec.

[AnDublin]

Let me know if you get this working!    I have the same wish/need.

First the bad news.  "Note: ESX/ESXi supports parallel SCSI tape libraries only." See "Configuring tape drives and media changers on ESX/ESXi 4.x" :  in http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1016407

But depending on your CPU and chipset versions hardware, you may be able to dedicate one FC controller to a VM. See  "VMDirectPath I/O direct PCI device connections for virtual machines running on Intel Weybridge and Stoakley platforms."

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1010789

The drawback with that is "You cannot have two devices in two different contexts (for example, one used by VMkernel and one in pass-through) using the same PCI slot. ".  So in addition to a server more recent than my Dell 2950, you may need two FC cards.  Also see http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_vmdirectpath_host.pdf

Let me know how you get on.