We can add a SCSI controller based Tape Drive with ESX 3.5/3i hosts to connect it with any particular VM to run as Backup Server. According to the HCL, It must be a separate SCSI Adaptor for the Tape drive. After, added the tape drive/SCSI controller, you will see the drive as SCSI device under STORAGE configuration in the VI Client Console. Few LSI will work as well, they must be pure SCSI, not RAID Controllers. Preferable SCSI controller card is Adaptec, However, you can check it on the VMware HCL website before you procure them.
Now, you have to configure this tape drive as a SCSI Device on the particular VM. We add this ESX 3.5 is still using SCSI-2 commands:
Therefore, we need to change the controller Type from LSI Logic to BUS Logic.
1) Shut down the VM and editing its settings.
2) Select to add a new HD - the size of it won't matter as you'll remove it before you save your change
3) On the Advanced Options screen for the Add Hardware wizard, select Virtual Device Node = SCSI(1:0) (or SCSI(2:0) if the VM already have 2 SCSI controllers.
4) Finish the wizard, but don't click OK on the Edit VM settings window. you should see New Hard Disk (adding) and New SCSI Controller (adding).
5) Select the New Hard Disk and click Remove
6) Select the New SCSI Controller and then click Change Type and select Buslogic.
7) Save the change to the VM. You can then edit it again and add the a Generic SCSI device to the buslogic controller (i.e. you'll add it as SCSI(1:x)).
The Device (Target) ID must be identical on the HOST and Virtual Machine. Example: Mine was 2:6:0, I created a SCSI adapter as 1:0:0, and set the tape drive to 1:6:0 (setting device id is important for pass through)
Windows 2008 x64
This version is having problem with Symantec BackupExec, since the Backup application is sending a “scsi split” command to the tape drive on SCSI Passthru, hence ESX causing PSOD error. This has been fixed by this patch: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010135:
Reference:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_backup_guide.pdf
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/156068?start=0&tstart=0
http://vikashkumarroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/virtual-machine-as-backup-server.html
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1339072#1339072
Now, you have to configure this tape drive as a SCSI Device on the particular VM. We add this ESX 3.5 is still using SCSI-2 commands:
Therefore, we need to change the controller Type from LSI Logic to BUS Logic.
1) Shut down the VM and editing its settings.
2) Select to add a new HD - the size of it won't matter as you'll remove it before you save your change
3) On the Advanced Options screen for the Add Hardware wizard, select Virtual Device Node = SCSI(1:0) (or SCSI(2:0) if the VM already have 2 SCSI controllers.
4) Finish the wizard, but don't click OK on the Edit VM settings window. you should see New Hard Disk (adding) and New SCSI Controller (adding).
5) Select the New Hard Disk and click Remove
6) Select the New SCSI Controller and then click Change Type and select Buslogic.
7) Save the change to the VM. You can then edit it again and add the a Generic SCSI device to the buslogic controller (i.e. you'll add it as SCSI(1:x)).
The Device (Target) ID must be identical on the HOST and Virtual Machine. Example: Mine was 2:6:0, I created a SCSI adapter as 1:0:0, and set the tape drive to 1:6:0 (setting device id is important for pass through)
Windows 2008 x64
This version is having problem with Symantec BackupExec, since the Backup application is sending a “scsi split” command to the tape drive on SCSI Passthru, hence ESX causing PSOD error. This has been fixed by this patch: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010135:
Reference:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_backup_guide.pdf
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/156068?start=0&tstart=0
http://vikashkumarroy.blogspot.com/2009/04/virtual-machine-as-backup-server.html
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1339072#1339072
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