VMware vSphere

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  • 1.  Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 23, 2010 08:15 PM

    From within a VM, connecting to an "external" iSCSI device works the same as a hardware box, right? As in, if I have an iSCSI tape drive hanging on the network, I can connect to it from inside a VM?



  • 2.  RE: Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 23, 2010 08:42 PM

    Never tried a tape device but I've used the Microsoft software initiator on several VM's to connect up to external iSCSI storage without any problems.






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  • 3.  RE: Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 23, 2010 08:45 PM

    Thanks. I know the deal with trying to connect to a device connected to the host machine, but this would just be hanging out on the network.



  • 4.  RE: Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 23, 2010 08:51 PM

    An iSCSi san is just hanging out on the network as well.



  • 5.  RE: Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 23, 2010 08:53 PM

    Perfect. Thanks for the answers guys :smileygrin:



  • 6.  RE: Connecting to an iSCSI device

    Posted Jun 24, 2010 04:47 PM

    I've used tape drives connected to iSCSI bridges (by vendors like Atto) to completely virtualize my backups in the past and it works really well. You just connect to it via the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator and it appears as if it is directly attached.. From there you install drivers and manage it from your tape backup software as if it were physical.

    It complicates the troubleshooting a bit and vendors get confused/defensive when you explain the setup but in general it works well. It certainly beats passing through a SCSI tape drive directly to a VM.

    I wrote a blog post on the subject in case you wanted confirmation others are doing the same thing..

    http://blogs.kraftkennedy.com/index.php/2010/01/05/virtualizing-scsi-tape-drives-with-an-iscsi-bridge/