Recommend SCSI-to-iSCSI bridge

[emorgoch]

Hi guys,

Currently I've got an ADIC FastStor 2 Tape auto-loader connected to a physical machine running Backup Exec 12.5 that backs up our VMs using internal agents. Our ESX hosts are running ESX 4.1, running on 4 HP DL380G5 servers.

We're looking into converting towards a more VM centric, disk based backup solution over the next 9 months, but we've got a short term requirement to upgrade our current solution quickly so that we can retire the hardware (it's long out of support and our backups are starting to fail). To to this, we're looking at a quick upgrade to BE2010 R2 (since we already have support), and putting the media server on a VM. The question remains how to connect the tape library. A SCSI-to-iSCSI bridge seems to be the best option to do this quickly and with the least head ache.

Anyone have any experience with these devices? Any recommendations for a particular one? The current tape drive uses an Ultra2 wide 68-pin SCSI connection.

Thanks

[DSTAVERT]

If you do a search in the forums you will turn up a few references. This is really not a VMware issue and you might get a better response in your tape device forums.

[asatoran]

I don't have any recomendations for a bridge, but perhaps if your VM that is used for backups doesn't need any vMotion, then you could use a supported SCSI card instead.  VMware supports Adaptec parallel SCSI card for physical tape drives so your drive fits the requirement.  The SCSI card would likely cost less than a iSCSI bridge. (~$250 vs ~$700.)  We got a Adaptec 29320LPE card(which is supported for ESX) and installed in a HP ML385 G5 (the AMD version of the ML380.)  The VM is Windows 2008 with Backup Exec 12.5 going to a HP 920 LTO3 autoloader.  An alternative anyway, if you can't find a compatible iSCSI bridge and may be "simpler" for the short term until you get your other backup in the future.

BTW, we also have a Quantum DXi3500 VTL connected over iSCSI to the same VM.  We go to the VTL first, then duplicate to tape for offsite archiving.  While I assume your "quick upgrade"  is more of a "minimize cost", the VTL for us was the "quick upgrade".  We wasted a lot of time trying to get our existing SCSI card to work with ESX and eventually just got the Adaptec card and had the tape drive working straight away.  Likely you won't have trouble with an iSCSI bridge, since there's usually not much to config, but if you did have trouble, it would be easier to swallow a $250 error than a $700 error.  :smileywink:

[emorgoch]

SCSI card is an option, but after searching the forums and seeing the difficulty that people are having, I wasn't convinced. Quick is the primary concern here. Money is available, it just can't be a rediculous sum as this is monstly going to be throw away by next year (else I'd just go straight for an  iSCSI tape library).

Already have an iSCSI SAN ready to go for Disk-to-disk backups. Just need the tape drive for offsite storage for the next year until we get migrated to a co-located system.

I'll take another look at the SCSI card you recommended and let you know.

Thanks

[asatoran]

...after searching the forums and seeing the difficulty that people are having, I wasn't convinced....

The "problem" posts I see most are those using non-Adaptec SCSI cards and / or non parallel SCSI drives.  The most recent posts I've seen are for SATA or SAS tape drives.  Basically trying to use "new" tape drives rather than reusing "old" tape drives.

Quick is the primary concern here. Money is available, it just can't be a rediculous sum as this is monstly going to be throw away by next year (else I'd just go straight for an iSCSI tape library).

Then I'd recommend the SCSI card since it would be cheaper than a bridge.  Or if you have an existing workstation that you can re-task to host your tape drive for a while until you get the rest of your new backup equipment.  Used & refurb workstations can be had for well under $500 and often as low as $200 and would be more than powerful enough to host a tape drive.  Since you can reuse the workstation after you get the new equipment, you could get something more than the bare minimum for this project.  That may be a better use of $$$ instead of a iSCSI bridge that you're going to "throw away." :smileyhappy:

[emorgoch]

Thanks asatoran. Went with the 29320LPE Adaptec card, and things are working. I did have to following the instructions provided here to get things working, as I was experiencing the same issue where the path to the media changer portion was online, but the actual tape drive was dead.