Doubts about backup to tape using a virtual server

[tomas881]

Hi everybody,

I'm requested to configure an environment where there they want to virtualize the Veeam Backup server and have some backups sent to a tape library. I have some questions regarding tape backups, I have read the documentations but some things are not clear.

Do I always need a physical Windows server to connect to the library?
Is connecting the Veeam server to a Windows physical server through iSCSI the only way to use Tape Backup in this scenario?
They wanted to use SAS to attach the Veeam Backup Server to the tapes. Couldn't I connect the tapes to the Windows server through SAS?

The terms "directly " or "remotely" used in the documentation confuse me. A virtual appliance will always connect "Remotely"?

Thank you!

[PetrM]

Hello,

I recommend to review this page to understand the role of each component in tape environment. The different connection methods of tape devices to a tape server are described on this page.

Answering your questions:
1. You can use whether physical or virtual machine to act as a tape server. But keep in mind that VMware does not support tape drives connected directly to ESXi, please refer to this page for more information about supported devices and configuration.
2. There is no requirement to connect Veeam server to the tape server through iSCSI, you just need to assign the tape server role to a server from the backup infrastructure over which data will be transferred to the tape device. Although, Veeam server can also have a role of tape server.
3. You can connect the tape device to the tape server through SAS.
4. It depends on connection type and it does not matter if the tape server is physical or virtual. The direct connection of tape device to the tape server is performed over FC, SAS, SCSI whereas remote connection can be done via iSCSI or Switched FC fabric.

Thanks!

[Dima P.]

They wanted to use SAS to attach the Veeam Backup Server to the tapes.

Just a small note here - if you are going to use backup to tape jobs (i.e. tape out backup file created by Veeam B&R) I'd recommend to install the tape server role directly to your repository (if it's Windows) or on the repository gateway server: that will make traffic flow more optimized as backup files will be transferred to tape device directly from the backup repository.