Dear Zaki
>>>> Even if connecting this to the AIX 7.1 LPAR on Power10 over virtual SCSI works, relying on this unsupported configuration for system backups sounds unwise. <<<<
In addition to Jose's post above, I would like to add my 2 cents here.
In my long professional experience with Power Systems and its predecessors (mostly with IBM i) with many customers in my geography, I observed that the matter of using only "supported" implementation was, in some cases, unduly over-emphasized and caused some customers missed opportunity.
I myself would want to always used "supported" method for any thing that is considered complex implementation, for example, I would strictly use only supported implementation for VIOS vNIC Fail-over without any deviation as it is not a simple thing to deploy. But when the matter is relatively more straightforward (like this case of using virtual tape for straightforward manner of data backup), I noticed that quite a few customers that I was involved with could go with "unsupported" implementation without any problem after I helped them do some experimentation.
In your case, if the tape is intended to be used without additional fancy features, I would say deploying basic experimentation approach to the matter can be helpful. This means I would suggest that you follow the instruction provided here: Configuring Virtual Tape on Virtual I/O Server at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/configuring-virtual-tape-virtual-io-server to see if it works for your case or not. If so, try doing the data backup as an experiment and monitor any job/system log of the operation to see if there is any relevant anomalous warning or error or not and if the performance is OK with you or not and repeat the experiment a few times over a few days. If there appears no anomaly at all in the observed OS log in those experiments and the resulting performance is acceptable to the customer, you get experiential data that should provide assurance that this virtual tape from VIOS would work fine.
But if you see that there will be any additional advanced feature(s) used in this data backup that warrants the case to be considered complex, then I would agree not to do this experiment and go for more assured alternatives.
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Chance favors only the prepared mind.
-- Louis Pasteur
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Satid S.
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 12:55 PM
From: Zaki Jääskeläinen
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
Sorry, no. Only the SAS-attached LTO drive.
Even if connecting this to the AIX 7.1 LPAR on Power10 over virtual SCSI works, relying on this unsupported configuration for system backups sounds unwise. I suspect there is a reason for the limited support on AIX (tested in the lab and found not reliable enough?) The pain will be experienced the day a restore is required...
I will discuss options with the customer. LTO over virtual FC if he has more money to spend. USB mass storage assigned as virtual SCSI for less money. Otherwise mkdvd backups to virtual optical media repository and dump this to the SAS LTO drive natively on the VIO server.
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Zaki Jääskeläinen
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 12:14 PM
From: Robert Berendt
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
Does he have any fiber channel adapters available? And a FC tape drive?
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Robert Berendt IBMChampion
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 10:56 AM
From: Zaki Jääskeläinen
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
My Power8 customer has an external SAS-attached LTO drive connected to a full system AIX LPAR.
He is using it for OS and application backups.
The new Power10 server has a SAS adapter assigned to VIO which would connect the LTO drive and then this assigned through virtual SCSI to a fully virtualized AIX LPAR. (Fully virtualized as the application he is running on AIX is only supported on AIX 7.1.) According to the two pages I linked the support for this is very limited in AIX (SAS- or USB-attached DAT320 only) while IBM i supports a range of LTO and DAT drives.
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Zaki Jääskeläinen
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 08:53 AM
From: Robert Berendt
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
I'm pretty sure that VIOS would have no problem with virtualizing FC tape to AIX either. Honestly we just do not use tape (physical or virtual) on the AIX lpar we have. It solely supports IBM Storage Protect and we use alternative methods for protecting that data.
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Robert Berendt IBMChampion
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 08:42 AM
From: Juergen Maehlmann
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
Hi Robert.
Zaki needs the use on AIX, not on "IBM i".
Additional info for Zaki.
Tape devices will be reserved by LPAR as soon as they are in use and released afterwards.
This means, that you possibly will have to present additional drives to the LPAR from SAN-Side, to be able to do backups in time.
regards,
Jürgen
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Juergen Maehlmann
Original Message:
Sent: Mon January 15, 2024 08:28 AM
From: Robert Berendt
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
Virtual fiber channel is the way to go. I have VIOS supporting my LTO7 VTL to multiple lpars of IBM i and they can backup at the same time.
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Robert Berendt IBMChampion
Original Message:
Sent: Wed January 10, 2024 07:04 AM
From: Zaki Jääskeläinen
Subject: Tape over VIO Server Virtual SCSI ?
Hi,
Are the limitations on accessing tape drive attached to VIO server and shared over virtual SCSI still the tape ?
The article here describing the usage on Power10 still lists DAT320 as the only supported model.
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Zaki Jääskeläinen
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