----- "Lindsay Morris" <lindsay AT TSMWORKS DOT COM> wrote:

> From: "Lindsay Morris" <lindsay AT TSMWORKS DOT COM>
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Sent: Thursday, 4 February, 2010 2:38:47 AM (GMT+1200) Auto-Detected
> Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Virtual TSM
>
> "Typical of vendors not to support their own product.." !!
>
> A little harsh, I think.
>
> TSM works in a very complex environment, and people who use (that's
> us) it
> try all kinds of tricks.  Some corner cases doubtless get exposed,
> where
> support rightly refuses to help.
>

We ought to point out that it's only the most recent versions of ESX that can 
actually present a Fiberchannel attached tape to a guest in any case.  I would 
suspect that by the time the new version has made it's way through the labs at 
IBM, support is inevitable - but I've not seen any announcements nor expect 
them soon.  Note that TSM is supported under ESX, just not tape and LAN-Free 
which were technical limitations only recently resolved.  It would be 
impossible for anyone to support an application using Fiberchannel attached 
tape on a guest where the hypervisor is incapable of delivering that.

TSM is also one of those intensive I/O workloads which is the hardest to 
virtualise without affecting the other workloads on the host.  ESX with the 
other companion products has a swag of benefits other than consolidation, but 
performance is a consideration for TSM without the additional complication of 
VM's.