I use it for test/dev with and without tapelibraries (I know there is no
support for tape but for me it works fine for testing).
You can connect hba's (I use SAS) directly to the VM, this works fine in
VMware vShpere 4 or higher for me so far, in earlier versions of VMware I
would get purple screens of death on the VMware kernel when the library
would send certain errors back the VM.

I would never use this for production or anything to serieus, also be aware
that in your case it might crash the vSphere host like it did with me in
the past.
For my testing and development use however it works fine, no VMotion,
snapshots or HA (hba's/cables) but it is still nice to be able to run in
VMware, share resources, fast boots etc.

If you don't plan on using tape running a TSM server in VMware is just like
any other application, it run fine.
Just don't backup the vm's to the same shared storage. ;-)



On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 12:48 AM, Prather, Wanda <Wanda.Prather AT icfi DOT 
com>wrote:

> Technically, TSM server isn't supported under VMWare with any tape
> *drivers*.
> Which means neither physical nor virtual tape.
>
> Statement of support for TSM servers & clients on VMware and HYperV here:
>
>
> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=663&context=SSGSG7&q1=server+support+vmware&uid=swg21239546&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf 
> Of
> Matthew McGeary
> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 11:59 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Using a VM for a TSM Server
>
> We haven't taken the plunge yet, but I've been looking at this option for
> smaller remote sites that only have VMWare.  I'd be leery of doing
> deduplication on a VM because of the resources required, but other than
> that I don't see a reason why a VM would pose any issues.  This assumes, of
> course, that you're using disk or a VTL rather than tape.  Neither IBM or
> VMWare support using tape devices for backup from a VM.
>
> Matthew McGeary
> Technical Specialist
> PotashCorp - Saskatoon
> 306.933.8921
>
>
>
> From:   "Plair, Ricky" <rplair AT HEALTHPLAN DOT COM>
> To:     ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Date:   04/22/2014 09:51 AM
> Subject:        [ADSM-L] Using a VM for a TSM Server
> Sent by:        "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>
>
>
>
> Has anyone every used a VM system for their TSM backup solution?
>
> If so, are there any pros?
>
> I would also like to hear the cons.
>
>
>
> Ricky M. Plair
> Storage Engineer
> HealthPlan Services
> Office: 813 289 1000 Ext 2273
> Mobile: 757 232 7258
>
>
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