Hi everyone,
We’re planning a new virtualization and backup setup and would like to confirm whether our design is feasible on Proxmox VE 9.0, and how to implement it correctly.
Hardware & environment:
We are not planning to use Proxmox Backup Server (PBS). Instead, we want to keep using Veeam as our backup platform and write backup data to tape.
Our planned design is:
Because we lack experience with tape libraries on Proxmox (especially on version 9.0), we’re not sure whether this overall design is fully supported and stable.
So we’d like to ask:
Our main goal is:
Any guidance, configuration examples, or experience sharing would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
We’re planning a new virtualization and backup setup and would like to confirm whether our design is feasible on Proxmox VE 9.0, and how to implement it correctly.
Hardware & environment:
- Server: DELL PowerEdge R740xd
- Virtualization platform: Proxmox VE 9.0 (bare metal)
- Tape library: DELL TL2000 Tape Autoloader
- HBA: 16Gb FC/SAS HBA (directly connected to the TL2000)
- Hypervisor backup solution: Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR)
We are not planning to use Proxmox Backup Server (PBS). Instead, we want to keep using Veeam as our backup platform and write backup data to tape.
Our planned design is:
- On Proxmox VE, create two Windows VMs:
- VM A: Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) server
- VM B: Veeam Tape Server
- Use PCI passthrough to pass the 16Gb HBA (and thus the attached DELL TL2000 tape autoloader) directly to VM B.
- In Veeam, add VM B as a managed tape server from VM A, and use the TL2000 to write backup data to tape.
Because we lack experience with tape libraries on Proxmox (especially on version 9.0), we’re not sure whether this overall design is fully supported and stable.
So we’d like to ask:
- Is this architecture (HBA passthrough → VM B → TL2000 → managed by Veeam VBR on VM A) officially supported or commonly used on Proxmox VE?
- Are there any known limitations or risks when using a tape library (like TL2000) via PCI passthrough on Proxmox VE 9.0?
- From a Proxmox perspective, what is the recommended way to configure this? For example:
- Any special BIOS / CPU settings (IOMMU, VT-d, etc.)
- Proxmox host configuration for PCI passthrough of the HBA
- Whether we should pass through the entire HBA vs. individual devices
- Has anyone here successfully implemented a similar setup (Veeam VBR + Tape Server on Proxmox with a physical tape library)?
- Any best practices, common pitfalls, or performance/compatibility tips would be very helpful.
Our main goal is:
- Use Proxmox VE 9.0 as the virtualization platform
- Use Veeam for VM backups
- Store long-term backups on physical tape through the Dell TL2000
Any guidance, configuration examples, or experience sharing would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!