Help needed: Using Veeam VBR + Tape Server (Dell TL2000) on Proxmox VE 9.0 with PCI passthrough

[Dinge123]

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:

• 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:

1. On Proxmox VE, create two Windows VMs:
   
   • VM A: Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) server
   • VM B: Veeam Tape Server
2. Use PCI passthrough to pass the 16Gb HBA (and thus the attached DELL TL2000 tape autoloader) directly to VM B.
3. 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:

1. Is this architecture (HBA passthrough → VM B → TL2000 → managed by Veeam VBR on VM A) officially supported or commonly used on Proxmox VE?
2. Are there any known limitations or risks when using a tape library (like TL2000) via PCI passthrough on Proxmox VE 9.0?
3. 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
4. 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!

 

[floh8]

Why your one dont install Veeam VBR and Tape Server together on bare metal?

 

[Dinge123]

Why your one dont install Veeam VBR and Tape Server together on bare metal?

Thanks a lot for your suggestion.


In our case we’re trying to build an all-in-one backup appliance on this single server. On the same R740xd we need to run multiple Veeam roles at the same time:

• Veeam Backup & Replication server
• Linux Hardened Repository
• Tape Server
• Backup proxy (and possibly additional auxiliary roles)

With a bare-metal VBR installation we can’t consolidate all of these components cleanly on one box, especially the Linux Hardened Repository, which must run on a separate Linux OS. Using virtualization lets us isolate each role in its own VM while still using only one physical server.


Previously we achieved this design by running these VMs on VMware vSphere, but due to the recent changes in VMware’s licensing and packaging, we are now looking for an alternative platform. That’s why we’re evaluating Proxmox VE and trying to confirm whether a similar all-in-one design (including the tape server with PCI passthrough) is feasible and stable there.

 

[floh8]

1. yes
2. not known, but PVE 8 is more stable
3. see docu + wiki
4. not many, but for sure

 

[Dinge123]

Thank you very much for your reply and for the clear answers to my questions.


If we decide to move to PVE 8 as you suggested, would it be possible to share any concrete success stories or examples from other users who are running a similar setup (Veeam VBR + Tape Server with PCI passthrough to a tape library)? In particular, we are looking for official or community-validated guides / how-tos that walk through the deployment in some detail—BIOS/IOMMU settings, Proxmox passthrough configuration, and any Veeam-specific tuning.


We have checked the official documentation and wiki, but so far we haven’t been able to find something that covers this end-to-end scenario.


Thanks again for your help and for pointing us in the right direction.

 

[floh8]

Your implemtation solution will be a typical one in the future, but at the moment your ones are simply to early to profite from well proofed installations because Veeam for PVE is not yet stable for so long. So its up to your one to test the configurations for production.

https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI(e)_Passthrough
https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/PCI_Passthrough