Mibtwo4,   What you're trying to do is not supported, as seen here, VMware doesn't support Tape Drives connected directly to ESXi 5.x and later.   Now on a side note, while it isn't supported I did happen to come across this post that discusses the same question, and may help you as well.    Let me know if this helps.    
Hello All,Glad to be here, and I am hoping to also get help on an issue we have been facing here.We are trying to enable detection from the ESXI VM host, of a recently installed Dell 6Gbps SAS HBA adapter.Upon rebooting the hypervisor, it displayed the driver and firmware version details. [IMAGE] From the ESXI O.S. - I can see the adapter listed. [IMAGE] [IMAGE] But the adapter is not seen in the device manager of the Guest VM server.I have tried the options to add new device; but not sure if this is the right way to go. [IMAGE] In the long term, we are working to get it connected for LTO backup tape jobs.So, it will be like: - LTO tape <-->SAS HBA adapter <--> SAS cable connection to ESXI Host <-- Guest VMWare --> Thanks to anyone, contributing or answering to help me resolve this issue.
Seeing Dell Ggbps SAS HBA in Guest Vm Server