8 Managing Tape Drives

See Also:

Viewing Current Drive State

The current state of the drive is reported to the library. The state is polled approximately every 10 seconds. You can view the state in the Drives table.

  1. From the remote interface, select Drives in the left menu.

  2. View the States column. Possible values are:

    • Empty

    • Cleaning

    • Loading

    • Loaded

    • Reading

    • Writing

    • Rewinding

    • Unloading

Configure Drive Cleaning

LTO drives may require occasional cleaning with a compatible cleaning cartridge. The drive will notify the library or host application when it requires cleaning. You can manage drive cleaning in one of three ways:

Enable Library-Managed Drive Auto Cleaning

Library-managed auto cleaning is the easiest and most flexible way to clean drives. When enabled, the library automatically performs a cleaning whenever a drive requests it.

  1. Verify there is at least one universal LTO cleaning cartridge (media type CU) in a reserved system slot. For best drive availability, place two cleaning cartridges in reserved slots.

  2. From the remote interface, select Configuration in the left menu.

  3. Click Configure Configure icon.

  4. Select Configure Library Settings, and then click Next.

  5. Set Drive Auto Clean to On.

  6. Set System Reserved Slots to 1 or 2. To use the auto cleaning, you must reserve at least one system slot for a cleaning cartridge.

  7. Click Next. If applicable, click Next again to bypass the partitioning configuration.

  8. On the summary screen, select Accept all changes and then click Apply.

Configure Host-Managed Drive Cleaning

Many storage-management and backup applications can manage drive cleaning (such as Oracle Secure Backup, Symantec NetBackup, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, and others). The host application can manage the cleaning of drives that it controls, if a cleaning cartridge is available in a storage slot.

Advantage of host-managed cleaning:

  • The host remains in control of its assigned drives and storage slots at all times.

Disadvantage of host-managed cleaning:

  • In a partitioned library, each partition must contain compatible cleaning cartridges, meaning you must provide duplicate cleaning media across partitions. The extra cleaning tapes take up slots that could otherwise hold data tapes.

The sections below summarize the procedures for configuring host-managed cleaning. Always refer to the host documentation for full details.

Configure Automatic Cleaning in Oracle Secure Backup During Drive Setup

When you add tape drives to your Oracle Secure Backup configuration, select Yes from the Auto clean list. Enter the following information:

  • Clean interval (duration) — The desired interval between cleaning cycles.

  • Clean using emptiest — Select Yes to use cleaning cartridges in round-robin fashion, starting from the least-used cartridge. Select No to use each cleaning cartridge until it expires, starting from the cartridge with the fewest remaining cleaning cycles (the default).

Set Up NetBackup for Reactive Cleaning Using the Administration Console

  1. From the Administration Console, select Media and Device Management.

  2. Select Device Monitor, and then select Drives.

  3. In the Drive Status pane, select an SL150 drive and then open the Actions menu.

  4. Select the Set Cleaning Frequency parameter, and set the value to 0 (zero). This tells NetBackup to clean drives in response to Tape Alerts.

  5. Repeat until you have configured all SL150 drives.

Set Up NetBackup for Reactive Cleaning Using the Commandline

  1. To add a drive to the NetBackup configuration, use the command tpconfig -add -drive -type [hcart|hcart2|hcart3] path drivepath -cleanfreq 0, where:

    • hcart* is the generic NetBackup media identifier.

    • drivepath is the path to the device file for the drive. Stop here.

  2. If you have already added the drives to your NetBackup configuration, run the command /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/tpclean/tpclean -F drive_name 0, where:

    • drive_name is the name that was assigned to the drive when it was added to the NetBackup device configuration.

    • 0 is the value that turns off frequency-based cleaning in favor of reactive cleaning.

Set Up Symantec Backup Exec Drive Cleaning

  1. On the Backup Exec navigation bar, select Devices.

  2. Select Robotic Libraries, and then select the robotic library for which you are setting up the cleaning.

  3. Click Slots to display the library's slots in the right pane.

  4. Select the slot that contains the cleaning tape.

  5. In the task bar, under General Tasks, select Properties.

  6. Select the Cleaning Slot option, and click OK.

  7. Make sure that the cleaning tape is located in the slot that you defined as the cleaning slot.

Set Up Reactive Cleaning for HP StorageWorks Enterprise Backup Solution with HP Data Protector

If you provide correctly labeled cleaning cartridges, Data Protector detects the cartridges and automatically sets up reactive cleaning.

Set Up As-Needed Cleaning in IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM)

  1. To configure on-demand cleaning for a drive that has not yet been added to your TSM configuration, use the DEFINE DRIVE command.

  2. To configure on-demand cleaning for a drive that has already been added to your TSM configuration, use the UPDATE DRIVE command.

  3. Using the chosen command, set the drive parameter CLEANFREQuency to ASNEEDED.

Set Up Tape-Alert Cleaning in EMC Networker

EMC Networker automatically cleans drives if it is configured to receive Tape Alerts from the drive. To enable Tape Alerts, set up the Networker Common Device Interface (CDI) as follows.

  1. In the NetWorker Administration interface, click on Devices, and select View, Diagnostic Mode.

  2. Select Devices from the navigation tree.

  3. In the Devices table, right-click on one of the SL150 tape drives, and select Properties from the context menu.

  4. In the Properties window, select the Advanced tab.

  5. In the Device Configuration area of the Advanced tab, under CDI settings, select SCSI Commands: Sends explicit SCSI commands to tape devices.

  6. Repeat steps 3-5 until the Common Device Interface has been configured for all SL150 tape drives.

Set Up CommVault Drive Cleaning

  1. In the ComCell interface, right-click on the SL150 library, and select Properties from the context menu.

  2. When the Library Properties sheet appears, select the Drives tab.

  3. In the Enable Auto-Cleaning section of the tab, check the On sense code check box.

Manually Clean a Drive

Although not recommended, you can manually manage drive cleaning by monitoring the remote interface for cleaning messages and responding accordingly.

Caution:

Over-cleaning can damage drives. Clean only when the drive indicates that it requires cleaning.

Check for Drives that Require Cleaning

  1. Log in to the remote interface.

  2. Check the Library Health indicator at the top of the screen. If it is in the Degraded state, click on it, and examine the Health Table for code 9030, DRIVE_NEEDS_CLEANING.

  3. If a drive needs cleaning, note the drive address (module number and either Top or Bottom). Use the library user interface to clean the drive (see below).

Use the Remote Interface to Clean a Degraded Drive

  1. Verify that a drive needs cleaning (see "Check for Drives that Require Cleaning").

  2. Make sure that the library contains at least one unexpired LTO universal cleaning cartridge (media type CU).

  3. Select Library in the left menu.

  4. Locate the drive that needs cleaning. Hover over the drive and verify the drive address is correct.

  5. Right-click on the drive, and then select Clean Drive.

  6. Select a cleaning tape from the drop-down list.

  7. Optionally, select Set the Library back Online ...

    If you do not select this option, remember to bring the library back online once the cleaning finishes.

Manage Expired Cleaning Cartridges

A cleaning cartridge expires when a drive determines the cartridge is no longer usable. When the drive identifies an expired cartridge, it notifies the library. The library dismounts the cartridge, flags it as expired, and alerts the remote interface.

If you have configured your backup or storage management application to automatically handle cleaning requests, the application may manage cleaning media for you. Consult the vendor's documentation for details.

Monitor Cleaning Cartridges Using the Remote Interface

  1. In the remote interface, select Library in the left menu.

  2. Right-click a cleaning cartridge, and then select Properties.

  3. Note the Cleaning Tape Status.

  4. If the cartridge is expired, replace it:

Replace Expired Cleaning Media Using the Remote Interface

Use this procedure to replace a cleaning cartridge in a reserved system cell.

  1. From the remote interface, select Library in the left menu.

  2. If the library is partitioned, Unassign the Mailslot before proceeding.

  3. Right-click on the expired cleaning cartridge, and move it to the mailslot (see "Move Tape Cartridges with the Remote Interface").

  4. Open the Mailslot, and remove the expired cleaning media.

  5. Dispose of the expired media promptly, so that dirty cartridges are not inadvertently reimported and reused.

  6. Place new cleaning media in the mailslot. Then Close the Mailslot.

  7. Move the new cleaning media from the mailslot to the reserved system slot(s)

Replace Expired Cleaning Media Using the Host Application

Use this procedure to replace a cleaning cartridge in a host-managed storage slot.

  1. If the library is partitioned, Assign the Mailslot to a Partition.

  2. Move the expired cartridge into the library mailslot using the host application. Consult your application documentation for instructions.

  3. Open the Mailslot, and remove the expired cleaning media.

  4. Dispose of the expired cartridge promptly, so that dirty cartridges are not inadvertently reimported and reused.

  5. Place new a cleaning cartridge in the mailslot. Then Close the Mailslot.

  6. Import the new cleaning cartridge into the library using the host application. Consult your application documentation for instructions.

Restart a Drive

Restarting a drive powers the drive off and then back on and performs initialization of the drive. This action may resolve some drive problems.

  1. In the remote interface, select Library in the left menu.

  2. Right-click the drive, and then select Restart Drive.

Update Drive Firmware

For instructions on obtaining and installing updated drive firmware, see "Update Library and Drive Firmware".