Chapter 4 Running Your Library
About Cleaning Tape Drives
Scalar i500 User’s Guide
137
About Cleaning Tape Drives
Library tape drives require occasional cleaning. Cleaning cartridges are
used to remove accumulated residue from each tape drive’s read/write
head.
The library supports two methods for cleaning tape drives with cleaning
cartridges: AutoClean and Manual.
AutoClean
— Configuring one or more dedicated cleaning slots
automatically enables AutoClean. Cleaning cartridges are stored in the
designated cleaning slots. When a tape drive needs cleaning, it notifies
the library, and the library automatically cleans the tape drive using a
cleaning cartridge loaded in a cleaning slot. Automatic cleaning is
integrated into routine library operations. The host application requests
the library to move a tape cartridge. If the tape drive performing the
operation needs cleaning, the library will perform the move operation
and then automatically clean the tape drive with a cleaning cartridge
before informing the host application that the move operation is
complete.
When a cleaning cartridge has expired, a RAS ticket informs the user to
export the expired tape from the library. If more cleaning cartridges are
present, the next cleaning cartridge will be used for the next cleaning
request. If no more cleaning cartridges are available, a RAS ticket will
inform the user that the tape drive needs cleaning and that a cleaning
tape needs to be imported.
Only Administrative users can configure cleaning slots, thus enabling
AutoClean. When AutoClean is enabled, the library allows you to import
and export cleaning media through the I/E Station.
For information on configuring cleaning slots, see
Configuring Cleaning
Slots
on page 71. For information on importing and exporting cleaning
media, see
Importing Cleaning Media
on page 138 and
Exporting
Cleaning Media on page 140
.
