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Veritas.com
Support

Tape cleaning

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ramLUKE
Level 3

‎12-02-2012 02:55 AM

Hi ALL,

I am new to this NBU tool.

 

I have few doubts regardong the tape drice cleanign pprocess.

  1. I want to know what type of cleaning is enabled in my environment?Is it tape alert cleaning,frequency based or robotic based?
  2. if it is frequency based,then will tape drive sends the alert to bptm by default?
  3. if it is robotic cleaning,then will tape drive sends the alert to bptm by default?
  4. what is reactive/proactive cleaning?

 

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH164472

 

NBU 7.1

linux

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mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

‎12-02-2012 02:56 PM

I have no idea how to check your robots, for starters, you didn't tell me the make/ model.

Even if you did, I would have to download and look in the manuals, so you can guess what I'm going to say next ...

... refer to the documentation of your libraries to see how they work.  If there is some issue, log a call with the vendor and ask them.

The only library I really have experience with is the IBM 3584 - for that one, you can check the cleaning status by looking in the web GUI for the library.

We try to keep this forum as NBU only (doesn't always work), so non NetBackup question need to go to the  correct source, and unfortunately, setting up libraries is nothing to do with NBU.

I am sure you will understand, but if we don't stick to this, someone will ask for help when their car doesn't start.

To be honest, working out if a library is set to clean if fairly easy, just poke about the GUI or the menus on the front of the library, you should be able to work it out.

As an alternative, I have explained how to see if NBU is cleaning (cleaning tapes must be in the NONE volume pool, I missed that bit before) so you can check to see if it is.  If NBU is doing the cleaning then you could conclude that the library isn't.  If NBU is not cleaning, but you never see an issue with drives that need cleaning, you could conclude that the library is.

There is no advantage if NBU cleans or the library cleans - it makes no difference.

Personally, I  leave it to the library but that's only my personal view (well, I did when I was running backup environments).

For 2/ 3/ - the drive sends the tape alert and it is always detected by both the library and NBU, but only one should have cleaning enabled, and so, only one will 'act' on it.

You can get NBU to ignore the tape alerts, create an empty file called /usr/openv/volmgr/database/NO_TAPEALERT

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH21595

I see Marianne has pointed out freq cleaning is not supported in SSO environments, but as I explained, it should not be used with 'modern' drives.  One of the quickest ways to kill a drive is to overclean it.

Martin

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mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

‎12-02-2012 03:15 AM

 

  1. I want to know what type of cleaning is enabled in my environment?Is it tape alert cleaning,frequency based or robotic based?
  2. if it is frequency based,then will tape drive sends the alert to bptm by default?
  3. if it is robotic cleaning,then will tape drive sends the alert to bptm by default?
  4. what is reactive/proactive cleaning?

 

1.  It depends, by befault NBU will clean if it receives a TAPEALERT and has cleaning media available and correctly defined.

A robot will clean if it recieves a TAPEALERT and has cleaning media correctly defined, as per the robots admin guide.

So if the robot is configure to clean, and NBU has no cleaning tape defined, then the robot is cleaning.

If NBU has cleaning tapes defined and the robot does not, then, NBU is cleaning.

If they both have cleaning tapes defined, then I have no idea what will happen.

Under Device > Drives right click a drive and select change.

If cleaning freq is 0 it is set to clean on tapealert (if there is available media), if it has a value it is set to frequency based, which should not be used.

Reactive cleaning is when the cleaning is done in response to a tapealert, proactive is when it is done manually (or frequency based).

A drive does not need cleaning until it send  a tape alert, frequency/ manual cleaning tends to be run too often which damags the drive.

martin

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ramLUKE
Level 3

‎12-02-2012 05:28 AM

Thanks Martin for this kind gesture of answering.I am highly obliged.

 

Can you plz reply on 2 and 3 question .

 

How can i check whether whether robot is configure to cleean?

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Marianne
Level 6
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified

‎12-02-2012 08:46 AM

Please note that frenquency based cleaning is NOT supported for SSO drives.

Please help us understand the reason for questions 2 and 3? Are you experiencing problems in your environment that may be related to tape cleaning?
If so, you can easily answer your own questions by looking at bptm logs on your media servers.

I believe that frequency based cleaning will send request to bptm.
Robotic cleaning will not send request to bptm because cleaning is configured outside of NBU. Cleaning tapes will be in robot's maintenance slots that are not visible to NBU.

Please read through all of these TNs  (some VERY old, but still relevant):

 

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH8452

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH19399

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO33906

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO56117

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO56118


Handy NetBackup Links
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mph999
Level 6
Employee Accredited

‎12-02-2012 02:56 PM

I have no idea how to check your robots, for starters, you didn't tell me the make/ model.

Even if you did, I would have to download and look in the manuals, so you can guess what I'm going to say next ...

... refer to the documentation of your libraries to see how they work.  If there is some issue, log a call with the vendor and ask them.

The only library I really have experience with is the IBM 3584 - for that one, you can check the cleaning status by looking in the web GUI for the library.

We try to keep this forum as NBU only (doesn't always work), so non NetBackup question need to go to the  correct source, and unfortunately, setting up libraries is nothing to do with NBU.

I am sure you will understand, but if we don't stick to this, someone will ask for help when their car doesn't start.

To be honest, working out if a library is set to clean if fairly easy, just poke about the GUI or the menus on the front of the library, you should be able to work it out.

As an alternative, I have explained how to see if NBU is cleaning (cleaning tapes must be in the NONE volume pool, I missed that bit before) so you can check to see if it is.  If NBU is doing the cleaning then you could conclude that the library isn't.  If NBU is not cleaning, but you never see an issue with drives that need cleaning, you could conclude that the library is.

There is no advantage if NBU cleans or the library cleans - it makes no difference.

Personally, I  leave it to the library but that's only my personal view (well, I did when I was running backup environments).

For 2/ 3/ - the drive sends the tape alert and it is always detected by both the library and NBU, but only one should have cleaning enabled, and so, only one will 'act' on it.

You can get NBU to ignore the tape alerts, create an empty file called /usr/openv/volmgr/database/NO_TAPEALERT

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH21595

I see Marianne has pointed out freq cleaning is not supported in SSO environments, but as I explained, it should not be used with 'modern' drives.  One of the quickest ways to kill a drive is to overclean it.

Martin

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ramLUKE
Level 3

‎12-02-2012 09:47 PM

Thanks ALL.Will get back to you as soon as will gather the info,Will open a new thread then.

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