Got to admit I've been wondering about this myself. I've a 3584 library with
10 LTO drives that has been in service since September of last year. I've
got three cleaning tapes in the library, I move 130 GB of data per day --
and I haven't seen a cleaning tape used yet. I know the drives and and I 
haven't seen a cleaning tape used yet. I know the drives and tapes are
supposed to be self-cleaning, but this is almost to good to be true.

OTOH, I haven't run into any errors that indicate dirty drives. . .

Tom Kauffman
NIBCO, Inc

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Stapleton [mailto:stapleto AT BERBEE DOT COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 6:25 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: Re: LTO don't need clean up?
> 
> 
> From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU]On
> Behalf Of Tomáš Hrouda
> > one of LTO 3583 (2 drives) we take care of still didn't clean
> > drives. It is
> > operate from january 2002 and there is about 10-20 GB daily 
> data flow
> > through each drive, 3-5 daily tape-mounts. Both drives are 
> set to ASNEEDED
> > cleaning frequency, but no clean occured from january (!!), 
> no dirty drive
> > signalized on display ... is it possible? LTO box is placed 
> in climatized
> > dust-free environment, but .....??? Has anyone some similar
> > experience with
> > LTO clean frequency?
> 
> IBM LTO libraries clean themselves; you shouldn't be using 
> TSM to schedule
> cleanings. Set your tape drives to CLEANFREQ=NONE and RTM at
> 
>   
> http://www-1.ibm.com/support/manager.wss?rt=4&org=ssg&doc=5700
01038&aid=1

The trick is that you have to insert the cleaner cartridge into the library
through the I/O station on the door of the library by using the MOVE MEDIA
command that you run from the front panel of the library. (Not to be
confused with TSM's MOVE MEDIA command.)

--
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
Certified TSM consultant
Certified AIX system engineer
MSCE