Re: [ADSM-L] Re: 3584 ALMS and uncleaned drives

Hi..............

In the Tape library system, you need to set................

The Advanced Library Management System is enabled. 
As a result, the cleaning mode has been set to automatic and the library will 
manage drive cleaning

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of 
Rick Saylor
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 2:11 PM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Re: 3584 ALMS and uncleaned drives

One more thing - If you have alternate paths enabled the "drive needs cleaning" 
and the SIM/MIM messages that Dave speaks of will often appear to refer to 
different devices. Notice in the example below that the "drive needs cleaning" 
message is reported on rmt12 but the SIM/MIM records are reported on rmt3. In 
reality, rmt3 and rmt12 are the same device just on different paths.

IDENTIFIER TIMESTAMP  T C RESOURCE_NAME  DESCRIPTION
A7AB4C8F   0911043513 I H rmt3           TAPE SIM/MIM RECORD
A7AB4C8F   0911043013 I H rmt3           TAPE SIM/MIM RECORD
E507DCF9   0911043013 I H rmt12          TAPE DRIVE NEEDS CLEANING


At 01:46 PM 9/13/2013, you wrote:
>I've historically seen errpt errors (AIX 5 and 6) with the Atape driver 
>and multiple generations of both 3590 and 3592 tape drives in both 3494 
>and 3584 libraries where the library managed the cleaning.  There is a 
>"drive needs cleaning" message and two SIM/MIM messages, one indicating 
>the cleaning is needed and one indicating the drive has been cleaned 
>(after decoding the detail data).  With the 3592 drives, sometimes I 
>now only see two of the three messages (though I forget which is sometimes 
>missing).
>
>Typically, I'll also see the "drive cleaned" SIM message when the drive 
>has been manually cleaned, e.g. by our IBM CE.
>
>If you see the "drive needs cleaning" (E507DCF9 for my current drives) 
>without a corresponding SIM/MIM message or two (A7AB4C8F), I would 
>worry that the drives aren't being cleaned.  As Rick notes, a drive 
>that needs cleaning should display a message on the drive display and in the 
>web interface, too.
>
>=Dave
>
>On 09/13/2013 10:42 AM, Rick Saylor wrote:
>>Nick
>>
>>My 3584 libraries are set to autoclean and I see these messages in the 
>>AIX error log and the act log also. Have you checked the display on 
>>the drives(either physically looked or with the web client)? If the 
>>drive needs cleaning it will display a message. Also, check the 
>>cleaning cartridge(s). You should see the number of cleanings increase 
>>over time. So, I just keep an eye on the number of cleanings and 
>>replace when the limit is reached (usually 50 cleans is the limit).
>>
>>Rick
>>
>>At 10:08 AM 9/13/2013, you wrote:
>>>After three years in a data center in which actual physical tapes 
>>>were forbidden, I'm now doing penance in a smaller data center using 
>>>a honest-to-god 3584 with ALMS.
>>>
>>>To my surprise, I'm seeing entries in an AIX 6.1 error report that 
>>>some of my tape drives need cleaning, and I'm finding corresponding 
>>>ANR8914I messages in my activity log. This makes me fear that the 
>>>ALMS automated cleaning isn't happening. (The first alternate 
>>>proposal is that I'm expecting too much.)
>>>
>>>If it matters, we're using 3592 drives, not LTO drives. Also, TSM 6.2 
>>>on AIX 6.1.
>>>
>>>Is this a sign that we need to update our 3584 microcode? Is there 
>>>some interaction between the 3584 and AIX that prompts the 3584 to 
>>>notify AIX instead of just quietly cleaning the drive?
>>>
>>>(I'm so happy that DataDomain's 3584 emulation didn't strive to match 
>>>these
>>>nuances....)
>>>
>>>Nick
>
>--
>Hello World.                                David Bronder - Systems Architect
>Segmentation Fault                                      ITS-EI, Univ. of Iowa
>Core dumped, disk trashed, quota filled, soda warm.   david-bronder AT uiowa 
>DOT edu