In regard to: [Networker] Detecting cleaning required, Davina Treiber said...:

>Going back yet again to the old chestnut about tape drive cleaning...
>
>Does anyone know if it's possible to interrogate a tape drive (e.g. a DLT
>or an LTO) via SCSI commands, to find out whether it needs cleaning? I know
>that some jukeboxes can get this information from the drives, but I'm
>looking for a universal method - communicating directly between a server
>and a drive, irrespective of what the library is, or even if there is no
>library. Ideally I'm looking for a little standalone utility that will do
>this, for Solaris and/or NT.

This is something I've wanted for a long time too!  It's clear that the
changer in our STK 9710 knows when tapes need cleaning, but that could be
because of the little cable (serial?) that connects the library to each
tape drive.

I've spoken with my STK FSE about this issue, and he believes it is
possible to query either the changer or the drives directly to get the
"cleaning needed" bit, and I have the detailed SCSI guide for the drives,
but I haven't had time to actually dive in and try to come up with a
solution.

It is something I would be very interested in too.

Tim
--
Tim Mooney                              mooney AT dogbert.cc.ndsu.NoDak DOT edu
Information Technology Services         (701) 231-1076 (Voice)
Room 242-J6, IACC Building              (701) 231-8541 (Fax)
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5164

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