Tape Drive cleaning can be performed in one of three ways within NetBackup-
frequency, TapeAlert or Manually .
Frequency based cleaning is as it implies, the tape drive is cleaned every x number of hours.
TapeAlert is more of an industry protocol or standard where tape drives with this feature can request the backup application to perform a cleaning when it "senses" the heads are in need of cleaning. The tape library must have TapeAlert functionality to support this functionality in NetBackup.
Manual cleaning is as the name implies the Admin initiates a cleaning of a particular drive.
Frequency based cleaning is set by going to the Media and Device Management section of the Admin console, selecting devices, robots, and then selecting the drives tab; highlighting one or more drive one can set the frequency in which the drives will be cleaned. If the cleaning frequency is left as zero, then the tape drive will be cleaned based upon
TapeAlert protocol, or never if the library does not support TapeAlert.
If the
cleaning frequency has been set and the library supports TapeAlert the tape drive will be cleaned on whichever event occurs first - the frequency or a TapeAlert
Manual cleaning is accomplished by highlighting the drive in the right hand pane and selecting clean now.
Hopefully this answers your question.
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NetBackup does take a while to become familiar.