force the networker to clean the tape drivers

Define a slot for cleaning tape by going to library properties in NMC and then put a tape in that slot and turn on autocleaning . When drive will require cleaning, Networker will automatically pick up cleaning tape and will clean the drive.

Thanks and Regards,

Randeep Singh

It depends if cleaning is enabled within NW or not. Usually, it is not and this is handled by library itself. Otherwise NW will pick up Tape Alert to clean the drive and will do so.

On the "general" tab of the library's properties there's a section to set/unset auto clean and set the slot range for your cleaning tapes.

(I've gone the route that Hrvoje mentioned and let the library handle the cleanings. It's been more consistent for us that way... all a matter of preference I suppose).

Cleaning works in NW provided its configured properly. I have seen issues when cleaning have been configured (unintentionally) in both NW and on the drive. I have reverted to let only the drive handle cleaning and I have had bo issue. The library is intelligent enough to perform this action when it is in idle status.

I will second this - either configure it on the library or in Networker. If you set it in both it will lead to unpredictable behaviour!

How would one know if this is working properly?
I've been told by my hardware guy that auto-cleaning is enabled on our StorageTek L700 library. However, I see in NetWorker that the "cleaning required" is flagged on many of the drives and seems to stay in that state indefinitely. The evening operator does a bi-weekly, manually initiated cleaning of the drives and THEN the cleaning flag in NetWorker is cleared. Seems likely that auto-cleaning really isn't enabled, but I'm told it is. Is it logged in NetWorker when the library is cleaning the drives? I suspect not if NetWorker didn't initiate the process. I'd like to avoid the bi-weekly, manually initiated cleaning of the drives if either the library or NetWorker can do it automatically.

If AUTO cleaning is configured on your Library then there should not be any need for any manual cleaning. The Library should be able to initiate cleaning as soon as this is required for any drive when the drive is available ( Not performing any backup).


Auto cleaning can be configured in NW by going to Drive/Properties then Tick the Auto Clean box. You must also enter the slot no where the cleaning cartridge is located. and the number of times the cleaning cartridge can be used. When cleaning is required NW should be able to invoke the cleaning job and reset the cleaning flag.


If NW does not initiate the task then there will not be any information in the NW log file. However the library should have some logs that can be accessed by the administrator.

As I said before only one of the two options must be used to avoid issues. I use the Library option and have disabled Auto Clean in NW. This works fine for me.

Its a while since I've used the L700 so I can't recall exactly where it is set but it should be straightforward to find on the control panel. Make sure you have got valid cleaning tapes in the library (they have a fixed number of uses and the library should keep track of this).
EMC used to recommend that drive cleaning was done by Networker.

Is there a command line to perfome the cleaning task?

I do not know of any CLI, but if want to perform a adhoc cleaning you can always do it via the device console.

Mount your cleaning tape in the drive - if you know either the slot or the volume name:

nsrjb -l -f drivepath -S slot
nsrjb -l -f drivepath volume

You can also mount it from the GUI

Hi David,

Thank you your answer, yet I could not do it.
What do you mean by drivepath?

Is this command to clean the drive or just to load the tape?

Many thanks

drivepath is the device path name assigned to a drive while configuring it. Ex: \\.\tape0 in Windows OR /dev/rmt/0cbn in Solaris etc.

Thanks Anuj... You are doing both, Jihad. When you load a cleaning tape into a drive it will automatically clean that drive.

Hi David,

When I run command, it just unloaded the tape if there is one inside the driver and never load the cleaning tape into the driver.