Feature request: log cleaning task

[Microsaft]

Hello,

the cleaning functionality has been added some time ago - what I miss is a entry at the history when there was a cleaning request from the library and when the cleaning has been done.
Would be great if you could add this feature...

Also some notification if the cleaning tape has reached EOL would be good.

Currently I've to look at the library log to check "has the cleaning done"

kind regards
M$

[Dima P.]

Hi Microsaft,

Good feedback - thanks!

what I miss is a entry at the history when there was a cleaning request from the library and when the cleaning has been done.

Cleaning should be logged in the job session. Do you use email reporting for tape jobs?

Also some notification if the cleaning tape has reached EOL would be good.

Right now, such tape is moved to expired media pool automatically and you should get a warning in tape backup session (and job email report).

[JamesBondt]

Agree with Microsaft.
User should also be able to predict when a cleaning tape is going to be worn out so that he can act proactively.
It would be nice to have an overview with counter and timestamps when viewing the properties of a cleaning tape (label CLxxxxx) through Tape Infrastructure, Library, Media, instead of having to search through the logfiles.

[Dima P.]

Thanks. Noted as a potential enhancement for upcoming tape life cycle tracking.

[mbond1]

After how many times of cleaning a tape drive does Veeam retire a cleaning tape to the retired media pool?

The following article says the following but doesn't specify after how many times the cleaning tape is used it's then considered "worn-out".

"The cleaning tapes are located in the Unrecognized media pool. The worn-out cleaning tapes are moved to the Retired media pool automatically."

The cleaning tapes I use can be used 50 times before they need to be disposed of.

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95

[veremin]

Your voice has been heard. Thanks.

[rdbastedo]

I realize it has been nearly a year since this thread has been touched.
It seems Veeam B&R 9.5 performed a tape drive cleaning for our library this week however there is nothing in the history that indicated it performed the cleaning.
We have the IBM TS3100 with two drives, the automatic cleaning in the library is turned off and Veeam knows which tape is the cleaning tape and it's in the Unrecognized media pool.
During a tape backup job it did mention the drive needed to be cleaned, then the job finished.
When I looked at the library control interface it did not indicate a drive needed to be cleaned although the library did send us an alert earlier about the same time that the Veeam backup job indicated cleaning was needed.
Assuming that Veeam performed the cleaning isn't really as good as seeing mention of it either in the job (after Veeam said the drive needed to be cleaned) or at least in the history.
We can keep track of the number of media loads of the cleaning cartridge and deduce from this that a cleaning has occurred.
It would be really great to add this to the logging in Veeam B&R, please consider it.

[Dima P.]

Hello Rick.

Thanks for your input. I'll gladly share your thoughts with the tape team. Cheers!

[tehinternet]

Hello,

Sorry to necro-post on this old thread. Besides what was discussed here in 2017, has there been any changes in Veeam B&R 10?

I can't seem to find a way to proactively know how many cleans are left on my cleaning tapes.

[Dima P.]

Hello Mike,

We've added the information about regular tape media usage (visible via tape media properties). This information is still unavailable for cleaning tape media, but I've added you vote to this feature request. Thank you!

[tehinternet]

Thanks Dima! I appreciate it.

[pshute]

Today I was alerted by a technician to the possibility that our cleaning tape might need replacement. We have a standalone drive. We manually insert the cleaning tape when the drive itself displays a "C" on it. The technician said the drive might not necessarily be smart enough to know when the tape needs replacing.

Can I please confirm that there's no way for us to get any kind of cleaning count from Veeam? We really have no idea how many times we used it. If we had any idea that the drive might not have told us when to replace it, we would at least have made a mark on it each time.

[Dima P.]

Peter,

Currently we do not display the cleaning count via Veeam B&R UI. What is your tape drive model? Thanks!

[pshute]

What is your tape drive model?

To tell you the truth, not sure. Veeam reports it as "IBM ULT3580-HH6", but labels on the drive itself say verious things like 35P1060 and 35P1266, and the people we have its maintenance contract with say "IBM 3573 8348 HH LTO6". Not sure why it has to be so hard.

[RobTurk]

The technician said the drive might not necessarily be smart enough to know when the tape needs replacing.

The tape drive does know. There's a memory chip inside the cleaning cartridge and it keeps a count of the number of uses. Your drive should continue to indicate 'need cleaning' when you insert an expired cleaning tape.

[RobTurk]

To tell you the truth, not sure. Veeam reports it as "IBM ULT3580-HH6", but labels on the drive itself say verious things like 35P1060 and 35P1266, and the people we have its maintenance contract with say "IBM 3573 8348 HH LTO6". Not sure why it has to be so hard.

It's an IBM Half-height LTO-6 drive. "ULT3580-HH6" is what the drive returns when Veeam asks the drive to identify itself through SCSI commands. 35P1060 is the IBM partnumber on the box, Veeam will never see that.

[DarthDave]

I'd say that it's better for the cleaning cartridge to manage it's life via the onboard counter stored on the chip as depending on the drive type & mode, the cleaning cartridge can be used between 15 and 50 times. Better for the media and drive manufacturers to put their best practice in firmware than a 3rd party application like backup software.

You def. got the drive type correct @RobTurk . The IBM part number (35P1060) and the maintenance contract name (IBM 3573 8348 HH LTO6) and the SCSI reported name (IBM ULT3580-HH6) are three ways of describing the same drive type & model. Also agree that the cartridge will keep the cleaning history count onboard via a memory chip. The drive's firmware must recognize the chip, but that's been in the market for many many years.

[pshute]

I'd say that it's better for the cleaning cartridge to manage it's life via the onboard counter stored on the chip as depending on the drive type & mode, the cleaning cartridge can be used between 15 and 50 times. Better for the media and drive manufacturers to put their best practice in firmware than a 3rd party application like backup software.

I agree. I tried for years to get Backup Exec to control and track the cleaning, and it wasn't easy. It seemed to have no idea of the drive's own cleaning stats, and tried to keep its own.

Is it technically possible for Veeam to report the cleaning stats or the drive and cleaning tape? It would be useful if it could. At the moment I'm not sure if Veeam can even report if there's a cleaning tape in the drive. I don't remember if I've tried doing an inventory while there's one in there.

[ASG]

Sorry to revive this old Post - but having information when the last cleaning did take place and how many cycles the cleaning tape did have would be great.

[Dima P.]

Hi ASG,

For cleaning cycles you can check the cleaning tape properties. Regarding the last cleaning, agree - useful information (currently you can only look for the corresponding log lines in the backup job session). Consider its noted as a feature request! Thank you!