topic Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers in Operating System - OpenVMS

LPD jobs going to wrong printers

John Welsh_2 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:42:34 GMT

Hi,
I have a problem with VMS UCX LPD print queues.
Occasionally a job will print out on the wrong printer and also some print jobs will have data from a different print job. As per the attached, there are Generic print queues then relay queues using telnetsym to point to the LPD queues. I have checked the printcap files on each node and can't see any problems.
The queue config has been running for years without any problems and now has developed this situation. The systems are a VMS cluster running V7.1. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

Joseph Huber_1 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:13:21 GMT

If I see it right, both LPD queues point to the same printer in printcap:

:rm=EB01:\
:rp=L1:\

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

John Welsh_2 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:39:58 GMT

Hi Joseph, yes thats correct, I believe two requests to the same printer should be handled by the internal LPD queue within the printer.
Regards,
John W.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

Joseph Huber_1 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:11:31 GMT

So both queues target to printer L1 at the same printserver, but they sometimes print on a different printer not in the printcap file ?

Could it be a IP address or domain name translation problem ? The 'other" printer using the same address, or the DNS server having both at the same address ?

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

Hoff — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:05:01 GMT

Here is a text conversion of the Microsoft Office .doc attachment from the original post.

There is not yet a clear trigger here.

Yes, check your IP addressing and you network.

Any patterns to the misprinted jobs?

Particular printer(s) involved? Include printers that have shown the misprinting in your IP-level checks and your investigations.

Intermingled data does definitely point to a network-level error in either the host (possible, this is old software), the network (most likely) or in the printer (less likely).

Intermingled or misrouted data can also point to a failed or severely overloaded and buggy network switch or router.

Also check for and apply the ECO kits for your TCP/IP Services V4.2 software (you're at ECO 4) and any firmware for whichever printer(s) are involved here.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

John Welsh_2 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:17:52 GMT

Thanks guys. This gives me something to work on. I will investigate further, especially DNS/network problems. I appreciate your help.
I will post any updates. Regards, JohnW.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

Andy Bustamante — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:32:04 GMT

>>>The queue config has been running for years without any problems and now has developed this situation.

Has anything in the network, printers or systems changed recently?

I had an interesting issue recently where a large report failed to print, printed the same page over and over again and eventually stalled on a system that had been in place for years. This report was the only failure reported. Turned out the switching had been upgraded, the old printer was configured at 10 mb half duplex and the new switch was set to auto negotiate. A large job would fail, one or two pages print without issue.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

John Welsh_2 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:58:03 GMT

Hi guys,
Thought I had better close this. I am still investigating the network for causes for this problem. Thanks for the help.

Re: LPD jobs going to wrong printers

John Welsh_2 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:59:41 GMT

As above