rx3600 HPUX 11.31 itanium Network Printer setup

[CJENSEN_1]

Hello Guru's,
I am trying to setup printers on this server. In the past, under HPUX 11.11, I used the 'hppi' command in order to setup network printers. Using the hpsmh, when trying to setup a network printer, I am getting the following message on the new server: "The HP JetDirect printer software is not installed on your system...". So my question under HPUX Itanium 11.31, is there an alternative way to setup network printers, or, do I need to install the hppi for this server?
Thanks...colin

[singh sanjeev]

is addqueue is avialble on the system :
#vi /etc/hosts
IP queuename

addqueue -h -q -i 9998 -b off

[CJENSEN_1]

addqueue is not available on the system. So my question remains - how do you install a network based printer on HPUX 11.31?

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

I have no idea why hppi is not installed but it should be. Just download the software from:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=18922&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=27349&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=7

(sorry about the ugly URL). This is a standard swinstall depot. Once installed (no reboot is needed), hppi will work just fine. addqueue is part of the hppi package. You'll find man pages for all the hppi components including the printer scripts such as net_ljx000.

[CJENSEN_1]

Hi Bill,
We received the server last week. It was purchased from HP. It had the 11.31 Itanium pre-installed from the factory. Thanks for the link. Once I have it installed, it should be a "snap" to setup the printers - just like in good old PA-RISC 11.11.

[Chandrahasa s]

Hi,

You can add printer as remote printer not network printer Here you need to give printer name and remote print server name.

Chandra

[CJENSEN_1]

Bill - a thousand thanks - worked like a charm - just like our old 11.11 server.
Chandra - thanks for the advice. Yes, remote printers do work as well, but I've always set them up as network printers (I am unsure of the difference).

..colin

[Bill Hassell]

> Yes, remote printers do work as well, but I've always set them up as network printers (I am unsure of the difference).

There is an important difference: remote printers are crippled because they are treated as shared printers from PCs, Linux and other non-HP-UX systems. Because of the SysV lp spooler design, printer options such as -olandscape or -oduplex) are ignored -- essentially the remote printer is just a dumb printer. While you might write software that is specific to the target printer, each printer may need different code. Otherwise, all you get is a simple ASCII printout.

A "network" printer (SAM or SMH terminology) is a very poor description and is constantly misunderstood. Network printers are managed with hppi and the connection must be to an HP LAN interface. That LAN interface may be internal to the printer or it may be an external box. These cards are called JetDirect interfaces. You can use the newer cards as dumb remote printers but you lose all the options shown the JetDirect man pages such as net_ljx000.

A network printer appears to the lp spooler as a direct-connect device and therefore a printer-specific model script is available. Additionally, extensive network trace and diagnostic features are available for JetDirect connections (see man hpnpadmin). For a remote printer, the protocol is nothing more than send-and-pray -- no diagnostics or debug tools.

Note that except for high-end Canon and a couple of other manufactures, only HP printers have the JetDirect protocol. The majority of non-HP print servers are simple lpd devices.

[CJENSEN_1]

Bill,
Thanks for taking the time to write that explanation - it is very much appreciated. I was able to install the Jet Direct from your link, and everything is working fine. I should note that my issue was with a RX3600 that we just purchased, running 11.31, with the MAR-10 update. So, these servers obviously do not come shipped with the Jet Direct SW. Again - thanks...I would be lost without folks like you contributing to these forums.
...colin