Network printer problem

[Adam Noble]

Hi all,

We have a Laserjet p2015 sitting out in Hungary. The LAN card type: Integrated HP Jetdirect en3700 Fast Ethernet Print Server. I have been trying to add it as a network printer. It has been working as a remote printer but there were format issues.

Anyway when I go to add it as a network printer it fails suggesting "it is NOT a network printer". From reading other forums it suggests
that this means its not got a HP LAN card and can only be setup as a remote printer. However this is not the case.

I'm wondering if this could be firewall related. I was able to add the printer by briefly changing the IP address to a printer that could be pinged. However if I do a test print I get the same error. I can telnet to the printer on port 9100 but I cannot get any config. I thought ? would bring that back and I get connection closed.

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

[Bill Hassell]

Start by *not* adding the printer to HP-UX. Because this is across the Internet, you have an enormous number of problems to resolve. Note: if this is through a private network or VPN, it will be much simpler.

Instead, use hpnpf to test the printer. Because it supports PCL, you can use it with HP-UX. hpnpf is the program that sends the print data to the printer and can be run from the command line. To print a simple file:

hpnpf -x 12.34.56.78 -N /etc/nsswitch.files

where -x is the IP address of the printer. If this does not work, add the -l (log) option:

hpnpf -x 12.34.56.78 -N -l /var/tmp/hpnpf.log /etc/nsswitch.files

Use a small file for testing because the log will be quite verbose.

Because you are going over the Internet, you'll need to trace what is happening with the connection. Normally, the "not a network printer" message does mean that the LAN card is not HP. But the 2015 is a very low cost printer and newer LAN cards have been much less friendly to HP-UX systems. Try adding the printer with addqueue rather than SAM or hppi:

addqueue -h 12.34.56.78 -q my2015

You may also want to turn off the banner page and always turn off True-EOJ (see the man page for addqueue. Also, be sure to add the 2015 printer script to your system:

http://www.hp.com/pond/modelscripts/index2.html

I would intensely caution you about using a remote printer without a VPN or other secure connection. If the printer's LAN card is visible to the open Internet, then you have a severe security hole. These LAN cards are very unsecure and their internal code can be hacked to gain access to the remote network. And of course, the print data can be sniffed and seen by others on the Internet.

[Avinash20]

Have you installed the jet-direct software ??