Printer "out of paper"

[j773303]

During the printer is running on print paper,
how do I know if "out of paper"? Any tool or any command will show this message?

[Massimo Bianchi]

Hi,
if the printer is configured with jetdirect, you can find usefull messages in the syslog, like the "out of paper" you need.

HTH,
Massimo

[j773303]

Any tools can monitor the printer status on HP-UX?

[twang]

I use the following scripts to check the status of print servers and send mail alert to printer users:

#!/bin/sh
echo "Please Reset Failed Print Server:\n" >> /tmp/prtsvr.tmp

PRTSVR_FILE=/tmp/prtsvr.lst
FAIL_PRT=/tmp/prtsvr.tmp
MAIL_LIST="a@a.com b@b.com"

for host in $(cat $HOSTNAME_FILE)
do
ping $host -n 1 | grep -q '1 packets received'
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
echo "$host: OK" >> $FAIL_PRT
else
echo "$host: FAIL" >> $FAIL_PRT
fi
done
v_fail=`grep FAIL $FAIL_PRT |wc -l`
if [ $v_fail -ge 1 ]; then
mailx -s "Please Reset Printer Server" $MAIL_LIST < $FAIL_PRT
fi


exit 0

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

The lp spoolomg system has virtually no diagnostics. This is in part due to the lack of status available through the various connection methods and because there is no executable that actually writes and reads the printer directly so a status might be obtained. For instance, a parallel or serial connection simply uses the cat commandinside the printer script--no status checking. And if the printer is remote oon another system, no status is returned other than up or down (down has a very broad meaning). JetcDirect printers (HP's LAN card or adapter) is better suited to determine status using the hpnpf program but you would need to loook at the generic hpnpf model script and the hpnpf man page to figure out as way to create a notificiation method.