Printers mapping problem

[itreyger]

A few printers were setup on our new HPUX host (c8000 workst). Samba is used for our Windows clients. The problem is when Windows client mapping printer it would not print, but he can print when creates a new one using IP address. Can anybody help to identify the problem.Than you

[Rita C Workman]

First glance it sounds like it might be unable to resolve - which would explain that when you create the new one it can resolve where to send it then.

Another thing to watch out for are some color printers that don't have the protocols for printing from an HPUX box (example ColorLJ 3500).

Rgrds,
Rita

[Wouter Jagers]

"but he can print when creates a new one using IP address"

Should this be the IP address of the printer, samba and the spooler on your HPUX box are being bypassed. In that case, the problem remains the same.

You are mapping the printers using \\yourserver\printqueuename, right ?

Check if the printers are in your /etc/printcap file ! I remember that's something which is often overlooked..

When "browsing" the network on a windows machine, you should be able to see the print queues when expanding your server's tree.

Hope that helps, let us know what happens.

Cheers
Wout

[itreyger]

Thanks Wout. I could not find /etc/printcap file. Are you sure that is the right location?

[itreyger]

Thanks Wout. There are no /etc/printcap file on HPUX. Do you know what file I should modify to get it fixed in HPUX?

[Wouter Jagers]

Hmz.. Well, I'm pretty sure I had an /etc/printcap on my HPUX samba machine.

We did create it ourselves, probably. With a little luck it doesn't have to be a complicated one, try creating the file and add your printers like this:

queue1|
queue2|
queue3|
..and so on.

Shame I can't check these config files, since I don't admin that environment anymore =/ But I'm pretty sure about all this.

Windows PCs which have the correct printer drivers installed always printed nicely through samba and the lp spooler.

Good luck, let me know what you find.

Cheers
Wout

[Wouter Jagers]

If the printcap file is defined in your smb.conf, make sure it's correct, of course.

And, just in case, the 'testparm' command is a really useful tool for checking the syntax of your smb.conf. Chances are you know that, but it's always worth mentioning :)

[itreyger]

Here is what I have in my smb.conf file on printcap:
printcap cache time=0
printcap name=lpstat
I also double checked on /etc/printcap - does not exist

[Wouter Jagers]

ok, apparently you can indeed do that, and samba should then run an lpstat -v to get the list of printers.. I guess that's good then. However, you could try and refer to /etc/printcap and try creating it if you want, it's easily reverted. But first let's find out some other things:

- Is your samba already in use for a while, or are you just setting it up ?
- Does it do filesharing as well, or just printing ?
- Can you see the machine when browsing the network on a windows machine ?

[itreyger]

- Is your samba already in use for a while, or are you just setting it up ? - It is running for a while
- Does it do filesharing as well, or just printing ? - It does file sharing
- Can you see the machine when browsing the network on a windows machine ? - I can see it

[Wouter Jagers]

Ok.. does the output of lpstat -v look decent ?

[itreyger]

device for net_rm12_2100: /dev/null
device for net_rm20_2100: /dev/null
device for net_host_lj6: /dev/null
device for dyno_eng_lj5k: /dev/null
device for net_color4600: /dev/null
Wout,
Here is the output for lpstat -v

[Wouter Jagers]

Hmz, ok.. I am unsure whether or not that's good.

It's tough that I don't have my samba machine anymore; that would make things way easier ;-)

There's bound to be a current HPUX samba admin around, help us out here guys :D

Can you print to these printers from a shell ?

# cat somefile.txt | lp -d net_rm12_2100

Cheers
Wout

[itreyger]

Hi Wout,
I was able to print. The problem is only when users try to map a printer thru the host they can map it but it would not print

[Wouter Jagers]

Hi,

I see. Do you get any error messages ?
(Also check the Event Viewer of the windows machine for clues)

Cheers
Wout