Remote Printer Setup

[Joy Conner]

Last weekend I set up 2 printers and did something wrong. I am seeking verification of my error. I am running on HPUX 11.11 and did the setup using SAM. The ip address and remote system name; NPI434DFB was added to etc host file. Spooler turned off. The following was input using SAM:
Printer Name: npi434dfb
Remote System Name: NPI434DFB
Remote Printer Name: npi434dfb
Remote printer on a BSD system was not checked.
rcmodel was set as Remote Cancel Model.
rsmodel was set as Remote Status Model.
Default Request Priority was set to 0 (zero)
Allow anyone to Cancel a request was not checked.
Make this Printer the default destination was not checked.

I am having problems printing to this device, and am told I set it up wrong. The only thing I see that can be wrong is the remote Printer Name probably should be all caps like the remote system name. If someone will confirm this or provide different advice, I'd appreciate the help.

I'm not new to unix, but have not been trained in such tasks. Any help will be appreciated.

[Tim Nelson]

1st mistake.. using SAM for anything ;)

delete the printer and start over...

[Dennis Handly]

What OS is running on NPI434DFB?

[Joy Conner]

I am running HPUX 11.11.

[V. Nyga]

Hi,

first it would be interesting what's your problems - no print? Wrong print?
Any error messages?
What does 'lpstat -t' says at the server?

NPI434DFB is your print server?
And npi434dfb is the name of the printer?
I wouldn't give a printer the same name like the print server.
How have you defined the printer at the print server? Only with ip-address?
How is the printer defined in the /etc/hosts?

>Spooler turned off
What do you intend with this?

V.

[Joy Conner]

the entry added to /etc/hosts file was
IP address and NPI434DFB

Yesterday evening, I deleted the printer and added it back using the same settings except the Remote Printer Name is now all caps; NPI434DFB.

Today I send command to print a file from unix and I get the same behavior I had yesterday.

The printer does print the file. But it is followed by a smiley face character and some characters which are not in the file I printed.

[Bill Hassell]

> using SAM...

Actually, for printers, it works well, especially for remote printers (not HP JetDirect network printers). Don't worry about training -- almost none of this relates to unix at all...it is quite unique to HP-UX.

> Printer Name: npi434dfb
> Remote System Name: NPI434DFB
> Remote Printer Name: npi434dfb

Printer Name is the local print queue. This is fine unless you want simpler or more meaningful names. Think of the local printer as an alias name for the network name.

Remote System Name is the hostname or IP address. This is almost always a problem because printer hostnames don't get added to /etc/hosts or the local DNS server. Use the IP address of the printer here.

Remote Printer Name is the most difficult area. It is the print server's internal name for the printer. A "print server" is really the LAN card in this context. Somewhere in the LAN code, there is a printer name. It might be prn or text or raw or lpr ... impossible to tell without documentation from the vendor. More on this later...

> Remote printer on a BSD system was not checked.

100% of all remote printers should be checked as BSD. The only exception is when a local printer is connected to a remote HP-UX system and the remote HP-UX system is acting as a print server.

Now, you may be in luck with the internal printer name. The name: NPI434DFB looks suspiciously like an HP network printer. If so, you can safely delete the existing printer:

lpadmin -x npi434dfb

and simply run this command:

addqueue -q myprinter -h 1.2.3.4 -r off -b off -t off

where: myprinter is whatever you want to call it in HP-UX, and 1.2.3.4 is the IP address of the printer.

That should get you going. If your system wasn't installed completely, you may need to download the HP printer installer package (small).

[Joy Conner]

the output from lpstat -t is in attachment.

[V. Nyga]

Hmmm, why not defining the printer as network printer at your workstation?

V.

[Joy Conner]

Yesterday evening, I deleted the above printer and added it to the system with BSD system checked.

The printer is still printing out that darn smiley face along with other garbage.

Any other suggestions for change?

[Viktor Balogh]

Hi,

>Printer Name: npi434dfb
>Remote System Name: NPI434DFB
>Remote Printer Name: npi434dfb

According to this data, and from the printer name I suspect that it's rather about a network printer. Try the following:

# telnet npi434dfb 9100

If you've got answer from that address on port 9100, than it is a jetdirect-compatible network printer. In this case, use the 'network printer' menu in SAM.

Regards,
Viktor

[Shibin_2]

What is your printer model? Is it HP printer or printer that is capable to read through port 9100 ?

[Joy Conner]

The printer is HP laser jet model P1606dn. I don't know how to tell about port 9100.

[Dennis Handly]

>The printer is HP laser jet model P1606dn. I don't know how to tell about port 9100.

You will have problems with this PC printer:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ie/en/sm/WF06b/18972-18972-3328059-3328066-3328066-4110408-4110411.html
Host-based printing, HP PCL 5e

Host-based won't work unless you use remote printing to Windows.

Standard connectivity: Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port, 10/100 Ethernet networking
Optional connectivity: HP Jetdirect ew2500 802.11g Print Server

I'm not sure if port 9100 works withtou the optional Jetdirect.

[Joy Conner]

The optional JetDirect is included in the printer.

[Bill Hassell]

> The printer is HP laser jet model P1606dn. I don't know how to tell about port 9100.

As Dennis mentions, the P1606dn is host-based which is a market-speak term that means and very complicated driver is needed because the printer is very cheap and has no internal formatting capability. HP-UX (and any other OS not mentioned in Dennis's reference above) has no driver for these types of printers. They are designed ONLY for the PC and Mac computers.

> port 9100...

This is the standard port for HP JetDirect LAN cards. However, it is unimportant since HP-UX can't send anything to this printer. As Dennis said, you might be able to connect this printer to a PC, enable Unix printing support on the PC and then configure the printer as a remote printer for simple ASCII printing (very few options).

[Dennis Handly]

>The optional JetDirect is included in the printer.

Ok. That won't help with the "Host-based printing". You need to configure it as remote.

As I asked above:
What OS is running on NPI434DFB?

It needs to be Windows/Mac/Linux.

[Joy Conner]

< What OS is running on NPI434DFB?

NPI434DFB is the default name of the print server that came with the printer.

- Joy

[Joy Conner]

I need to comment that the printer works when connected directly to PC and as a Windows network printer.

The HP printer is set up on HPUX 11.11 system as a remote printer and when printing a small file directly from HPUX using command cat | lp -dnpi434dfb, the printer prints the contents in plus some garbage characters.

[Dennis Handly · Accepted solution]

>NPI434DFB is the default name of the print server that came with the printer.

That is for a network printer. You need remote printer and that needs the name of a Windows box for a remote server.

>I need to comment that the printer works when connected directly to PC and as a Windows network printer.

Of course. Windows has a complex printer driver. HP-UX has none.

>remote printer and when printing a small file directly from HP-UX, the printer prints the contents in plus some garbage characters.

And you are listing the NPI434DFB as the server? I'm surprised you even get that must output.

Perhaps your JetDirect card doesn't know your printer is host based and should reject input direct from HP-UX? :-)

[Bill Hassell]

> NPI434DFB

Network Printer Interface (NPI) plus the last 6 digits of the MAC address of the JetDirect card in the printer.