Setting up a P2015 with HP-UX 11.11

[Yvonne Butler]

I'm trying to get an HP Laserjet P2015 printer working from an HP-UX 11.11 system. So far I've setup a remote printer using port 9100 and can get prints but only with everything scrolling over to the right (ie. its as if an end of line character recognition is needed). If I try and setup the printer through JetAdmin I get a messages about "either it is NOT a network printer or this host is denied access to it!".

I've tried then to install the model script for the P2015 but get the message: "These model script files cannot be installed completely without the software package of HP JetDirect Printer Installer for UNIX being installed first". Do I need something other than JetAdmin installed on the server perhaps?

Any suggestions please as I've tried everything I can think of so far....

[Court Campbell]

Welcome to the wonderful world of HP's new printers and non-updated jet direct for HP-UX. My suggestoin would be to add it as an lpr printer. I beleive the P2015 has an lpd daemon.

P.S. the P2015 does not have a full set of fonts. You will need to order the font dimm for it. Otherwise, you will probably run into user complaints that the fonts are incorrect. Reference:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1087760

[Tim Nelson]

try substituting the driver files.

laserjets are typically PCL5 or PCL6.

They can be found in /usr/lib/lp/model

cp /usr/lib/lp/model/PCL5 /etc/lp/interface/model.orig/myprinter

I am assuming you have the JetDirect Printer Installer for UNIX installed already ? ( must be else the job would not print at all )

swlist|grep -i jetdirect

[Tim Nelson]

The HPUX specific interface drivers are here.
http://www.hp.com/pond/modelscripts/index2.html

After unsharing the file you can manually copy the interface file like above but the source would be /opt/hpnpl/sh/net_lj2015

[Yvonne Butler]

Thanks for the suggestions, I have managed to get a bit further although still no improvement on the printing...

I've installed hppi on a new HP-UX 11.31 system and have installed the model script for the P2015 on here. However, I still ge tthe message about the printer either not being a network printer or the host is denied.

I've heard that we might need some kind of DIMM for this printer and our supplier is sending one over - perhaps setting it up as a remote printer to port 9100 with this DIMM will work?

[Court Campbell · Accepted solution]

You are always going to get the error. The reason is that the jet direct installer expects certain snmp responses from the printer. The p2015 doesn't supply the correct answers so the installer displays the error. My work around has been to create a host entry in /etc/hosts for the printer and point set the ip address to a printer that you know works with the installer. I then the net_lj4x model script. Once I have added it, I change the hosts entry to the correct ip and it usually works.

[Yvonne Butler]

I rather liked Court's suggestion and tried it out, unfortunately it didn't work. I setup the printer using an IP address that does work, specifying the P2016 model script and then changed the IP address to the correct one within /etc/hosts. However, when sending a test print, nothing comes out and the job just stays in the queue!

[Yvonne Butler]

Sorry, I meant I used the P2015 model script NOT P2016....

[Court Campbell]

It happens. I would at this point suggest setting it up using lpr. Here are the commands I use in a script that adds remote printers:

#!/bin/sh

lpname=$1
host=$2

/usr/sbin/lpshut
/usr/sbin/lpadmin -p${lpname} -v/dev/null -mrmodel -ocmrcmodel \
-osmrsmodel -ob3 -orm${host} -orp${lpname} -v/dev/null
/usr/sbin/lpsched

/usr/bin/enable ${lpname}
/usr/sbin/accept ${lpname}


lpname is what you are going to call the printer and host is the ip address of the printer.

[Bill Hassell]

JetAdmin has been obsolete since 1999 and should never, ever be used on any machine today. The correct command is hppi (found in the /opt/hpnpl/bin directory) and should be on your 11.31 system already. Now the P2015 does indeed have a JetDirect LAN card so you would use hppi to install it and use the downloaded printer script for the P2015.

Do NOT add HP printers with JetDirect cards using lpadmin remote printer syntax. There is a lengthy explanation but suffice it to say that all remote printers are virtually unusable due to the way HP-UX sends print jobs to a remote printer.

JetDirect cards use a proprietary protocol on port 9100 and hppi will set it up correctly. However, it is much simpler (after installing the p2015 model script) to use addqueue like this:

addqueue -h 12.34.56.78 -q myprinter -t off -b off -r off

There is no need to ever use hostnames for printers (unless your data center uses dynamic DNS tied into DHCP). Just use the IP address.

[Court Campbell]

Bill,

I really think adding printers as lpr printers depends on what you are printing. IN my environment we only print Oracle reports from HP-UX. I have never had any issues with this. Also, every default install of HP-UX I have ever installed never came with hppi installed. I am not saying it has never been a default, but I have never seen it. But what I really don't understand it that you say to use hppi, but hppi just calls addqueue which will give the error that "the printer is not on a network printer", or something to that affect. My experience is that the new printers like the P2015 do not respond correctly to snmp queries from addqueue. How is one supposed to add the printer if the utility to add it does not work?

[Court Campbell]

Yvonne,

I re-read your post and think that what you are looking for is here:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=18922&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=27349&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=7

But as I have stated, it hasn't worked well for me with some of the newer low cost printers from HP.

[Tim Nelson]

FYI,

hppi is supplied, at least on 11iv1 and 11iv2 with the HPNPL fileset. The fileset is aquired by installing the JetDirect Printer Installer.

swlist -l file|grep -i hppi
HPNPL.HPNPL-MAN: /opt/hpnpl/man/man1/hppi.1
HPNPL.HPNPL-RUN: /opt/hpnpl/admin/hppi
# swlist -l product HPNPL
# Initializing...
# Contacting target "ux04"...
#
# Target: :/
#

HPNPL E.10.34 Hewlett-Packard JetDirect Printer Installer for Unix


A swlist -l files on the 11.31 EOE distro does not return any hppi references.

[Bill Hassell]

Here's the problem with an lpr (remote printer): there is no printer script and standard ASCII files in Unix do not have the CR character at the end of the line (just LF) and this causes the stair-step across the page. Now with a (very) limited number of printers, you can enable the LF=CR+LF feature and the remote printer will print plain ASCII correctly. But the RFC 1179 protocol defines no options such as landscape or duplex. For BSD printing, the printer is defined on the local system with printcap and the file sent to the remote printer has all the required formatting.

One exception is when HP-UX prints to another HP-UX system, and then the -o options will work. But lpr (remote) printing to a JetDirect card (or any other brand of LAN card print server) will ignore all the standard -o options. So you end up creating a wrapper for lp that includes the printer script -- not a lot of fun.

The new (and typically cheap) printers can be a very risky investment for Unix environments. Read the web pages for any printer manufacturer and you will have a very difficult time finding Unix information. The really cheap ones have no formatter and will not print anything without a large scale text-to-raster conversion driver. And they will only be available for selected versions of Windows, possibly for Macs. Unix need not apply.

The P2015 does indeed have a formatter (it supports PCL) so it is a good candidate. When hppi (addqueue, hpnpadmin, hpnpl and related) has been installed, all JetDirect print servers (aka, LAN card or external LAN-to-printer box) will support a very large set of -o options. If the printer does not reply with the proper SNMP responses, use the -i option with addqueue to override the poll and set the printer script.

[Court Campbell]

Well, I was pretty sure I had those issues with addqueue also. So I went back and added a p2015 and my very favorite 1022 (insert sarcasm here). And wouldn't you know it they worked. Thanks for the lpr clarification Bill. You never cease to amaze.

Yvonne,

Your post actually helped me out. Thanks for postng.

[OldSchool]

typically, I add the IP of the JetDirect card into the "hosts" file (as the DNS folk here won't put printers in DNS) and make sure I can ping it

the start hppi, and add the printer using the name assigned to it in hosts. Almost invariably, you get the following messages:


Enter the network printer name or IP address (q - quit): syslj5

!! No response from syslj5 !!
... (trying to ping syslj5)


The HP JetDirect Printer Installer for Unix can ping the device.
The problem may be:
* incorrect GET community name!
* it is not a network printer!
* other.

Selecting to "continue" at this point has, in my experience, allowed the printer to install properly

[Court Campbell]

That is pretty much what I do OS. Many of the newer (cheap) printers do not respond correctly to queries from hppi and it outputs that the printer is not a network printer. Specifically I remember that for the laserjet 1022n. Then there have been a couple of printers (host-based), as Bill mentioned, that don't work at all from HP-UX. For some reason peple usually frown at my use of the hosts file, but I mostly do it because people move, etc. I can then just change the ip in the hosts file and the user is back up and running again.

[V. Nyga]

Hi,

I can agree to OldSchool's tipp - just say 'continue', that works for me, too.
Only difference - I always use one print server where I add the printer as a network printer, I don't use remote for the server.

HTH
Volkmar

[OldSchool]

V.Nyga:
"Only difference - I always use one print server where I add the printer as a network printer.."

I'm not sure we're doing *anything* different here. All of my printers are installed as network printers...not remote.

[V. Nyga]

Hi OldSchool :-)

my 'Only difference' related to Yvonne and her 'So far I've setup a remote printer ...'

I only wanted to explain this item separately

Yeah - sometimes I should write some more words to explain ... :-)

V.

[OldSchool]

V.Nyga >

Ok, got it (light bulb above head slowly brightens). It doesn't help any that I take the written word in there most "literal" interpretation either (forgive the pun please...) ;-)

[Yvonne Butler]

Thanks everyone who submitted their comments. Based on these I've got a solution to get a P2015 printer working and here it is:

1. Upgrade JetAdmin to HPPI.
2. Download the P2015 model script from ITRC and install to HPPI.
3. Add printer details to /etc/hosts but use an IP address of a printer with a fully functional jetdirect card.
4. Add printer to HPPI using the queue name setup in /etc/hosts and select the correct P2015 model script recently installed.
5. Once setup within HPPI, edit /etc/hosts and correct the printer queue name with the real IP address.

This all now works a treat! Thanks very much everyone....