Shell Script to report total print jobs for each que

[Mike Kapsak]

Hello,

I would like to create a script to run periodically that gives me the total number of print jobs on an HP-UX server, and also the total number of print jobs by printq. There would be a threshold for the total number as well as a threshold for each queue. If a threshold is reached, I want to send an e-mail. If it is exceeded, I want to send a page. Any assistance is appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Mike Kapsak

[Mark Greene_1]

lpstat -t will show you what's sitting in each printq. You could just pipe that to wc -l, and send e-mail if it's greater than a certain number. However, if you have a lot a queues, a little activity in each could trigger a bogus mail. Conversely, a down printer (no paper, out of toner, switched off) will do the same. Also, legit network problems may go undetected if a single queue gets jobs stacked-up, but below the threashold.

As a compromise, you may want to lpstat -a [queue] for each print queue. You'll want to grep for "down" as well as doing the wc -l to check the number of enqueued jobs.

HTH
mark

[Bill Hassell]

lpstat -t can be a very painful command to use if you have remote printers. The reason is that -t polls any remote printers and responses may take many seconds to minutes to respond. Since all you need is a count of the print jobs, just look at the print queues in /var/spool/lp/request. Each directory is a print queue and there will be 2 files per print job, a short control file with print options, and the data file. Count the number of files that start with c (the control file). You can even determine the size of the print jobs by adding the byte count for each d file (files that start with d).

[twang]

The following is a simple script i write to check the printer's status and reset failed printers:

#! /usr/bin/sh
program="usr_prt"
# purpose: Interface for retrieving HPUX Online Printers Info
# creator: tommy
# date: 14/11/2000
ver="1.0.1"

MESS1="Insert a printer_name (q/Q to quit): \c"
MESS2="Insert an option (q/Q to quit): \c"
while : ; do
clear
echo "#########################################

HPUX Online Printers Info

`date |awk '{print $3"-"$2"-"$6}'` version:$ver
Anytime enter Q/q to quit!!
#########################################
Current Online Printers:
"
lpstat -a |sort
echo ""
echo $MESS1
read PRTID
if test "$PRTID" = "q"
# or "$PRTID" = "Q"]
then
echo ""
exit_code=$?
echo "$program: exiting with status $exit_code"
exit 1
else
if test "$PRTID" = "Q"
then
echo ""
exit_code=$?
echo "$program: exiting with status $exit_code"
echo ""
exit 1
else
RETURN=""
while [ test $RETURN != "yes" ]
do
clear
lpstat -d $PRTID
exit_code=$?
echo "-------SubMenu-------"
echo "T/t : print testprt"
echo "C/c : cancel all jobs"
echo "R/r : reset this printer"
echo "M/m : return to Main Menu"
resp=*
echo $MESS1
read resp
case $resp in
[T,t])
lp -d $PRTID testprt
exit_code=$?
;;
[C,c])
cancel -e $PRTID
exit_code=$?
;;
[R,r])
disable $PRTID
sleep 1
enable $PRTID
sleep 1
lpstat -d $PRTID
exit_code=$?
;;
[M,m])
RETURN="yes"
;;

[q,Q])
echo ""
echo "$program: exiting with status $exit_code"
echo ""
exit 0
;;

*)
echo Invalid Responce
sleep 1
;;
esac
done
fi
fi
done

[Andreas Voss]

Hi,

lpsched writes a log file:
/var/adm/lp/log

For reporting copy the file to another place and truncate the logfile to 0 for further reporting.
With a wc -l of the logfile you will have the total amount of print jobs since last truncate and with a little bit of awk ... you can sort out the print job counts by queue name.

Regards

[Mike Kapsak]

Thanks for the replies. I'm a script writing newbie and was hoping someone had already created a script to do so. I'm able to get some of the information using lpstat and awk with the following:

#!/usr/bin/ksh
# Variables
TOTALPRTLIST="/home/mkapsak/prtlist"
PRINTQUEUES= "/home/mkapsak/prtqueues"

# List all print queues
ll /var/spool/lp/request > $TOTALPRTLIST

# Create printer list
awk '{print $9}' /home/mkapsak/prtlist > $PRINTQUEUES

I'm not very familiar with variables, looping and reading the printer file using a while stmt.

Mike Kapsak

[Bill Hassell]

Here's a simpler script that will count the number of queued requests per printer and then show a summary:

#!/usr/bin/sh
# Count print requests by printer

export PATH=/usr/bin
ACTIVE=0
JOBS=0
for PRINTQ in $(echo /var/spool/lp/request/*)
do
QUEUENAME=$(basename $PRINTQ)
QTY=$(ls $PRINTQ/d* 2>/dev/null | wc -l | cut -d \ -f 1)
if [ $QTY -gt 0 ]
then
let ACTIVE=$ACTIVE+1
print "Printer $QUEUENAME = \c"
print "$QTY request\c"
[[ $QTY -ne 1 ]] && print "s\c"
let JOBS=$JOBS+$QTY
print ""
fi
done
print "\nTotal jobs=$JOBS, printers with a queue=$ACTIVE"

[Mike Kapsak]

Hi Bill,

I tried running the script you supplied but I'm geting a usage message from the cut command:

Usage: cut -b List [-n] [File...]
or: cut -c List [File...]
or: cut -f List [-d Character] [-s] [File...]
itrcscript[11]: test: Specify a parameter with this command.

Mike Kapsak

[Daniel Neeves]

Hi Mike,

Use a single quote '\' around the backslash after the cut command.

QTY=$(ls $PRINTQ/d* 2>/dev/null | wc -l | cut -d '\' -f 1)

Cheers
Dan

[Geoff Wild]

Here's another script for you - called lpst

#!/bin/sh
#
# check printer status
# Geoff Wild

if [ $# -lt 1 -o \( $# -gt 1 -a $# -lt 4 \) ]
then
echo "Usage:"
echo "lpst \"printer\""
echo "Example:"
echo "lpst W052"
exit 1
fi
echo " "
/usr/sbin/ping $1 -n 2
echo " "
lpstat -p$1 -v$1
echo " "
echo "Output Requests"
echo "-----------------------------------------------------------"
lpstat -o$1
echo " "
lpstat -r
echo " "


Example:

lpst W052

PING myprinter.mydomain.com: 64 byte packets
64 bytes from 192.168.2.101: icmp_seq=0. time=7. ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.101: icmp_seq=1. time=7. ms

----myprinter.mydomain.com PING Statistics----
2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 7/7/7

printer W052 is idle. enabled since May 14 10:00
fence priority : 0
device for W052: /dev/null

Output Requests
-----------------------------------------------------------
no entries

scheduler is running

[Bill Hassell]

Sorry I did not see the question earlier. The cut -d \ -f .. is a way to specify a single space as a delimiter. Unfortunately, the forums code reduces multiple spaces to just one. So when you cut-n-paste the text, it will produce the error you see. The text should read:

cut -d \space space -f ...

so leave out the apostrophes and just add an extra space after the \ char. The \ escapes the special meaning of the first space and the missing second space separates -d char from the -f option. Another way is:

cut -d ' ' -f ...

which is probably more intuitive and translates cleanly:

#!/usr/bin/sh
# Count print requests by printer

export PATH=/usr/bin
ACTIVE=0
JOBS=0
for PRINTQ in $(echo /var/spool/lp/request/*)
do
QUEUENAME=$(basename $PRINTQ)
QTY=$(ls $PRINTQ/d* 2>/dev/null | wc -l | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
if [ $QTY -gt 0 ]
then
let ACTIVE=$ACTIVE+1
print "Printer $QUEUENAME = \c"
print "$QTY request\c"
[[ $QTY -ne 1 ]] && print "s\c"
let JOBS=$JOBS+$QTY
print ""
fi
done
print "\nTotal jobs=$JOBS, printers with a queue=$ACTIVE"

(I checked a cut-n-paste from the above and it works OK)

[Tracy Force]

can someone explain what this line is doing?.
[[ $QTY -ne 1 ]] && print "s\c"
thanks

[Bill Hassell]

The [[ $QTY -ne 1 ]] && print "s\c" line is a quick way to improve spelling. Instead of always saying "1 requests or "2 requests", the letter s is appended only when the quantity of requests is not 1. The 2 square brackets are used as an alternate way to test a condition, and the double ampersands is a shorthand way to say: do this if true. If two vertical bars were used, it would signify: do this if false. Both constructs can be used on the same line. The "s\c" means print "s" but do not add a new line, just leave the cursor where it is.