VMS Print Job is very slow

[Jorge Cocomess]

Greetings,

I am not sure why but one of our HP (HP5si) is printing really slow on special forms or when it comes to form feed manually. The reports prints perfectly but slow. This is only happen on this Alpha server but not on my other Alpha server. I compared the setup and they're pretty much the same. I am lost! Where do I can go from here?

Thank you in advance.

J

[Robert Gezelter · Accepted solution]

Jorge,

This is a generic problem, with any number of causes.

One of the easiest to check is if there are communications errors being logged on the LAN adapter on the Alpha. Another possibility, but less likely, is that you are seeing disk IO errors.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

[Jorge Cocomess]

Bob - I am not seeing any disk errors or LAN adapter. However, I do see numerous errors from device FGB0:

However, I am not seeing any poor performance on other HP printers though.

Thanks,
J

[Volker Halle]

Jorge,

think about how a print-symbiont works, when he is printing a file:

- it opens and reads the file from disk
- it establishes a connection to the printer (TCPIP, LAT ?) and sends the data to the printer
- the printer receives the data and prints it

Now imagine, what could go wrong/be slow:

- access to the file on disk. Can you print the SAME file to another printer without problems ?

- network problems on the network path between this system and the printer ?

- printer problems with the file contents. Can you print that SAME file from the other Alpha to the SAME printer normally ?

If you see FGB0 errors, there is a problem in your SAN or HBA. Are the disks showing mount-verification errors ?

Volker.

[Jorge Cocomess]

Volker - Thanks for shinning some lights on this printing issues that I'm having. No, I do not see any mount verification messages - However, I am seeing Carrier Check Failure though. Please see below.

%%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 14-FEB-2006 10:31:09.59 %%%%%%%%%%%
Message from user SYSTEM on ELMO
Event: Carrier Check Failure from: Node LOCAL:.ELMO CSMA-CD Station CSMACD-0,
at: 2006-02-14-16:31:09.590+00:00Iinf
eventUid 0361DB70-9D45-11DA-BF83-AA0004000404
entityUid 20929E1A-8E58-11DA-8512-AA0004000404
streamUid 23D4950A-8E58-11DA-85E8-AA0004000404


Maybe, I will have them print these forms on a different printer and see if the issue moves with the print job or isolate to one printer.

Thanks for your time.

J

[Volker Halle]

Jorge,

do you see these 'Carrier Check Failure' messages starting at the time the job starts printing in the queue ?

They indicate a network problem. You should be able to examine the LAN interface counters with:

$ MC NCL SHOW CSMA-CD STATION csmacd-0 ALL COUNTERS

Volker.

[Jim_McKinney]

Carrier checks indicate a loss of connectivity. Is this a singular message or are there many? If many, then you should start looking for a hardware problem amongst your ethernet adaptor, the cable that is connected to it, and the device on the far end of that cable. One is causing a problem with maintaining the electrical signal on the line. First off make sure all the connections are tight.

[Jorge Cocomess]

The Carrier Check failure is a constant error message from OPCOM.

Thanks,
J

[Jorge Cocomess]

Yes, the number or errors increased each time I run the command;

Carrier Check Failures = 223630

J

[Jim_McKinney]

> Carrier Check failure is a constant error message from OPCOM

You've got a hardware problem... start checking the cabling and connection to the ethernet adaptor associated with CSMACD-0.

[Volker Halle]

Jorge,

then you have a severe problem on your network.

Check the CSMA-CD STATION counters and correlate PDUs sent or PDUs received with Carrier Check Failures, to see if the problem happens on ALL received or sent packets. Or does the error maybe only happen when communicating with a certain node ?

While transmitting a frame (or receiving a frame), the carrier signal should always be there. If it's not this error is declared. Check cable and connectors. Can you communicate reliably with this system over the LAN at all (e.g. using DECnet SET HOST) ?

Volker.

[Volker Halle]

Jorge,

to help follow the counter values in the running system, use the following commands:

$ MC NCL
NCL> snap csma-cd station csmacd-0 pdus sent,pdus received, Carrier Check Failures

this creates a snapshot of the current values

NCL> show csma-cd station csmacd-0 pdus sent,pdus received, Carrier Check Failures

shows the actual values and the differences. Repeat this SHOW command to watch the difference change...

Volker.

[Jim_McKinney]

> then you have a severe problem on your network

And that problem will either be with the ethernet adaptor, the cable, or the device on the remote end of the cable - no further out than that.