I have been trying to configure an HP laserjet printer on an AIX6.1 server through network as well as remote.
This is the first time i am configuring a printer on AIX.
I had been using smitty butwhile configuring, i am getting blank/stuck at "software to support the printer attachment type you selected is not installed".
I had compared with other server on which hp printers were configured and still there was no software there also and the packages for both this servers are same.
Need your valuable knowledge and help in configuring this.
Ok,
You can use a short cut (smitty spooler --> add a print queue) or
Run smitty printer --> print spooling --> add a print queue --> remote --> standard processing
Add a Standard Remote Print Queue
Type or select values in entry fields.
Press Enter AFTER making all desired changes.
[Entry Fields]
* Name of QUEUE to add [HPLaserJet]
* HOSTNAME of remote server [xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]
* Name of QUEUE on remote server [AIX-HPLJ]
Type of print spooler on remote server AIX Version 3 or 4 +
Backend TIME OUT period (minutes) [] #
Send control file first? no +
Restrict port used below 1023? no +
To turn on debugging, specify output []
file pathname
DESCRIPTION of printer on remote server []
Where Name of queue is your printer name (you can choose any name) and you will use this name to print any job.
Hostname of remote server is IP address of the HP LaserJet printer.
Once you configured it, you can check it by printing a job
lpstat --> to check the status of queue(s)
lp -d <print queue> file name --> to print
the file which is updated is "/etc/qconfig" (here in this file you should see the queues you just added.
Thanks for the post. This has helped me but i am unable to give test prints.
Can you please let me know how to give test prints and understand how it is working.
I had given test print but not sure why it hasnt been generated. Checked the queue using lpstat -p<printer> but the status shows as down and when i restart from smitty, for sometime it will be connect and again it will be down.
I checked with the printer and it is up and running but not sure where i am getting wrong that i am not able to print.
Can you please let me know how to give test print and check the job number and status and does it show any output after the printing.
But id you got other servers configured cant you see how the printers are defined?
I would like to help but the AIX I use is configured with CUPS... because I could not get the printers to understand the options... ( at the time.. but I have been fooled by AIX team...)
The only other servers I administer are legacies 4.3 and 4.2.1 no one else interested in them ( though very important things run on them...
This is the first server on this server as well as in AIX environment.
Earlier we had in solaris servers but there i had used hppi for configuring hp printers.
Any help would be appreciated a lot.
As i am configuring on a test server first to make sure so that i can proceed on prod server later but the client is in a hurry..
To quickly check if a network-attached printer is reachable (communication can be interrupted because of a lot of things - firewalls blocking the port, misconfigured routing, ....) use the following: the lpd operates on port 515 (see also /etc/services ) and the telnet client allows to specify a port:
telnet <printer-ip> 515
This will NOT let you establish a connection or print something, but a banner from the printers network interface (usually a JetDirect Card) should greet you. It states the firmware revision, hostname of the printer, etc.. (Sorry, no test hardware to try it, so i have to be a bit vague.) This way you can verify the connection itself is unobstructed.
Another pointer: queues and queue devices are defined in the file /etc/qconfig . This is a clear-text file but it has to be translated into a binary form to be used ( /etc/qconfig.bin ). /usr/lib/lpd/digest does this, see man qconfig for details.
I had followed the steps exacty the way you suggested.
Once everyting is done, i get the status as ready and later once i give a test print, the status is down and the print is queued.
Queue Dev Status Job Files User PP % Blks Cp Rnk
------- ----- --------- --- ------------------ ---------- ---- -- ----- --- ---
xxxxxx @10 DOWN
QUEUED 10 /etc/motd root 2 1 1
I tried HOSTNAME of the remote server with both IP as well as name itself(added in /etc/hosts) but the output is same.
When i check with lpstat command, i got the below message.
(WARNING) 0781-375 Connection to server failed.
rembak: errno = 4: A system call received an interrupt.
xxxxxx xxxxxx HOST_DOWN
When i searched the net with the above error message, i found that i need to "This occurs with Intel NetPort when at AIX 4.3.1. Upgrade AIX bos.printers and bos.rte.printers"
Is upgrading necessary as i am using AIX 6.1.
My issue has been resolved.
The port was listening but it was disabled from firewall end with some rule.
Now it has been enabled and i am able to give test prints as well.
Thanks a lot to you and VBE for helping me out in this.
