SNMP support

To determine the status of printers controlled by PSF and view some of their printer properties, you can use an z/OS® SNMP subagent that Infoprint Server provides. This subagent communicates between an SNMP manager and PSF to provide printer status, such as when a printer requires intervention because of a paper jam. Any SNMP manager that displays the status of printers defined to a printing system, such as IBM® Network Printer Manager for the Web (NPM), can manage PSF printers through the z/OS SNMP subagent.
Note: NPM is designed to support approximately 15 printers at a time. Defining a greater number of printers might result in severe performance degradation to NPM.

SNMP support is available through the Printer Inventory for those PSF printers that do not have their own SNMP agent and need the SNMP subagent to communicate with the manager. The SNMP subagent does not let you modify the status of printers and printer properties; it only lets you view them.

Some TCP/IP-connected printers controlled by PSF contain an internal SNMP agent. For these printers, you do not need to use the SNMP subagent to view the status of the printer; you can define the printers directly to the SNMP manager. When you define printers directly, not only can you view printer status and printer properties, you can also modify printer properties, such as the default input bin. To determine if a TCP/IP-connected printer has an internal SNMP agent, see the documentation for the printer.

By default, the SNMP subagent and PSF for z/OS do not provide any SNMP reporting for a PSF printer. The administrator can enable SNMP reporting for a PSF printer in the FSA definition in the Printer Inventory. The administrator should enable SNMP reporting in the Printer Inventory and also start the PSF printers before defining the PSF printers to the SNMP manager.

To enable SNMP support for PSF printers, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure PSF is set up to use the Printer Inventory. See Customizing PSF to use the Printer Inventory.
  2. Specify YES for the SNMP reporting parameter in the Printer Inventory for all PSF FSAs you want an SNMP manager to manage (see SNMP reporting).
  3. Start all the PSF FSAs for which you enabled SNMP reporting (the session with the printer does not have to be active).
  4. Send a print job to the printer if the printer is TCP/IP-attached or SNA-attached, Management Mode is not IMMEDIATE, and the SNMP manager has not previously discovered the printer and displayed it.
  5. Define the z/OS system to the SNMP manager.
Notes:
  1. When using NPM, you must start an FSA before defining the z/OS system to NPM (the FSA does not have to be active). Otherwise, NPM does not automatically discover the new FSA and display it. Instead, NPM displays a status of NOT SUPPORTED. If that happens, the administrator must remove the z/OS system and add it again (see Note 2.a). For information about using NPM, see its online help.
  2. If you enable SNMP reporting for a printer in the Printer Inventory at a later time, you must redefine the z/OS system to NPM:
    1. Delete the NPM entry that represents the connection to the z/OS system.
    2. Define the z/OS system to NPM again.

For more information about customizing the SNMP subagent in Infoprint Server (including customizing NPM), see z/OS Infoprint Server Customization.

Parent topic: Using the Infoprint Server Printer Inventory