Configuring SNMP printers

To set up Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) printers, follow these steps.

  1. Ensure that you have met the following requirements:
    • The printer must support the Host Resource Management Information Base (Host Resources MIB, RFC1514). The printer should also support the Printer Management Information Base (Printer MIB, RFC1759). For a list of printers that are known to support SNMP, see the IBM® Software Knowledge Base document Information on Printers from Various ManufacturersLink outside Information Center (search for the document title at www.ibm.com/support/).
    • If the printer is connected to a network interface card, the network interface card must be compatible with the Host Resource Management Information Base (Host Resources MIB, RFC1514).
    • If the printer is connected to an external network adapter that has more than one port, the printer should be connected to the first parallel port and there should be no other SNMP-capable devices attached to the network adapter.
    • The printer and any network adapter must be set to have, at a minimum, a community name of public. The community name of public is typically a factory default setting. Community names are a means of access control for SNMP devices. Read-only access to the public community is sufficient.
  2. Use the Create Device Description (Printer) (CRTDEVPRT) CL command to create a printer device description. From a character-based interface, type CRTDEVPRT.
  3. On the Create Device Description (Printer) Display, press F9 to display all parameters.
  4. Specify the following values.
    Parameter Value
    Device description (DEVD) The name of your device description. For example, mysnmpprt.
    Device class (DEVCLS) This must be set to *LAN.
    Device type (TYPE) This must be set to 3812.
    Device model (MODEL) This must be set to 1.
    LAN attachment (LANATTACH) This must be set to *IP.
    Port number (PORT) The port number that the printer network interface card accepts for SNMP data. Refer to your manufacturer's information or to the IBM Software Knowledge Base document Recommended SNMP Port Numbers Values for *LAN 3812 SNMP Device DescriptionsLink outside Information Center (search for the document title at www.ibm.com/support/) for the correct value. Typically this value is 9100 or 2501.
    Font (FONT) This is typically set to 011, which is the default 10 CPI font.
    Form feed (FORMFEED) Set to *AUTOCUT, if single-cut sheets are used by the printer. Set to *CONT, if printing to a continuous forms printer.
    Printer error message (PRTERRMSG) Set to *INFO so that the printer's message queue will receive informational messages whenever possible. This can prevent a condition that might cause the printer writer to end.
    Message queue (MSGQ) The default value is *CTLD, which indicates that the message queue is defined in the attached controller. There is no attached controller for *LAN printer device descriptions, so leaving the Message queue (MSGQ) parameter set to *CTLD will in effect set it to the QSYSOPR message queue in library QSYS. If you want to use another message queue for this printer device, verify that the message queue exists before entering the message queue and library in the MSGQ parameter. Otherwise, the CRTDEVPRT command will fail with message CPF2799, Message queue &1 in library &2 not found.
    Host print transform (TRANSFORM) Set to *YES so that SNA character string (SCS) and AFP data stream spooled files are converted to the printer's data stream.
    Manufacturer type and model (MFRTYPMDL) This value indicates the type of ASCII printer and is used by the host print transform when converting spooled files. For recommendations on the value to use for some popular printers, see the IBM Software Knowledge Base document Information on Printers from Various ManufacturersLink outside Information Center (search for the document title at www.ibm.com/support/).
    Remote location (RMTLOCNAME) The name of your printer on the TCP/IP network; for example, 192.168.0.1 or mysnmpprt.myco.com. You should verify that the system can reach the printer by using either the ping or Verify TCP/IP Connection (VFYTCPCNN) command.
    User-defined options (USRDFNOPT) Set to *IBMSHRCNN
    System driver program (SYSDRVPGM) This must be set to *IBMSNMPDRV.
    All other values can be left as the default value.
  5. Press Enter.
  6. Make the printer available.
  7. Start the printer writer.