Print Queues Disable When Printer Jams Or Runs Out of Paper 3

[DPilsbury]

We're running AIX version 5.1.0.0.

We've set up print queues to several network printers..
all of which are hplaserjet.

I've noticed on several occasions that if the printer jams
or runs out of paper while printing a job sent from our AIX
server, the queue will go down. Thus, when the user fixes the jam or adds paper, the print job does not automatically start printing again. I have to enable the queue. This is
not limited to one particular queue either.

Any ideas of how this can be prevented?
Is this a quirk of AIX 5.1?
Or is it just the way it is?

I know I can write a script and schedule it in cron to check
print queues and re-enable them if they are down, but I'd
rather find out if this can be prevented.
Thanks.

 

[sushveer]

Hi Dpil
The printer down issue has been addressed by several people
in this forum.Just take a look

most of the questions are repetivive...in this forum...
I too answered 3 times for the same question..
Please dril down and also you can find it in other forums aswell.

sushveer
IBM certified specialist-p-series AIX5L System Administration
AIX/SOLARIS/WEBSPHERE-MQ/TIVOLI Administrator

 

[bi]

Actually, dpilsbury's problem hasn't been addressed lately in this forum. The problem is the queue goes down when something happens to the printer (paper jam, running out of paper, and you'll probably run into it again if the printer stops when toner is low) not when the queue goes down because of the AIX server.

Other print queue down topics I've seen lately (and after a keyword search in the forum) have all centered on full file systems and other problems directly related to the OS.

This problem starts with the printer, not with the AIX server.

DPilsbury, did this not happen when you were at 4.3.3 (I'm assuming you were at 4.3.3)?

 

[DPilsbury]

Thanks for responding bi.
Actually, we were at 4.3.3, but my involvment started right before we upgraded to 5.1. I don't remember it happening though during the 2 or 3 months that I was helping to support 4.3.3.

 

[bi]

I have seen this on HP systems using a third party print spooler and using NT servers as the print servers, rather than Unix being the print server. It used to drive the sys admins nuts. I've never seen the question asked on any of the Unix forums I look at.

Are you using a third party print spooler on the AIX system?

 

[bi]

DPilsbury, go to

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com

and search on SG24-6018. This is a RedBook about printing in AIX5L.

One section indicates that it's normal for a queue to go down when there is a paper jam, no paper, or no toner. Another section indicates you can automate recovery when this happens. Search on the word jam when you open the RedBook and you'll see what I mean.

I didn't go any farther to find out about automating recovery. A lot depends on exactly how you are printing.

I hope this helps.

 

[DPilsbury]

Thanks again bi!
Looks like I have to implement a filter if I want this to go away...and considering the number of print queues we have...I'm not sure it's worth it.

But at least I know now where we stand.

Maybe I will create a script that runs in CRON and enables queues....

D

 

[Yegolev]

personally i feel the way to go is with a monitor in cron. we only have maybe ten or twenty queues at most on our biggest servers, being for SAP output to JetForms, and the simple solution is to put a small script in cron. the difficult one is to use some expensive and annoying 3rd-party monitor like Patrol, which supposedly also can restart queues.

something like:

if enq -A|grep DOWN;then
#page everybody in the company
#restart queue before they rub sleep from their eyes
fi

more complicated ideas on request.

IBM Certified -- AIX 4.3 Obfuscation

 

[needcoffee]

Hey D,

Here is the script I use with cron. You could probably get away with it running every 10 minutes or so.

enq -As | grep "DOWN" | cut -f 1 -d " " | while read ln
do
enable $ln
done

I don't remeber who I got this from on the forum, so I apologize for not crediting the source. Putting in a monitor 1 min before this runs is a good idea. Thanks Yegolev, you get a star.

Off to grab a cup....
needcoffee

 

[DPilsbury]

Thanks Yegolev and Needcoffee. I'll go with your solutions.
D

 

[costiles]

The problem is probably the rembak. When you set up the printer it asks you for a time out period. I typically set this to 999. It is difficult to find the smitty menu to do this so when a user has missed this, I evi edit the /etc/qconfig file - search on rembak and append -T999 - which says to keep the print queue up for 999 minutes while the problem is sorted out.