Monitor lpr printer on Windows from Mainframe

[Gilbert Cardenas]

I have the need to monitor the status of an lpr printer running on a
windows server from the mainframe.

We use VPS to route print from the mainframe to the windows server
and when the server goes down for maintenance etc, the vps printer
goes into an error status cause it can't communicate with the printer.
I can't rely on the network folks to communicate what they are doing to
me so I really need this to be automated.

I have developed a jcl that uses IKJEFT01 to issue an LPQ command
against the printer and some REXX code to extract the status. I can
schedule the job to run in 15 minute intervals and return a code of zero
if all is well or one if the printer is inaccessible.

I'm stuck with how to keep track of the status of the printer. Is there
some global variable I could set somewhere that would maintain the
value of the status of the printer(s) such as up or down.

Is there a better way to do this? Without purchasing new software of
course. Can the HEALTH CHECKER be used for this application?

Any Ideas?

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[Roberto Halais]

Maybe writing out a status record to a sequential file on the mainframe
everytime you poll the printer. Keep printer-id, date, time, return code ,
etc in that record. Then make a ISPF appl to access those records and make
it viewable.

--
"I am as you, in you, for you. One as you in all, as all, forever. My call
is your call."

[Barkow, Eileen]

We use IBM SA and I have trapped several of the VPS error msgs in the system automation table and perform automatic resets in VPS and
other products when the errors occur. I am not sure how to do this with regular Netview without SA, but with SA you can issue
modify commands to VPS and obtain the response, so that you know the status of the printer; although if you fix the errors as they occur you
Would not need to know the status every time.

We also use DRS/TCPIP for LPR printers and error msgs from that product are trapped as well.

[David Andrews]

On Tue, 2009-11-24 at 11:09 -0500, Gilbert Cardenas wrote:
> We use VPS to route print from the mainframe to the windows server
> and when the server goes down for maintenance etc, the vps printer
> goes into an error status cause it can't communicate with the printer.
> I can't rely on the network folks to communicate what they are doing to
> me so I really need this to be automated.

What do you need automated? VPS provides an exit point (#8) that you
can use to selectively retry failed connections.

--
David Andrews
A. Duda and Sons, Inc.
david....@duda.com

[Gilbert Cardenas]

We don't have SA or DRS/TCPIP but if there is a VPS exit that can do
this automatically then I will definitely let the VPS administrator look
into this to see if we can use this instead.

Thanks for all the suggestions,
Gil.

[Linda Mooney]

Hi Gilbert,

I have installed and supported VPS/VPSIP/DRS/DRSIP/VSV and VMCF in my shop since 1998.  As David mentioned, VPS exit 8 handles automated reset/retries quite well, it is well documented, and can be easily customized if needed . 

We have the same problem you have plus the vast majority of our customers' printers are multi-host, so there are plenty of times when the customer printer is busy and we have to retry as well.  We deliver to both LPD and SOKs printers (we don't have SNA anymore), and lots of different brands/models. 

Printer status messages are produced for everything happening with/for the printer.  The status messages go to a log, a dataset, syslog, some combination, or they can be suppressed by local installation setup.  I run all messages to the log, but I do suppress a few from the console  

I have always had excellent support from the vendor.

HTH,

Linda Mooney

[Jim Marshall]

>We use VPS to route print from the mainframe to the windows server
>and when the server goes down for maintenance etc, the vps printer
>goes into an error status cause it can't communicate with the printer.
>I can't rely on the network folks to communicate what they are doing to
>me so I really need this to be automated.
>

VPS indeed has an EXIT08 which can redrive the request for connection at
some interval. In the VPS LPR/LPD you just code say TCPMRD=15 (min) and
the printer will indeed timeout. Without coding it then the printer will never
timeout. This is because VPS makes the initial request and waits for a
response. Eventually the printer may become available but, unlike SNA where
the 3X74 controller would notify VPS, nothing is sent to VPS saying it is now
available. I always code some timeout. True if the whole thing is not available
again, then you go into a loop and eventually (we hope), the printer becomes
available.

In VPS 1.8 EXIT08 was implemented in exit code. Oh yes, the exit code needs
to be told the TCP/IP error code so it knows to retry this type of error. But in
VPS 2.0, the strategy is available in parameters although I have not examined
them yet to see how easy it is. Hey this is what one doing printing suffers
from in the IP world of printing. As a side bar, if indeed the printer is set for 15
minutes timeout and there is very long print actually printing, since the
response does not come to the very end, then even though it is printing, the
printer will TIMEOUT and when it restarts, it starts over (thank you LPD
protocol). I try to stay away from large printouts and LPR/LPD protocol unless
there is no other way. This is why we always TRY to use SOCKET printing,
with timeout coded too, but doing checkpointing just like JES2 does (JES3
too).

Send me an e-mail offlist and be glad to send you the one I have run for
almost 20 years as a guide. I threw in all kinds of extra IP error codes as I
tripped over them.

jim

[Gilbert Cardenas]

Thanks Linda and Jim, I have asked the VPS admin to take a look at
exit08. We are on VPS V2 R10 and I also saw a note in the manual
that stated:

The printer keyword ERTABMEM and corresponding error table can replace
similar functions performed by VPS User Exit 08.

So he is going to check this out as well. While I was waiting, I was
also able to come up with a jcl routine that issued an LPQ to the printer
and with some rexx code extract the status of the printer. I then used
our mainframe Control-M scheduler to execute the jcl and either stop or
start the printer via VPS if the printer was not available. I used a
Control-M condition to keep tabs of the status of the printer. So far it
seems to be working and will do until the exit or ERTABMEM can be
implemented.

Thanks for all comments,
Gil.

[Gilbert C Cardenas]

Morning Jim and thanks for the feedback. I have worked with various outputs from AFP to XEROX
and have implemented several report distribution systems
(now known as electronic content management systems) and I still
don't feel that I know enough about all the various aspects of printing.
If you have a guide that you don't mind sharing I wouldn't mind getting
a copy.

Thanks and best regards,
Gil.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Marshall [mailto:Jim.ma...@OPM.GOV]
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 6:38 AM
To: IBM-...@bama.ua.edu; Gilbert C Cardenas
Cc: Jim Marshall
Subject: Re: Monitor lpr printer on Windows from Mainframe

jim

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