I've searched the forum for references to this, but didn't find any, so I'd like to contribute.
Maybe this post should be in the Windows specific category, I'm not sure.
I was making a little research on Hewlett-Packard MIB files and I stumbled upon Web JetAdmin, an administration suite partially based on SNMP. It's free, as in "gratis".
An optional component is the HP SNMP Proxy Agent, i.e. a little Windows software that piggy-backs on the standard Windows SNMP service and provides SNMP data on the default HP printer connected to a computer via USB or parallel cable.
Maybe it works even for serial cable, infrared, bluetooth and the like, I didn't have the time to verify that. I did verify USB and parallel.
Cacti can use that, too.
The data you get is more or less the same data you'd get if the same printer was directly connected via Ethernet.
Exposed SNMP data come from the Printer-MIB (.1.3.6.1.2.1.43) and private.enterprises.hp (.1.3.6.1.4.1.11) branches. I didn't notice any other additional branches.
When you poll your computer, its SNMP service responds as if it was both the computer and the printer at the same time. Your computer also appears to the poller as a JetDirect interface.
Some printers are smarter than others... you'll get significant data from the smarter models, less significant data from the dumber ones.
For example, from my own LaserJet 1200, toner level and max are both exposed as -2 (minus two), meaning "unknown". Maybe it's because it has a non-HP, chipless toner cartridge inside (can't remember if the original *has* a chip), maybe not: I have other printers at work, both older and younger, which present the same behaviour, and they all have original cartridges.
This software is slow. When you do an snmpwalk, you can see a very noticeable speed difference between computer data and printer data.
I guess it shouldn't be a problem, though, since printers usually get polled for a few OIDs only and not for whole branches.
This software is unreliable as well. Better said, it's not completely reliable.
When you do an snmpwalk, sometimes you get the private.enterprises.hp branch, sometimes you don't. If you need HP-specific data, this could be a drawback.
I didn't have the time to test this thoroughly.
Printer-MIB data seems to come out regularly.
Moreover, some computer/printer combinations seem to throw everything out of whack, and every time you poll for printer-specific data you get an SNMP error:
Code: Select all
Error in packet.
Reason: (genError) A general failure occured
But I can say it's not only the printer's fault, as I have another printer of the same model connected to another computer and it doesn't throw the genError.This software is limited to one printer per computer only, even if the computer is connected to several printers. If I got this right, the printer the software cares for is your default printer. Documentation says this limitation will go away in the future.
Installation is a breeze. You have .exe and .msi files. The .msi especially should be useful for group policy-based installation in a Windows domain environment. I did not test this, but I did test remote installation using Sysinternals' psexec: installed flawlessly in less than half a minute, user didn't notice anything. A reboot is not necessary.
Cacti seems to have intermittent difficulties polling such a composite device using SNMP v2c, while everything seems OK using SNMP v1. I have devices polled as computers with v2c and as printers with v1... no trouble so far. I just added another device to the list and treated it as a printer, even if its IP address is a computer's.
My generic SNMP-enabled printer templates worked without a hitch. The only printers I could not graph were some dumber printers exposing worthless data (see above).
I've been keeping an eye on USB and parallel printers for a few days now, and I have no significant problems to report.
Oh, of course either your print-server computers stay awake all day, or you get gaps in your graphs.
I have both. You choose.YMMV.
