PSF/AIX: Unable to print to Ethernet-attached 3160

ITEM: RTA000095291

Q:                                                                              
ABSTRACT:     PSF/6000: TCP/IP Ethernet 3160, unable to print                   
SEARCH ARG:   psf/6000 config                                                   
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT                                                             
              PSF/AIX                                                           
..                                                                              
Q:                                                                              
My customer is attempting to add PSF/6000 to an existing RS/6000                
to drive a 3160 over Ethernet. We can ping the printer, and                     
the PSF device config appears to work; a device and 4 queues                    
are created. We send data which is queued, use psfctl to ready                  
the device, but are unable to print. I wanted to try a cat                      
directly to the printer but could find no device driver. Is a cat               
possible to direct print to a device on the network? Also, what                 
device driver name would or should have been created?                          
We are printing to other (parallel pcl) printers (non-psf); we feel that        
we have failed to do some step. (Maintenance was requested and applied.)        
Thank you for your time.                                                        
                                                                                
A:                                                                              
You cannot cat directly to an IPDS printer, either TCP/IP-attached or           
channel-attached, like you can to a PCL printer because of the IPDS             
datastream.  (A PCL device will understand ASCII, but an IPDS device            
won't.)                                                                         
                                                                                
Can you provide additional symptoms and/or error messages?  What does           
the /var/psf/printername/error.log (where "printername" is the name of          
the PSF/AIX queue) say?  How much unused space does the customer have           
in the /var file system? (The default size on a new AIX system is               
generally insufficient for most PSF print work.)  Does the MTU size            
configured at the printer match the MTU size for the LAN adapter on the         
RS/6000?  (You can tell easily what MTU is set for the RS/6000's                
adapters by issuing the "netstat -in" command at an AIX command prompt.         
Then locate your adapter (e.g., tr0, et0, en0) in the NAME column; the          
corresponding MTU size is in the MTU column.)                                   
                                                                                
If you can provide additional diagnostic information, I'll be glad to           
try and help.  Or, if you figure it out, I'd appreciate feedback so             
we can document the "gotcha's" for others.                                      
                                                                                
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:                                                  
AIX PSF/6000 PSF FOR AIX PSF/AIX 3130 3160 MTU PING afccu 3900 network          
ethernet token-ring trn ipds tcp/ip unable link printer address                 
                                                                                
                                                                               



WWQA: ITEM: RTA000095291 ITEM: RTA000095291

Dated: 11/1998 Category: XPSF6000

This HTML file was generated 99/06/24~12:43:31

Comments or suggestions?
Contact us