Subject: PMP> Port MIB telecon - issues/resolutions (31 March 2005)

From: "McDonald, Ira" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:09:40 -0800

Hi,                                             Thursday (31 March 2005)

Attendees:

    Ron Bergman (Ricoh, chair PMP WG, co-editor of PPM MIB)
    Dennis Carney (IBM)
    Lee Farrell (Canon)
    Harry Lewis (IBM, chair IEEE/ISTO PWG)
    Ira McDonald (High North, co-editor of PPM MIB)
    Ivan Pavicevic (Microsoft, co-editor of PPM MIB)
    Sean ?? (Microsoft, implementor on Longhorn team)
    Jerry Thrasher (Lexmark)

After recent discussions on the PMP mailing list, at today's telecon on
the Printer Port Monitor MIB we discussed and resolved two issues.

All of the following text should be added to 'lcrc-pmpportmib10-xxx.yyy'
in a new "Appendix C - Last Call Review Comments".

Cheers,
- Ira

Ira McDonald (Musician / Software Architect)
Blue Roof Music / High North Inc
PO Box 221  Grand Marais, MI  49839
phone: +1-906-494-2434
email: [email-masked]

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PPM-1-20050331 - Usage of 'hrDeviceIndex'

    Question:  Should different values of 'ppmPortHrDeviceIndex' be used
    for different ports on the same physical printer device?

    Discussion:  Some printers have already used different values of
    'hrDeviceIndex' for different logical printers on the same physical
    printer (e.g., monochrome versus color).
    For all hardware subunits (Input Trays, Output Bins, Markers, etc.),
    vendors should use a single 'hrDeviceIndex' for consistent alerts.
    For software subunits (Channels, Interpreters, etc.), vendors might
    wish to use different 'hrDeviceIndex' values to disambiguate status.
    It is best if values of 'hrDeviceIndex' and 'ppmPortIndex' for the
    same port are static across reboots and administrative
    configuration changes (enable/disable, default PDL, etc.).

    Resolution:
    1a) Add 'ppmPortEnabled' (boolean) to the 'ppmPortTable'.

    1b) Recommend use of same 'hrDeviceIndex' for same physical printer.

    1c) Add references to section 2.2.13.2 "Overall Printer Status" and
        Appendix E "Overall Printer Status Table" in Printer MIB v2.

ppmPortEnabled OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      TruthValue
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
        "The current administrative configuration mode for this port.
        If this object is 'false', then applications MUST NOT attempt
        installation via this port and SHOULD NOT attempt print job
        submission via this port.

        If this object is 'true', then the port is currently enabled.
        If this object is 'false', then the port is currently disabled."
    REFERENCE
        "See:   'ppmPortProtocolType' and 'ppmPortHrDeviceIndex'."
    DEFVAL      { false }               -- port disabled
    ::= { ppmPortEntry 11 }

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PPM-2-20050331 - Preferred Port for Installation

    Question:  How can a vendor or site administrator mark a preferred
    port for installation of a given physical printer?

    Discussion:  Vendors may support different functionality via
    different ports.  For example, a vendor might prefer use of the LPR
    port (for better job control) or Raw port (for better throughput).

    Resolution:
    2a) Add 'ppmGeneralPreferredPortIndex' to General group, to support
        explicit preferrence.

    2b) An installation wizard could then display this preferred port
        (and a drop-down list of alternate ports) - a typical user would
        choose the default, but an advanced user could choose to install
        a different port.

ppmGeneralPreferredPortIndex OBJECT-TYPE
    SYNTAX      Integer32 (0..2147483647)
    MAX-ACCESS  read-only
    STATUS      current
    DESCRIPTION
        "The value of 'ppmPortIndex' in this MIB that specifies the
        preferred port (per vendor or site administrator configuration).

        If this object is non-zero, then installation applications
        SHOULD default to this port in their user interface dialogue.
        If this object is zero, then no preferred port is configured."
    DEFVAL      { 0 }                   -- no preferred port configured
    ::= { ppmGeneral 3 }

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