[WinMac] Re: DHCP - Printing

Tim Scoff(casper[at]nb.net)
Sat, 23 Jan 1999 23:28:56 -0500

Why not add a reservation for the Printer's JetDirect card in the
DHCP server and be done with it? I have used DHCP servers on both
the Mac and Windows and they all had the capability to reserve IP
addresses based on the MAC address of the NIC.

> Dear Alex,
>
> It's bad practice to "nail" an IP address in a DHCP
> environment, because
> if you take the device offline and the address lease expires, and then you
> bring the device back online you'll have two devices with the same IP
> address... And all hell breaks loose.
>
> With NT, you get all sorts of error messages. With Open Transport, your
> Mac will freeze up. [Been there, done that.]
>
> The reason I bring this *major* point up is if you are on a LAN with a
> small subnet: Not everyone has the luxury of a Class C (255.255.255.0)
> subnet. With CIDR (Classless ID Resolution) you are only assigned the IP
> address' you actually need. I've run into a situation where NAT (Network
> Address Translation) is not used, and I only have access to a 32 address
> (255.255.255.224) subnet... And warning messages are appearing in the Event
> Viewer that I am down to 3 free address' for this particular LAN.
>
> See where it can be dangerous to "nail" an IP address? I had to do this
> with two H-P LaserJet PostScript printers with JetDirect MIO cards,
> assigning the last address' at the "top" of the subnet. But again, this can
> be dangerous if the printers go offline.
>
> Cheers!
> Dan
>
> At 08:23 PM 1/23/99 -0500, Alex replied to me, then near the bottom replied
> to (?):
>>> I
>>>even tried a no-no: "Nailing" the IP address of the printer NIC in a LAN
>>>served with a DHCP server. This was disappointing for me: An NT4/SP4
>>>service failing to even partially work.
>>
>>Why do you say no-no? Is it ill-advised to exclude IP addresses in a DHCP
>>environment (I assume that by "Nailing" that is what you mean). There are
>>a lot of printers out there that do not support DHCP and you have to
>>exclude their addresses and make them static.
>>
>>This is good to point out for people on DHCP environments that might have
>>problems printing TCP/IP.
>>
>>Also, a well-known fix for stalled printing from an NT server is to start
>>and stop the spooler services.
>>
>>We work with a lot of TCP/IP printers set up on NT and must say it's
>>quite reliable. Sometimes NICs misbehave and sometimes you have to stop
>>and start the spooler (as mentioned above); or you might find yourself
>>changing the location of the spool queue because you're running out of
>>hard drive space (due to bad planning of course), but all in all it's a
>>good solution. One thing to be very careful with is the device name. If
>>not enterred correctly (for devices that offer LPD services, like Fiery,
>>Cyclone, etc RIPS) you will never print, get all sorts of errors and
>>scratch your head.
>>
>>And of course, there's always the device's manual for LP/LPR services
>>entries. But who's got time toread manuals right ;)
>>
>>Alex Dearden
>>pata@doglover.com
>
>
>>>This series of printers is fairly notorious for difficult printing. I
>>>understand the PC software is usually worse than the Mac, but I have used
>>>the Mac and it is pretty bad. I have a Stylus 600, but the troubles go
>>>all the way through the series.
>>
>>I've got a Stylus 850 and haven't had too many problems with it on my
>>Macs...??? One thing I make sure I do is get rid of desktop printing
>>(alhtough my device does not have Appletalk in it, I've seen it cause all
>>sorts of weird and mysterious things).
>>
>>What sort of problems are you having?
>>
>>BTW I agrre about the output, simply amazing.
>>
>>Alex Dearden
>>pata@doglover.com
>>
>
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Tim Scoff, MCSE
casper@nb.net
<http://www.nb.net/~casper/>

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