Microplex M208 Installation And Configuration Manual

Workgroup hub/print server

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M208

WORKGROUP

HUB/PRINT SERVER

Installation and Conﬁguration Manual

Manual Version 5.5

Firmware Version 5.5

Microplex Systems Ltd.

8525 Commerce Court

Burnaby, BC V5A 4N3

P/N 79-208-100

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Page 1 M208 WORKGROUP HUB/PRINT SERVER Installation and Conﬁguration Manual Manual Version 5.5 Firmware Version 5.5 Microplex Systems Ltd. 8525 Commerce Court Burnaby, BC V5A 4N3 P/N 79-208-100...
Page 2 PostScript and TranScript are trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. DEC and Ultrix are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Hewlett-Packard, HP/UX, LaserJet, and DeskJet are registered trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Company. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. SCO and the SCO logo are registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Overview of the Hub Architecture ... 8 Overview of Print Server Architecture ... 9 Overview of Print Server Installation ... 11 INSTALLING THE M208 ON THE NETWORK ... 15 Overview... 15 Preparing for Installation ... 15 Connecting the M208 to the Network ... 17 Connecting Peripherals...
Page 4 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL ... 63 Overview... 63 Host Software ... 63 M208 Configuration ... 64 Host Configuration ... 65 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR APPLETALK ... 75 Overview... 75 M208 Configuration ... 75 Host Configuration ... 75 Additional Configuration Options ... 76 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR WINDOWS ...
Page 5 Starting a NPWin Session With An Unconfigured Unit ... 128 USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS ... 131 Overview... 131 General Options ... 131 TCP/IP Options... 135 Novell Options... 140 Managing With SNMP ... 141 FTP Daemon... 146 Serial Line IP ... 154 IP Routing...
Page 6: List Of Figures
Print Server Operating Logic ...10 Figure 2: M208 Diagram ...16 Figure 3: Twisted-Pair Cable Pinouts ...21 Figure 4: npd Overview ...54 Figure 5: M208 Jumper Settings ...137 Figure 6: Sample Commercial Invoice ...176 Figure 7: Parallel Port Timing ...181 LIST OF FIGURES...
Page 7: List Of Tables
LIST OF TABLES Table 1: npconfig/ezsetup Main Menu ...33 Table 2: npconfig Detailed Configuration Options Sub-Menu...33 Table 3: Model Types ...90 Table 4: UTP (RJ45) Connector Pinout ...179 Table 5: THICK (Transceiver) Connector Pinouts ...180 Table 6: Parallel Port Timing ...182 Table 7 PRN Pinout ...183 Table 8:...
Page 8 LIST OF TABLES...
Page 9: Preface
Description of the M208’s features and an introduction to its architecture and installation INSTALLING THE M208 ON THE NETWORK on page 15 Description of the M208’s network connectors and I/O ports, along with steps to con- nect the unit to the network. USING THE HUB on page 19 Overview and details on installing, conﬁguring, and troubleshooting the hub...
Page 10: General Conventions
Explanation of using NPWin to conﬁgure and manage the M208. USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS on page 131 Introduction to some of the print enhancements provided by the M208. TROUBLESHOOTING THE M208 on page 159 Helpful hints and steps to consider when you run into problems in any print setup.
Page 11: Computer Entry And Display Conventions
Command names, entries, and example references are bold along with directories and ﬁle names. Boldface is also used if emphasis is needed. Enter npwrite when you see... sends data to the M208 named spike... • Variable values are shown in italics both in command syntax, output, and in text.
Page 12: Preface
PREFACE: Computer Entry and Display Conventions...
Page 13: Getting To Know The M208
GETTING TO KNOW THE M208 Overview The purpose of this chapter is to get you acquainted with the M208. It contains an overview of the M208’s features, an overview of the Hub’s architecture, an overview of the Print Server’s architecture, and an overview of basic Print Server installations in each of the supported environments.
Page 14 LANs or WANs, while supporting up to four printers simultaneously, TCP/IP Features • further conﬁguration security through TCP access lists, • scrambled print job data to protect the job as it passes over the network, GETTING TO KNOW THE M208: M208 Features...
Page 15 • ability to telnet and ping to another host on the network from the M208 allowing for terminal server capabilities, • up to 256 simultaneous TCP connections, • GOSIP RFC-1042 support, • IP Routing support for communications over separate networks, •...
Page 16: Overview Of The Hub Architecture
The M208 has a total of nine Ethernet ports, eight 10Base-T (RJ45) and one AUI port. Any port on the M208 can serve as the network connection for the unit.
Page 17: Overview Of Print Server Architecture
ASCII to PostScript conversion (a2ps) or carriage return insertion (onlcr). By default, all six models on the M208 are initially set up to be raw. When raw, they simply pass data through to the I/O port untouched. By default, the models are named m1 through to m6 but can be changed to be something more meaningful.
Page 18: Figure 1: Print Server Operating Logic
Each I/O port has an internal queuing mechanism that automatically queues print jobs on a ﬁrst-come, ﬁrst-serve basis. For more information on I/O ports, destinations, and models, please see M208 INTER- NAL ARCHITECTURE on page 89. Figure 1:...
Page 19: Overview Of Print Server Installation
Overview of Print Server Installation This section will provide an overview of the basic steps required to install the M208 in the various supported environments: Unix, Novell (PSERVER and RPRINTER), Net- BIOS over TCP/IP, and AppleTalk. Before installing the M208, it may be useful to look at Appendix A, Planning Your Note Print Setup on page 203 for advantages/disadvantages of various conﬁguration...
Page 20 DEFINED ELSEWHERE. If this is not available, choose PARALLEL. Associate this printer with the queue deﬁned in Step 2. Reboot the M208 and wait about a minute for it to connect to the ﬁle server. RPRINTER Setup The following outlines the basic steps required to add a M208 to a Novell network using a RPRINTER setup and applies to any Netware version.
Page 21 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL on page 63. Basic Windows Conﬁguration The following outlines the basic steps required to add a M208 to a Windows NT Ver- sion 3.5 network using the LPR print method. Once the unit is physically attached to the network, you need to: Ensure that the appropriate network software is installed on your host system.
Page 22 For more information on NetBIOS over TCP/IP conﬁgurations, please see CONFIG- URING THE M208 FOR WINDOWS on page 79. Basic AppleTalk Conﬁguration The following outlines the basic steps required to add a M208 to an AppleTalk net- work. An AppleTalk setup does not require any Print Server conﬁguration; the network Note parameters are automatically conﬁgured for you once the M208 is booted on the net-...
Page 23: Installing The M208 On The Network
INSTALLING THE M208 ON THE NETWORK Overview The ﬁrst step of your M208 setup is to attach it to the network. This section tells you how to do that and also covers the M208’s network interfaces. Preparing for Installation Before unpacking and installing the hardware, read the FCC Warning.
Page 24: Figure 2: M208 Diagram
Grounding, Power, and Connection Ensure that the electrical outlet is properly grounded. Power is supplied to the M208 from an external transformer through a two-meter (six- foot) output cord to a 6 position mini din. The external transformer connects through a two-meter (six-foot) line cord to a 3-prong 115 or 230 VAC outlet.
Page 25: Connecting The M208 To The Network
When the test is complete, the POWER light is on and STAT is ﬂashing. Connecting Peripherals A maximum of three devices can be attached to an M208’s I/O ports at the same time; one on the parallel port and two on the serial ports. Parallel Port Connections (PRN) One 25-pin female DB-25S connector with an IBM PC compatible pinout are pro- vided on the rear panel for connection to a printer using a parallel port.
Page 26: Configuring The M208 For Tcp/Ip
(i.e. some printers). This will pre- vent induced noise from being processed as data. You have now completed the basic installation of the M208 onto the network and now it must be conﬁgured for use. Please continue with the appropriate chapters for infor- mation pertaining to the hub component of the unit and for information pertaining to conﬁguring the M208 for your particular environment:...
Page 27: Using The Hub
Very little conﬁguration is required for the hub as it becomes fully operational as soon the unit is powered up. M208 Hub Features The following is a list of features for the hub component of the M208: • auto discovery/auto-sensing: the M208 automatically senses when a device is connected to a port and begins transmitting data signals to that port, •...
Page 28: Hub Installation
SNMP manager, Hub Installation You can use any of the network ports to connect the M208 to computers, to other hubs/backbone, or to other Data Terminal Equipment (DTE). Connectors The M208 has 9 network connectors: eight 10Base-T (RJ45) connectors, and one AUI connector.
Page 29: Hub Configuration
All hub conﬁguration can also be performed using the included NPWin software utility included with the M208. In order to use the print server functions of the M208, an IP address must be conﬁg- Note USING THE HUB: Hub Configuration...
Page 30 Conﬁguring the M208 with an IP address There are a number of ways to conﬁgure the M208 with an IP address, either automat- ically with a shell script or manually. Please see Computer-aided Configuration with ezsetup or npconfig on page 36, Man-...
Page 31 To disable link integrity on a speciﬁc port, please follow the steps below: Login to the M208 as a root user. At the npsh prompt, type the following command: config hub [ portnum ] [-]li where portnum is the number between 1 and 8 of the port that you want to disable link integrity.
Page 32: Monitoring The Hub
Hub Monitoring Using the LEDs The M208’s hub component has ten LEDs associated with it: two LEDs on the front panel indicating collisions and general hub activity and eight LEDs on the back indi- cating port activity.
Page 33 To monitor the operations of the hub as a whole, please follow the steps below: Login to the M208 as a root or guest user. At the npsh prompt, type the following command: list hub A screen showing the general operational status of the hub, various counters, and the conﬁguration of each port is displayed.
Page 34 Displays whether the port passed the link status test. Displays whether the AUI port passed the loop back test. Displays whether the M208 has a MAU Jabber Lockup Protection (MJLP) error. A MJLP error is where the port transmits for a period longer than the maximum packet length.
Page 35 Displays the total number of octets received on all the ports of the M208. Displays the number of transmit collisions detected by the M208 on all of the ports. Displays the number of times the transmitter is active in excess of the MAU jabber lockup protection timer.
Page 36: Snmp Management Features
The M208 supports both MIB II and private MIBs, allowing it to be a fully managed agent using a SNMP manager such as HP’s OpenView, Sun’s Sun- Net Manager, and Castle Rock’s, SNMPc.
Page 37 If you plug another hub into one of the RJ45 ports (Hub to Hub) and the LED does not turn on, try plugging it into port one and setting the selector switch to the straight-through position (||). If this works, either use port one or change to a crossed-over cable.
Page 38 USING THE HUB: Troubleshooting the Hub...
Page 39: Configuring The M208 For Tcp/Ip
The extra processing binaries (a2ps, onlcr, banner) can be conﬁgured for the host to perform or they can each be set on the M208 alleviating the host of these extra tasks. To be utilized on a host, they must be used in conjunction with an interface ﬁle. Other- Note wise, please see USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET on page 93 for information on...
Page 40 If you want to spend more time manipulating the extra capabilities of the M208 and your host’s conﬁguration, use npconﬁg. It can be used to conﬁgure a print destination on your host and it can also be used as a M208 management utility allowing you to monitor, change, and troubleshoot the unit.
Page 41: Table 1: Npconfig/Ezsetup Main Menu
Ports . . . CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Software Description Add a M208 to your network. This option provides for: IP name, IP address, hardware address, netmask, and for root and guest passwords. (ezsetup as well) Conﬁgure a print destination on the host including com- munication mechanism and processing options.
Page 42 Description Conﬁgure M208 logpath settings: name, type, and port. Add and remove users. Change user passwords and user types. Conﬁgure and list the M208 Novell settings: name, frame type, and PSERVER password. List M208 PSERVER and RPRINTER conﬁguration. Conﬁgure M208 IP address, netmask, routing entries, frame type, and RARP and BOOTP settings.
Page 43: M208 Configuration
M208 Conﬁguration When the M208 is ﬁrst installed on a TCP/IP network, you are unable to communicate with it since its network parameters are not initialized. During conﬁguration, the fol- lowing parameters are initialized and saved in EEPROM: • IP address (mandatory), •...
Page 44 If you choose computer-aided conﬁguration, you must log on to your system as root Note or superuser and use the host software diskette or tape supplied with your M208. If the software is not provided, or you need a different medium, contact your vendor.
Page 45 Manual Conﬁguration Through the Network with ARP To manually conﬁgure the M208 using the network, go to a host terminal and do the following: Log on to your system as root user. Assign an IP address and IP name to the M208 in your host table (/etc/hosts, hosts nis map, or DNS name tables).
Page 46 These are now stored in EEPROM. 12 Logout of the Telnet session with quit. Then reboot the M208 by powering the unit off, then on. 13 Test the equipment and conﬁguration after installation is complete. Enter at the...
Page 47 BOOTP is a protocol for conﬁguring the M208 as it boots. During the boot sequence, the M208 can broadcast a BOOTP request and if a BOOTP server is running on the network conﬁgured to respond to the requesting device, it will provide the M208 with its IP address, netmask, default router, and a time server from which to query the cur- rent time (GMT) and the timezone in which the M208 is located.
Page 48 Manual Conﬁguration Through the COM Port A terminal, PC, or laptop can be connected to one of the M208’s COM ports for con- ﬁguration purposes. A straight-through serial cable is normally needed unless a PC is attached; in this case, a null modem cable can be used. Please see Serial Cable Schematic on page 186 for more details.
Page 49 Restoring to Factory Defaults If at any time you’d like to restore the M208’s network settings to their original state, you can do so with an npsh command or by utilizing jumpers within the M208 itself. Please see Restoring To Factory Defaults on page 135 for more details on this pro- cess.
Page 50: Host Configuration
The data transfer program npwrite is provided with the host software shipped with the M208. It sends data to the unit over a TCP connection. Data is read from a ﬁle or, if no CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Configuration...
Page 51 The rsh/rcmd/remsh programs are remote command execution clients that talk to the rshd server in the M208. rsh, rcmd, and remsh are actually the same programs but have different names on different UNIX systems; some systems may even have another name for remote command.
Page 52 Load the appropriate one for your system spooler type and use it in this state if the M208 can do sufﬁcient processing. The M208 itself contains enough processing options, when they are turned on, to han- dle most processing needs without the need for host software.
Page 53 The important part of an interface script is where it sends the print job. With the M208, the data must be captured and sent over the network for printing, since your printer is no longer locally attached. There are two possible ways to make this happen with your current script: Encapsulate your script’s code with brackets ( ) and after the closing bracket, add...
Page 54 #filter the job ) | rcmd spike lp -d d3com1 where spike is the name of the M208 and the print jobs are being sent to its destina- tion d3com1 by remotely executing the M208’s lp print command. Please see npwrite on page 42, rsh/rcmd/remsh on page 43, and lp on page 102 for more details on each command’s syntax.
Page 55 This is conﬁgured within the /etc/printcap database. lpd Remote Printing The lpd daemon spools ﬁles locally, then sends them to an M208 acting as a remote printer. As interface scripts cannot be used with this spooling method, processing must be done by the Print Server.
Page 56 To manually set up your host with an interface ﬁle, you need to add an entry to the /etc/printcap ﬁle and then create and edit its associated ﬁles and directories. Here is an example of what the printcap entry should look like followed by a descrip- CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Configuration...
Page 57 :sd=/usr/spool/lpd/spike/com2:\ :lf=/usr/spool/lpd/spike/com2/log:\ :af=/usr/spool/lpd/spike/com2/acct:\ :if=/usr/spool/lpd/spike/com2/npr.if: where hp is the printer name sending jobs to the M208 named spike through the inter- face ﬁle npr.if. To create these entries, please do the following: Create the printer’s spooling directory and associated ﬁles. cd /usr/spool/lpd...
Page 58 /dev/spike.com2 Start the print spooler. lpc start hp (mandatory) Specify a communication program to transfer data to the M208 (i.e. npwrite, rsh). If the program is npwrite, deﬁne the UNIT_PORT variable. Otherwise, deﬁne the LP_DEST variable. ps, gen7170).
Page 59 The scheduler copies the ﬁle into a spooling directory and calls the interface program when the job is ready to go to the M208. It processes the job according to the script’s settings and then sends it over to the M208 for printing.
Page 60 The example commands provided represent a print setup involving a printer named Note hp, an M208 named spike, and a printer attached to the M208’s com2 port. Copy the nprsysv.if ﬁle from the host software medium to the model directory.
Page 61 /usr/lib/lpadmin -php -mnpr.if -v/dev/spike.com2 Start the scheduler. lpsched Enable the printer and allow it to accept requests. enable hp accept hp Try printing a ﬁle with the following syntax: Syntax lp -d printername filename CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Configuration...
Page 62: Figure 4: Npd Overview
Overview TCP/IP Host The spooler processes the job and passes it to the printer device. /dev/m208.prn M208 npd watches over this device and sends any print jobs over to the M208. CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Configuration printer...
Page 63 /dev/pty is the directory used for locating the pseudo-tty pair slave device. npd locks As npd acquires an exclusive lock on the M208 port, it is possible to lock out other daemons that may reside on other UNIX hosts. Therefore, npd is designed to timeout and release the lock if the pseudo-tty pair is idle for a speciﬁed time (30 seconds is the...
Page 64 Process ID of npd daemon. ipname M208 IP address or IP name serviced by npd. port M208 I/O port used by npd (i.e. prn, com1, com2). masterfile Master device used by npd. slavefile Slave device used by npd. CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR TCP/IP: Host Configuration...
Page 65 Sun NeWSprint page accounting works with PostScript printers. It utilizes the bi- directionality of the M208’s serial ports to get this status back to the host. If the printer is attached to one of the parallel ports, no page information comes back from the printer.
Page 66 To avoid this, replace the pscomm program with Microplex’s equivalent npcomm.sh program in the .options ﬁle which redirects the data to the M208. npcomm.sh is found in the host software. Create and edit this .options ﬁle in the printer’s spooling directory with global read permissions.
Page 67 /dev/ttypa as the device interface for any port on the M208. When the program creates the spooling directory and entry in /etc/printcap ﬁle, set the lp= ﬁeld to the deviceﬁle argument from npd. Example For a PostScript printer named ps attached to com1 on the M208 named spike: ps|PostScript|PostScript on spike’s com1 port:\...
Page 68 This ﬁle is only created after the mkvirprt command has been executed in Step 5. Note This step redirects the print job over the network to the M208. For destinations other than d1prn, please see Destinations on page 89. Run chvirprt since the print setup has been altered and needs updating. Enter: chvirprt -q queue2 -d lp0 If you need to delete an entire print setup, use the rmvirprt command.
Page 69 You can send jobs to the M208 with the following command syntax: Syntax lpr -S ipname -P destname where ipname is the M208 IP name or IP address and destname is the name of a M208 destination. Example lpr -Sspike -Pd4com2 sends a print job to d4com2 on the M208 named spike.
Page 70 Spooler on page 42. FTP Daemon The FTP Daemon provides an additional method to submit print jobs to the M208. For a complete discussion of printing and other M208 functions using the FTP Daemon, please see FTP Daemon on page 146.
Page 71: Configuring The M208 For Novell
Even though the entire print set-up is done through PCONSOLE, you may want to communicate directly with the M208 in order to modify settings, monitor the unit, etc. To communicate with the M208, the optional host software, npsh.exe is included.
Page 72: M208 Configuration
TCP/IP one. No addresses, masks, or router entries are necessary and in most cases, the M208 can simply be connected to the network, turned on, and then conﬁgured for printing from a Novell station through PCONSOLE. The only parameters that you may want to set is a PSERVER password or possibly the frame type.
Page 73: Host Configuration
RPRINTER serviced by the M208 since the RPRINTER settings do not hold their effect through a power cycle. If the M208 loses a connection to a ﬁle server (as a PSERVER) or to a PSERVER (as Note a RPRINTER), it will automatically reconnect when that server becomes available again.
Page 74 Press <Escape>. Select PRINT SERVER INFORMA- TION. Press <Insert> to add a server. Type the name of the M208. By default, it is M_xxxxxx where xxxxxx equals the last six digits of the unit’s Ethernet address. (e.g. M_000BF5) Select it and press <Enter>.
Page 75 Press <Escape> until you have exited PCONSOLE. RPRINTER Setup (Pre-NetWare 4) CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL: Host Configuration Result of Action Cursor sits at the Type ﬁeld with a printer name now assigned. Comes back to the PRINTER N CONFIG- URATION window.
Page 76 RPRINTER in a pre-NetWare 4 environment. It is the PSERVER’s responsibility to get jobs from the queue and to pass them off to the M208 acting as the remote printer. Unlike a PSERVER set-up, the M208 does not deal directly with the queues.
Page 77 <Enter>. Press <Insert>. Select the queue you want this printer to service and press <Enter>. CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL: Host Configuration Result of Action Returns to PCONSOLE’s Main Menu. A list of existing print servers displays.
Page 78 One entry is written in the ﬁle. One entry is required for each RPRINTER serviced by the M208. The M208 will boot up and read this entry from the CONFIG ﬁle and set itself to act as an RPRINTER. CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL: Host Configuration...
Page 79 NetWare 4 Options NetWare 4 introduces NDS and some new frame types. The M208 can be used in a NetWare 4 environment with either of these options: • Set the M208 up as a PSERVER replacing a dedicated workstation running PSERVER.EXE or PSERVER.NLM on the ﬁle server.
Page 80 Step Action Type the name of the M208. By default, it is M_xxxxxx where xxxxxx equals the last six digits of the unit’s Ethernet address. (e.g. M_000BF5) Select this new print server and press <Enter>. Select PRINTERS. Press <Insert> to add a printer to the list.
Page 81 If you want to continue with any of the following procedures, please ﬁnd them as indi- cated in other sections of this manual: • Add to or change conﬁguration of your M208. Please see USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET on page 93 and USING NPWIN on page 127. •...
Page 82 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR NOVELL: Host Configuration...
Page 83: Configuring The M208 For Appletalk
M208 is booted on the net- work. If you wish to modify some of the M208’s default settings, you can use the built-in npsh command set. Please see USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET on page 93 for more on the available commands.
Page 84: Additional Configuration Options
Additional Conﬁguration Options AppleTalk Zones If the M208 does not come up in the correct AppleTalk zone, you can conﬁgure a par- ticular zone name on the unit. To do this, start an npsh session with the unit and enter...
Page 85 Removing Excess Printers from the Chooser When you ﬁrst install an M208 in an AppleTalk environment, you will notice that four printers show up in your Chooser; one printer for each destination on the M208 that has AppleTalk services enabled.
Page 86 If you have several Microplex M208s in your network and only some of them are ser- vicing AppleTalk networks, it is a good idea to turn off the entire AppleTalk module from the particular M208. This will not only save on M208 resources but will ensure that only appropriate M208s show up in the Chooser.
Page 87: Configuring The M208 For Windows
ﬁrst spool to the NT host before being sent to the Print Server/printer for print- ing. Print Setup Possibilities There are two print methods available with the M208 in a Windows environment: LPR - Berkeley’s Line Printer Protocol which uses TCP/IP to transfer data to the Print Server’s built-in Line Printer Daemon.
Page 88: Tcp/Ip Setup
Conﬁgure the Windows host with an IP address and netmask. Conﬁgure the M208 with an IP address and netmask. Create a printer and select a method of printing to the M208 (e.g. LPR). TCP/IP Setup Setting Up TCP/IP Services on Your Windows Stations The following section gives step-by-step directions on how to install the necessary network software in the supported environments.
Page 89 Network Setup icon in the Network Group. Click on Drivers. Since the TCP/IP services will not yet be listed here, click on Add Protocols. Select Unlisted. Specify the directory where the ﬁle exists. A new TCP/IP-32 program group will CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR WINDOWS: TCP/IP Setup...
Page 90 Internet, the following are some sample settings to use: Host 1 M208 Host 2 and so on... The following sections will detail how you conﬁgure TCP/IP settings on the different Windows platforms. IP Address Netmask 192.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 192.1.1.2 255.255.255.0 192.1.1.3 255.255.255.0 CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR WINDOWS: TCP/IP Setup...
Page 91: M208 Configuration
Windows NT and WfW, this does not work reliably. Therefore, the best way to store an IP address and a netmask is to connect a terminal, PC, or laptop to one of the M208’s serial ports. This will log you into the unit where you can store the IP address and netmask.
Page 92: Host Configuration
Through the COM Port on page 40 for detailed instructions. Once you have conﬁgured the unit, you will notice the STAT LED ﬂashing on once per second. This means the M208 is conﬁgured and recognizable on the network. At this point, you can now conﬁgure your host.
Page 93 Line Printer Daemon using TCP/IP. NetBIOS Using Print Manager Method In order to use this method, you must ﬁrst conﬁgure the M208 with a Microsoft Net- Note works Workgroup name. This can be done by telneting to the M208, starting an npsh...
Page 94 Windows for Workgroups (WfW) NetBIOS Using Print Manager Method In order to use this method, you must ﬁrst conﬁgure the M208 with a Microsoft Net- Note works Workgroup name. This can be done by telneting to the M208, starting an npsh...
Page 95 Workgroup name. This can be done by telneting to the M208, starting an npsh session with the unit, and issuing the following command: store pserver smb workgrp workgroupname where workgroupname is the name of the Microsoft Networks Workgroup that you want the M208 to be included in (e.g.
Page 96 • Utilize more advanced features of the M208. Please see USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS on page 131. CONFIGURING THE M208 FOR WINDOWS: Host Configuration...
Page 97: M208 Internal Architecture
The M208 provides six printer destinations that are used by all hosts. A destination can be thought of as logical place on the M208 to which hosts send their print jobs. Destinations allow you the ability to conﬁgure a number of different print setups on the M208.
Page 98: Models
Models Each destination on the M208 also has a model associated with it. The six models (one per destination) can be thought of as a series of mini-ﬁlter that can do special process- ing to the print job data. These processing options include: •...
Page 99: Variables
Variables Variables are actually utilized within the M208’s models and are useful for deﬁning lengthy header or trailer strings. This might be necessary for certain printer switch strings, for example. Each variable consists of a combination of escape codes and text for this printer control.
Page 100: Logpaths
Logpaths The term logpath comes from the UNIX syslog logging system. With the M208, each destination can report statistics on: user, page count, job name, and printer errors. In addition, a checksum calculation can be obtained to conﬁrm data integrity when a job is sent to the printer.
Page 101: Using The M208'S Command Set
USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET Overview At this point in the manual, you should have your M208 installed and conﬁgured on the network and at least one host conﬁgured to print to it. This section’s purpose is to give you the basic tools to add to your print setup by introducing the Print Server’s command set.
Page 102: Npsh Prompt
User Accounts and Permissions When you log into the M208, you either log in as a guest or as root user. The com- mands you will be able to utilize on the Print Server depend on which login name you use.
Page 103: Npsh Basic Commands
Store commands only affect stored settings in EEPROM but not the current settings. This means the M208 must be reset to make any changes take effect. For example, if you change the current settings of the IP address and the netmask, this will only take effect after a reset (warm boot) from EEPROM, or after a power-on (cold boot).
Page 104 Delete a job from the M208’s internal queue. See also: lpstat on page 103. chr arguments Used with redirection, the chr command sends output control codes to the printer.
Page 105 Enable the speciﬁed I/O port so jobs queued are printed or enable the speci- ﬁed destination so new jobs are processed. ioportname is one of the three I/O USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set Enables or disables link integrity on a port. This command is only applicable to port numbers one through eight (10Base-T ports).
Page 106 All possible options are listed next. list arp list arp List the contents of the M208’s arp table. list com1|com2 list com1|com2 List the current settings of the serial I/O port. See also: set com1|com2 on page 105.
Page 107 I/O port, backchannel, model used, logpath, state, alternate destination, and service(s). list dest destname List the speciﬁed M208 destination’s complete current settings. destname is the desired destination. See also: Destinations on page 89 and set dest on page 107.
Page 108 List the current processing options for all models. list model modelname List the speciﬁed M208 model’s complete current settings. modelname is the desired model. See also: Models on page 90 and set model on page 110. list prn list prn List current settings of the parallel I/O port.
Page 109 List information about the Novell RPRINTER conﬁguration. Entry will appear if the M208 has made a connection to the ﬁle server. See also: Host Configuration on page 65, set rprinter on page 114, and debug on page 97.
Page 110 -d destname Print to the M208 using standard TCP/IP rsh/rcmd/remsh. destname is the name of the M208 destination. This command in default mode will show any parallel port printer errors to the user. The options are: Show incremental byte counts as the job is printing and show the job’s position in the queue as it moves to the top.
Page 111 (i.e. rsh/rcmd/remsh). Note Example rsh spike lp -d d1prn -off < test.txt prints the ﬁle test.txt, followed by a formfeed to the M208 destination d1prn on the Print Server named spike. lpstat lpstat Display active and queued jobs on the Print Server and I/O port status.
Page 112 M208 can resolve the IP name. Please see set sysinfo on page 114 for more information. reset reset Restore current settings to those stored in EEPROM. Performs a warm boot or hardware reset, simulating a power-on reset. Use this after a power failure.
Page 113 Enable [disable] parity generation and detection. Select odd [even] parity. Set RTS low when the M208 is not ready to accept data. With “-”, RTS output is constantly high, and the M208 does not use the RTS line to control input ﬂow.
Page 114 (INT is time in minutes in the range of 0 to 255). If the timeout is set to zero (0), the timeout feature is disabled. Printer errors will cause the M208 to postpone printing until the printer is Note ﬁxed regardless of this timeout feature being set or not.
Page 115 Associate a logpath with a destination. Please see set logpath on page 108 to conﬁgure this logpathname. set dest destname model modelname Associate a model with a destination. Jobs sent to the named destination are USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 116 [[-]lpsched] [[-]rprinter] [[-]pserver] [[-]appletalk] [[-]netbios] [[-]ftpd] Set the destination to handle only certain print server services. See also: Manipulating the M208’s Services on page 133. Examples set dest d1prn alternate d2com1 where print jobs going to d1prn are redirected to d2com1’s printer if the orig- inal printer is currently busy, in error, or off-line.
Page 117 Send the printer logging information either to a TCP port number, to one of the M208’s I/O ports, to a particular user’s email address, or to SYSLOGD on a TCP/IP host. tcpport is a TCP port in the range 1,024 to 65,000.
Page 118 ﬁrst. Please see set sysinfo on page 114 for more on this requirement and for further details, please see Host Software on page 31 and Scrambling/Descrambling on page 138. Sets the tabstop width within the range of 1 to 16. USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 119 Continuously senses print job for data format. For example, if there is a PostScript banner page in front of a PCL print job, the M208 will sense both parts of the job separately and do the conversion. Enabling this feature will decrease output...
Page 120 PCL and PostScript modes. If no parameters are speciﬁed, the model defaults to the switching strings for an HP LJIIIsi printer. pclswvar is the switching string to change modes to PCL and psswvar is the switching string to change modes to PostScript.
Page 121 (INT is time in minutes). If the timeout is set to zero (0), the timeout feature is also disabled. Printer errors will cause the M208 to postpone printing until the printer is Note ﬁxed regardless of this timeout feature being set or not. Therefore, no data will be lost.
Page 122 See also: list prn on page 100. set rprinter set rprinter add pservername printernumber destname Initiate a connection to a Novell PSERVER so that the M208 can act as a remote printer. A non-M208 PSERVER must be pre-conﬁgured to recognize a remote printer.
Page 123 Set the DNS server’s IP address so the M208 can resolve names used with ping and telnet. Please see ping on page 103 or telnet on page 124.
Page 124 See also: Manipulating the M208’s Services on page 133. set sysinfo name [ namestring ] Set the name of the M208. This is just a string and is not used in the operation of the unit. If namestring is not included in the syntax, the ﬁeld is emptied.
Page 125 Create a named variable with a speciﬁc string. string is a space-separated list of words, hex numbers (e.g. 0x04), and references to other variables or con- stants. USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 126 Example set var NEW_VAR $ESC E sets a variable named NEW_VAR with an HP PCL deﬁned printer reset. When inputting a “ Note mand, you must place a “ parse it out. See also: Variables on page 91, Variable Definitions on page 177, and list var on page 102.
Page 127 Once you store any parameters, you need to issue a reset command or do a Note cold reboot of the M208 to apply the changes. Otherwise, you will still be using the current settings. For the store commands, these new words are important to know: ifnum USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 128 Change the AppleTalk printer name that appears in the Chooser. papname makes up the second half of the name and is transparently mapped to an M208 destination. Network Interface Tap. A module that serves as a generic interface between the data link protocol layer (i.e.
Page 129 Disabling jobsecurity allows all users to issue the cancel command. store pserver novell frametype [ethernet2 | 802.3 | 802.2 | 802.2snap | autosense] Store a particular frame type for the M208 to adhere to in a Novell environ- ment. The M208 provides simultaneous support for all Novell frame types.
Page 130 Store the ipaddress for the NIT module speciﬁed by ifnum. ifnum will always be 1 for the M208 since there is only one network inter- Note face, Ethernet. store tcpip ifnum frametype [[-]] ethernet2] | [[-]802.2snap]...
Page 131 Removes this entry from the proxy ARP table. store tcpip route add|del default routeripaddress ifnum Add or delete a default router entry in the M208’s routing table for the NIT module speciﬁed by ifnum. store tcpip route add [host|net] targetipaddress [/ target- netmask ] routeripaddress ifnum|com1|com2 [ metric ] Add a speciﬁc route to the M208’s routing table.
Page 132 [ escapecharacter [ portnumber ]] Telnet from the M208 to another host on the network speciﬁed by its ipname. ipname can be either an IP address or an IP name. By specifying a TCP port- number, you can also connect to a speciﬁc socket on the target host.
Page 133 To utilize IP name, the DNS server’s IP address must be set ﬁrst so the unit Note can resolve the IP name. Please see set sysinfo on page 114 for more informa- tion. USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 134 USING THE M208’S COMMAND SET: npsh Command Set...
Page 135: Using Npwin
TCP/IP services available, and be on the same local IP network as the M208. A Windows workstation on a Novell IPX network will not be able to communicate Note with the M208. Please read the SETUP.TXT ﬁle for a list of compatible TCP/IP stacks. Note Installation...
Page 136: Print Server/Hub Configuration
To start a session with an unconﬁgured M208, please follow the steps below: Note These steps relate to establishing a stored IP address in the M208. If your network uses a dynamically assigned IP address, please see Manual Configuration Through the Network with RARP on page 38 and Manual Configuration Through the Network with BOOTP on page 39 for more information.
Page 137 Conﬁgure unit as desired. Note The IP address entered in Step 4 will be saved to the M208’s EEPROM. If the unit already has an IP address or if the IP address is assigned dynamically, the unit should show up in the list of already conﬁgured units when you select Open Print Server Session.
Page 138 USING NPWIN: Starting a NPWin Session With An Unconfigured Unit...
Page 139: Using The M208'S Additional Options
USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS Overview As of now, you will have conﬁgured your M208 and you’re probably printing to it suc- cessfully. The purpose of this chapter is to enhance your print setup by describing some of the additional features that the M208 provides. It is broken down into the fol- lowing sections: General Options on page 131: network security, changing the M208’s name,...
Page 140 102. Using Different Naming Schemes By default, the M208 is named M_xxxxxx where xxxxxx is the last six digits of the Ethernet address as found on the bottom of the unit. This name affects a Novell, AppleTalk, and NetBIOS setup. To change this name to something more suitable for your printing environment, please see store pserver on page 120.
Page 141 Chooser on page 77 for further details. Making An Alternate Print Destination If more than one printer is attached to the M208, you can make the best use out of each one with load-balancing. Normally, you would print to one destination on the unit and your print jobs would go to that printer only.
Page 142 I/O port where a printer or terminal is attached to display the information. To conﬁgure any of these logpath options, please see set logpath on page 108. I/O ports and SYSLOGD can be used to capture M208 debugging information as well Note as printer logging.
Page 143: Tcp/Ip Options
Lp Method The M208 provides its own version of the lp print command. This is used in conjunc- tion with rsh/rcmd/remsh within an interface script or directly from the command line on the host. By default, it provides parallel port printer status and can also be con- ﬁgured to report incremental byte counts as the job prints.
Page 144 Settings on page 137 for the jumper locations. Caution The inside of the M208 is sensitive to static electricity so be sure to ground yourself to the chassis before touching any internal components. To manually set the unit to defaults: Open the cover.
Page 145: Figure 5: M208 Jumper Settings
Figure 5: M208 Jumper Settings Getting Ready for Complex Networks The default settings on the M208 allow printing in a simple network without routers. You need to add routing information to communicate or print from hosts on other net- works.
Page 146 UNIX .rhosts ﬁle. If the access list is empty, any host can have access to the M208’s services. If there are entries in the access list, only those hosts speciﬁed have access to these services. Although the maximum number of entries is 10, each entry can refer to a network or a host so more than 10 machines can be enabled.
Page 147 110. Using the Terminal Server Capabilities The M208’s built-in command set includes telnet which allows the unit to act as a ter- minal server as well as a M208. The M208’s terminal serving capabilities can be used in a number of ways including connecting a terminal to a network or using a terminal as an output device.
Page 148: Novell Options
The M208 allows you to specify a list of preferred ﬁle servers in a Novell environ- ment. This feature is useful in a large Novell network so that the M208 does not ignore important ﬁle servers. If this feature is not enabled, the M208 will only acknowledge the ﬁrst 16 ﬁle servers it senses.
Page 149: Managing With Snmp
Novell ﬁle server you want to add as a pre- ferred ﬁle server. This adds the speciﬁed ﬁle server as a preferred ﬁle server on the M208. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to add additional preferred ﬁle servers.
Page 150 The M208’s custom MIB deﬁnition ﬁle is included on the host software disk in a ﬁle called mplxmib.txt. This ﬁle can also be downloaded from the Microplex FTP site (ftp.microplex.com: support/m208/misc/mplxmib.txt) or can be accessed via the Microplex Web site (http://www.microplex.com/).
Page 151 Note Hub Traps The M208 generates nine traps regarding the hub component: rptrHealth m208PortDataRateMismatch m208PortPartionStateChange m208PortLinkTestStatus Change m208GroupMJLPTrap m208PortLoopBackError Status- Change m208PPortSQETestError Status- Change m208PPortAddrTrackSrcAddr- Match m208PPortAddrTrackSrcAddr- Changed USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: Managing With SNMP A generic trap generated every time the M208 is powered on or reset.
Page 152 MIB are accessed by SNMP managers. To access the M208’s custom MIB, the public community string can be used to read any variable that have read access. To restrict write access, there is an additional security step implemented.
Page 153 Note the M208’s ipname is spike, and that the SNMP manager is the Tricklets package. Set up an snmp user with root privileges on the M208. Please see Adding an SNMP User on page 144 for details. Issue the following conﬁguration commands using the snmp user’s password as the community string.
Page 154: Ftp Daemon
M208 conﬁguration ﬁles. Users FTP to the M208 as if it were any other computer on the network. For the purposes of FTP, a pseudo ﬁle system has been deﬁned on the M208 to allow access to the unit’s functions. Three types of users can access this ﬁle system: root, guest, and anonymous.
Page 155 The following is the structure of the ﬁle system you will see when you ftp to the unit: /queue Contains three ﬁles with information pertaining to the print queue associated with each of the M208’s ports (i.e. prn, com1, com2). These ﬁles allow you to view the cur- rent status of each queue. /dest Contains six subdirectories, one for each of the six print destination on the M208.
Page 156 Remove desired print job from the list. del jobname Logout of the FTP session. quit Monitoring a Print Queue Using FTP The following example shows how to monitor a print queue using FTP: USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: FTP Daemon...
Page 157 DOS, use the type command. Conﬁguring M208 Parameters Using FTP Users have two ways of conﬁguring the M208's parameters using FTPD. The ﬁrst is by uploading binary ﬁles to the /conﬁg directory and the second is by uploading text conﬁguration ﬁles to the /exec directory.
Page 158 Logout of the FTP session. quit Now you have a copy of the M208’s stored conﬁguration parameters. These ﬁles can be saved for archival purposes, used to reconﬁgure the unit to a previous setting, or used to set a number of units to the same conﬁguration.
Page 159 Copies all ﬁles from the local directory to the conﬁg/stored directory. Logout of the FTP session. quit It will be necessary to reset the M208 for the changes to take effect. Note 2. /exec directory Using the /exec directory, users can upload a text ﬁle that includes a number of conﬁg- uration commands.
Page 160 This allows the user to monitor the commands as they are being executed. Without the redirect command, users will see no output from the commands as they are being executed. USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: FTP Daemon...
Page 161 Depending on the speciﬁc commands in the conﬁguration ﬁle, it may be necessary Note to reset the M208 for the commands to take effect. Basically, the same rules apply whether you are using npsh to issue commands or a conﬁguration ﬁle to issue commands.
Page 162: Serial Line Ip
Serial Line IP (SLIP) is a protocol used to connect two networks using a serial line. The M208’s serial ports support SLIP allowing the M208 to be used to provide remote hosts with dial-up access to the local network via a modem.
Page 163 [ remotehost ipaddress ] Example store tcpip proxy add host 192.147.242.3 Enable the IP gateway option on the M208 so that data packets will be sent from the Local M208 network to the remote host. store tcpip opts gateway Reset the M208 to make these settings take effect.
Page 164 When the connection is dropped, the serial port reverts back to standard npsh mode. The remote host is now part of the M208’s network as if it were a new host on that net- work. Basically, whatever a host on the local network can do, the remote host can do.
Page 165: Ip Routing
IP Routing IP routers allow computers connected to two (or more) separate networks to commu- nicate with each other. The M208 IP routing capabilities allows the unit to be Wide Area Network compatible. For information on conﬁguring the M208’s IP routing features, please see store tcpip opts [-]ipforward on page 123 and store tcpip route add|del default routeripaddress ifnum on page 123.
Page 166 USING THE M208’S ADDITIONAL OPTIONS: IP Routing...
Page 167: Troubleshooting The M208
AppleTalk Problems Windows Problems. Common Problems The M208 doesn’t power up with the correct LED sequence Please refer to LED Patterns on page 188. This table describes different LED startup patterns that are possible on the M208. If at any time after the bootup process the ERR LED comes on, please contact your Note local vendor.
Page 168 M208 Conﬁguration on page 35 for possible conﬁguration methods. • Is there a router between the M208 and your host? If so, a default router or a static route must be conﬁgured on the unit so the Print Server knows how to get its response back to the originating host.
Page 169 • Have you tried rebooting the M208? • Does the fourth octet of the M208’s given IP address equal 0 or 255? Each of the four octets in the IP address should be between 1 and 254. Printing Related You’ve completed your print setup but nothing is printing This can be the most frustrating problem since you’ve gone through the conﬁguration...
Page 170 This tends to happen when PCs are used with a TCP/IP software package and they are printing to a Unix system or directly to the M208 where onlcr is turned on. DOS jobs have difﬁculty with this carriage return insertion and will therefore, print out incor- rectly.
Page 171: Novell Problems
Note byte with a zero (0). • Has the M208’s name been changed from its default of M_xxxxxx and if so, have you incorporated this new name into your setup? • When setting the M208 up as a PSERVER, did you specify a destination on the M208 (e.g.
Page 172 It is important to create all print setup elements in this mode. • Is there a password set for the M208 to utilize when it is logging in to the ﬁle server? Make sure the M208’s PSERVER password matches that of the PCONSOLE’s PSERVER setup or set both places to no password.
Page 173 Printing Related The job goes to the queue but nothing prints If nothing is printing, make sure you have a connection to the M208 ﬁrst. Please see Communication Related on page 163 if you are having connection-related problems. Otherwise, consider these points to solve any printing problems you may be having in your Novell environment: •...
Page 174 Did you turn off banner pages and formfeeds if this is already taken care of within an application or on the M208? Doubling up of these types of print features is easy to do since these options are provided both on the M208 (in a model) and within the print command.
Page 175: Appletalk Problems
Hanging print jobs or queues with Windows NT 3.5x usually means there’s a problem at the host end. Most likely the printer and M208 are sitting on the network waiting for some form of activity but the host is not doing anything. This is very typical for any LPR printing with Windows NT 3.5 and is possible with NT 3.51 as well.
Page 176 “blocked” messages, there may be a problem with the communications between the M208’s I/O port and the printer. Possibly the cable is faulty and the send signal isn’t getting through to the M208 or maybe the printer and M208 aren’t communi- cating properly.
Page 177 The M208 tells the second station to hold on to its data until it has ﬁnished with the ﬁrst job.
Page 178 TROUBLESHOOTING THE M208: Windows Problems...
Page 179: Getting Help With The M208
WWW Site Microplex’s HTTP site contains information on the company as well as detailed infor- mation on the M208 including data sheets and technical bulletins. In addition, the lat- est software and manuals are always available. Using whatever Web browser you have available, you need to get to the URL, http://microplex.com/...
Page 180: Technical Support
For speciﬁc service and support procedures, please see the following sub-sections. Technical Support Microplex offers technical support for any problems you may have with your M208. It is available through any of the methods mentioned in Help Methods Available on page 171.
Page 181: Upgrade Procedure
• M208 ﬁrmware version (please see list sysinfo on page 101), • M208 I/O port settings (please see list com1|com2 on page 98 or list prn on page 100), • host print setup including the host type and print method used, •...
Page 182: Warranty
“M208 Hub/Print Server” on the Technical Support page. FTP Site If using the FTP site, you need to change to the directory /support/m208/rom then each ﬁle. Change to /support/m208/host/current mode, binary To be notiﬁed of any new releases, make sure you send in your Warranty Registra- Note tion/Customer Survey card.
Page 183 (your total purchase price), • reason for return (e.g. warranty repair), • a declaration. This invoice must accompany the returned product to meet Canadian customs require- ments. Please see Sample Commercial Invoice on page 176. GETTING HELP WITH THE M208: Warranty...
Page 184: Figure 6: Sample Commercial Invoice
I declare all information contained in this invoice to be true and correct. SIGNATURE AIR WAYBILL NO.: 123-12341234 IMPORTER (IF OTHER THAN CONSIGNEE) same as consignee TOTAL VALUE $xxx.xx Leslie Smith 02/12/95 NAME AND TITLE DATE GETTING HELP WITH THE M208: Warranty...
Page 185: M208 Specifications
PCL-PSZ4 1B 26 6C 32 36 41 PCL-PSRC0 1B 26 6C 30 48 PCL-PSRC1 1B 26 6C 31 48 PCL-PSRC2 1B 26 6C 32 48 M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Variable Definitions list default var Description backspace formfeed carriage return space linefeed escape...
Page 186 PCL-5 PJL command to switch printer into PCL Lan- guage mode PCL-5 PJL command to switch printer into Post- Script Language mode PaciﬁcPage PE cartridge command to switch printer into PCL Language mode PaciﬁcPage PE cartridge command to switch printer into PostScript Language mode M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Variable Definitions...
Page 187: Hardware Specifications
UTP (RJ45) Connector Pinout Signal Transmit+ Transmit- Receive+ none M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications Provides compatibility with TCP/ICMP/IP and 802.3 Ethernet protocols. IEEE 802.3 10Base-T UTP Ethernet female RJ45 connector IEEE 802.3 10BASE5 Thick-wire Ethernet female DA15 AUI connector through Transceiver/Tap.
Page 188: Table 5: Thick (Transceiver) Connector Pinouts
Transceiver Pinout Table 5: THICK (Transceiver) Connector Pinouts Signal Collision+ Transmit+ Receive+ Power Return N.C. Signal Collision- Transmit- Receive- Power N.C. M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications...
Page 189: Figure 7: Parallel Port Timing
Parallel Ports (PRN) Figure 7: Parallel Port Timing DATA -STROBE -ACK BUSY M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications IBM PC compatible parallel interface (Centronics). IEEE 1284-I compliant. Female DB25 connectors. DMA-driven state-machine implementation supports data rates in excess of 280,000 characters per second.
Page 190: Table 6: Parallel Port Timing
Strobe Negated to Ack Asserted Ack Cycle Width Strobe Negated to Busy Asserted Transfer Rate Characters Per Second (kcps) Normal ( S) -2.0 M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications Slowmode ( S) vSlowmode ( S) 32.0 33.0 32.5 16.0 16.0 16.0 64.5...
Page 191: Table 7 Prn Pinout
Parallel Port Pinout Table 7: PRN Pinout Signal -STROBE DATA 1 DATA 2 DATA 3 DATA 4 DATA 5 DATA 6 DATA 7 DATA 8 M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications Source M208 M208 M208 M208 M208 M208 M208 M208 M208 18-25 Signal...
Page 192: Table 8: 9-Pin Com1/Com2 Pinout
Table 8: 9-Pin COM1/COM2 Pinout Dual bi-directional IBM AT compatible serial interfaces, male DE09 connectors. Data rates supported: 50 to 38,400 bps. The M208 acts as a DTE with this 9-pin pinout. Abbr. Name Data Carrier Detect Receive Data Transmit Data...
Page 193: Table 9: 5-Pin Serial Device Pinout
ﬂow control method. To ﬁnd out what is being used on the M208’s serial ports, use the npsh command list com1|com2. This will show either “ixon” for software ﬂow control or “cts ﬂow” for hardware ﬂow control. Use the npsh command set com1|com2 to change these settings.
Page 194 M208 9-pin F Note It is important that the settings on the M208’s serial ports are the same as on the printer’s serial interface. The schematic below shows the most common 9-pin to 25-pin setup. This setup relies on the DTR signal meaning that the printer must toggle DTR if it can or cannot take more data.
Page 195 Power Requirements Low Voltage AC Power Requirements Power Supply Options Power Socket AC + M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications Typical 115VAC +/- 10% 0.1 A, 60Hz 220VAC +/- 10% 0.05 A, 50/60Hz Maximum 115VAC +/- 10% 0.2 A, 60Hz 220VAC +/- 10% 0.1 A, 50/60Hz.
Page 196: Table 10: Led Patterns
M208 Print Server LED’s LED Indicators Table 10: LED Patterns STAT Power supply. STAT System status. System error. Data to network. Mode STAT PIA/CPU Test FLASH RAM Test FLASH ROM Test EEPROM Test FLASH COM1/COM2 Test Network Interface Test ON...
Page 197: Table 11: Run And Auto-Reset Mode Description
The STAT, ERR, and NET LEDs indicate which test is currently in progress. Run Mode is the normal operating state of the M208. Auto-Reset mode is entered when the watchdog timer is triggered and the Print Server has reset itself. In either mode, the STAT LED ﬂashes differently depending on whether the unit’s IP address is...
Page 198 Watchdog Halt Spurious Interrupt Hardware Exception An invalid license mask and key forces the M208 into license- violation mode after three minutes of operation. The mask and key settings are printed on the serial number label at the time of shipment.
Page 199 Physical Details Dimensions Weight Environmental Details M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Hardware Specifications Metric Imperial With external transformer Without external transformer Operating 0 C to 50 C Storage -40 C to 70 C 95% maximum humidity, non-condensing. 27 cm W x 3.4 cm H x 19 cm D 10.8”...
Page 200: Software Specifications
TCP Protocol for FTPD (control) BOOTP Client port TCP Protocol BSD 4.3 LPD port 4000 TCP Protocol COM1 port 4200 TCP Protocol COM2 port 4400 TCP Protocol PRN1 port 4600 TCP Protocol PRN2 port UDP SYSLOG client support M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Software Specifications...
Page 201 PSERVER, /RPRINTER, NPRINTER RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol) RFC-1001 (NetBIOS over TCP/IP) RSHD (Remote Command Execution Protocol) SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) TELNET (Telnet Protocol) UDP (User Datagram Protocol). M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Software Specifications...
Page 202 M208 SPECIFICATIONS: Software Specifications...
Page 203: Glossary
File that the M208 reads upon bootup in a Novell environment. This ﬁle contains npsh commands which the Print Server exe- cutes as if they were entered on the unit itself. This ﬁle is neces-...
Page 204 LANs, so messages can be sent between them. Conceptual destination (similar to a logical queue) within the M208 ﬁrmware that deﬁnes the print job and directs it to a spe- ciﬁc I/O port. On the host, any number of print destinations can be deﬁned.
Page 205 DTE’s. Interface number. An index to a Network Interface Tap (NIT). ifnum will always be 1 for the M208 since there is only one net- work interface, Ethernet. Host ﬁlter that processes the print job before it is sent to the M208.
Page 206 Jabber kbps late events link integrity signal LF to CLRF mapping load-balancing logpath model NetBIOS The condition when a transceiver’s carrier sense electronics mal- functions, and the transceiver broadcasts in excess of the speci- ﬁed 150ms range time limit and creates an oversized frame. Usually caused by a faulty network interface card in a device on the network.
Page 207 M208. NetPrint scramble. A program that scrambles print job data before sending it over a TCP/IP network to the M208 where it is descrambled and printed. Command shell on the M208 used for parameter conﬁguration and display and for print job monitoring and troubleshooting.
Page 208 Physical Media ping pio ﬁle pseudo-tty RARP rarpd daemon repeater router rsh/rcmd/remsh Runt Frame SLIP SMIT program SNMP Path Delay Value. The maximum time between the ﬁrst bit and the last bit of the overlapping transmission of the two DTEs col- liding across a path.
Page 209 Signal Quality Error. A test signal generated by Ethernet trans- ceiver to test the electronics and the collision handling of the DTE and the transceiver. Capable of printing both PCL and PostScript ﬁles. The M208 attaches a header and trailer string to a print job to switch printer modes.
Page 210 GLOSSARY...
Page 211: Appendix A
APPENDIX A Planning Your Print Setup In this appendix, you will ﬁnd information that will help you with your print setup including the advantages and disadvantages of your various conﬁguration options. Table 13: Conﬁguration Considerations Setting Advantages Port Used: Parallel ports High speed and IEEE 1284-I compliant.
Page 212 Switchable Use one printer for both PCL and printer control PostScript jobs. Disadvantages A non-M208 print server (PSERVER) must be running. Increases overhead on host system and requires host software. Decreases M208 throughput. Requires use of a serial I/O port.
Page 213 Table 13: Conﬁguration Considerations Setting Advantages Load-balancing Print job goes to ﬁrst available printer rather than waiting for a busy one. Descrambling Some print job security as data travels over the network. APPENDIX A: Planning Your Print Setup Disadvantages May print on a printer that’s not com- patible with the print job format.
Page 214 APPENDIX A: Planning Your Print Setup...
Page 215: Appendix B
APPENDIX B Repeater Speciﬁcations In this appendix, you will ﬁnd information related to the repeater speciﬁcation of the hub component of the M208. Table 14: Data and Collision Propagation Delays Parameter Data Propagation Delays Data on AUI to data out on any...
Page 216: Table 15: Aui Interface (Ieee 802.3 Compliant)
Table 15: AUI Interface (IEEE 802.3 Compliant) Parameter Signalling Rate DO Output Voltage DO Common Mode Output Voltage Threshold Level AUI Cable Length Table 16: UTP Interface (IEEE 802.2 10Base-T Compliant) Parameter Transmitter Peak Differential Signal Amp. Transmitter Jitter Harmonics Content Common Mode Output Voltage Silence Voltage Link Test Pulse...
Page 217: Index
INDEX Symbols .options file 58 .rc 56 .rhosts file 138 /etc/bootptab 39 /etc/ethers 38 /etc/hosts 36, 37, 160 /etc/printcap 47, 48, 56, 57, 59 /etc/qconfig 61 /support 171 /tmp/ezsetup.log 32 /tmp/npconfig.log 32 /usr/adm/npdlog 56 /usr/spool/lp/admins/lp/interfaces 51 /usr/spool/lp/model 51 > (redirection) 94 a2ps in host software 31 list 100...
Page 218 and redirecting output 95 in host software 31 in interface scripts 49 use 31 COM1 port numbers 192 COM1|COM2 and npsh 93 and restoring defaults 136 cable schematic 186 cabling 16 configuration with 40 details 184 list 98 login prompt 94 pinout 184 set 105 set in logpaths 109...
Page 219 default serial 40 list parallel 100 list serial 98 problems 161 serial options 185 set on parallel port 112 set on serial ports 105 frame type configure with npconfig 34 controlling 135 list 100, 101 store 121 FTP Daemon and configuration 149 and printing 147 details 146 FTP site 171...
Page 220 differences 99 network settings 101 system information 101 users 102 load 102 load-balancing 6, 132 advantages/disadvantages 205 details 133 load-balancing, see also alternate destination logging 6 email 115 methods 134 set with npconfig 34 system options 115 type 109 with syslog 6 logging, see also logpaths login list 100...
Page 221 npwrite and Adobe TranScript 58 and direct socket printing 62 and interface scripts 46, 50 command syntax 43 details 42 in host software 31 onlcr data in wrong format 162 garbled data 162 in host software 31 list 100 set on parallel port 113 set on serial ports 106 onlcr, see also carriage return inser- tion...
Page 222 list 101 problems 160 set 137 store 123 RPRINTER 63, 65, 193 advantages/disadvantages 204 communication problems 163 configuration 68 default name 163 delete 114 keepalive 121 list 101 set 114 rsh/rcmd/remsh 193 advantages/disadvantages 203 and Adobe TranScript 58 and interface scripts 46, 50, 52 and lp 102, 135 and npsh 93 and remote management 137...
Page 223 117 set in logpaths 109 UTP 193 details 179 list 99 variables 104 default settings 177 details 91 in switch strings 112 list 102 set 117 vslowmode 17 set on parallel port 113 warnings at login 37 warranty 174...
Page 224 INDEX...

Microplex M208 Installation And Configuration Manual

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Getting to Know the M208

Installing the M208 on the Network

Using the Hub

Configuring the M208 for Tcp/Ip

Configuring the M208 for Novell

Configuring the M208 for Appletalk

Configuring the M208 for Windows

M208 Internal Architecture

Using the M208'S Command Set

Npsh Command Set

Using Npwin

Using the M208'S Additional Options

Troubleshooting the M208

Getting Help with the M208

M208 Specifications

Glossary

Appendix A

Appendix B

Index

Quick Links

Troubleshooting

Need help?

Questions and answers

Summary of Contents for Microplex M208

Table of Contents