PARALLEL-MIB

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Organization: IETF Character MIB Working Group

Last Updated: 1994-05-26

Category: Hardware and Environment, Network Interfaces, Printer and Finishing

Description: Defines managed objects for parallel printer-like hardware ports.

IPNetwork Monitor uses several OIDs from this MIB in network discovery and polling the applicable devices. Start monitoring PARALLEL-MIB with a free 30-day trial of IPNetwork Monitor.

What Is PARALLEL-MIB?

PARALLEL-MIB is a vendor-neutral IETF standards-track MIB defining managed objects for parallel (Centronics-style) hardware ports, the interface historically used to connect printers and similar peripherals to a host or print server. No sample runtime objects were captured for this module in this dataset, but per its stated scope it exposes parallel port hardware configuration and status, such as port identification and handshake/error conditions on the physical interface. Its monitoring role is centered on hardware status of the physical port - reporting on port operational state and hardware-level error conditions rather than software or performance counters. It is part of the same family of interface-hardware MIBs (alongside RS-232-like MIBs) coordinated by the IETF and is independent of any specific vendor. It's typically found embedded in printers, terminal servers, or print server appliances that expose a parallel port and support SNMP management. Engineers implementing or auditing this functionality typically reference the PARALLEL-MIB RFC/standard documentation for the authoritative specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in PARALLEL-MIB. Use the built-in SNMP Monitoring Browser to explore available variables, view their current values and descriptions, and select the objects you want to monitor. You can then create SNMP monitors, configure thresholds, and receive alerts when monitored values change.

Supported Devices

vendor-neutral, standards-based MIB, not tied to a specific manufacturer
printers and print servers exposing a parallel (Centronics) port

Monitoring Examples

Since sample_objects is empty for this module, no concrete object names can be cited from this dataset; per its stated purpose, a typical scenario would involve checking the parallel port's status/error objects to detect a fault or busy condition signaled over the Centronics handshake lines, but this cannot be grounded in specific named objects here.

What Can Be Monitored

parallel port operational status
port hardware error/fault conditions

Imported Objects

From IF-MIB

InterfaceIndex

From RFC1213-MIB

transmission

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Counter32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
NOTIFICATION-TYPE
OBJECT-TYPE

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using paraInSigChanges OID:

Select a device implementing PARALLEL-MIB as the target host to create a monitor — the SNMP service should be up and running on it. Click New Monitor, then check SNMP Custom on the Favorites tab, click Next, and confirm the host. On the next page, click Select... to open the built-in SNMP MIB Browser and type paraInSigChanges into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, selecting the specific row/instance you want to monitor since this is a table column, then select it and click OK. The number of times the signal has changed from 'on' to 'off' or from 'off' to 'on'. On the monitor's Main parameters page you can set the target's SNMP port (default 161), credentials, polling interval, and other settings — see the SNMP Monitor help for details. On the State conditions and Alerting tabs, configure when the monitor should change state and trigger an alert; since this is a Counter32-type OID, Value bounds is the most useful condition here — trigger an alert if the counter increases sharply between polls relative to its normal baseline, since an unexpected spike often reflects a real change in traffic or activity. Click Finish to create the monitor; you can adjust any parameter later.

OIDs

OID symbolic	OID numeric	Type	Access	Description
para	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34			The MIB module for Parallel-printer-like hardware devices.
I32 paraNumber	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.1	Integer32	read-only	The number of ports (regardless of their current state) in the Parallel-printer-like port table.
paraPortTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2		not-accessible	A list of port entries. The number of entries is given by the value of paraNumber.
paraPortEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2.1		not-accessible	Status and parameter values for a port.
NUM paraPortIndex	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2.1.1	InterfaceIndex	read-only	The value of ifIndex for the port. By convention and if possible, hardware port numbers map directly to external connectors. The value for each port must remain constant at least from one re-initialization of the network management agent to the next.
INT paraPortType	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2.1.2	INTEGER	read-only	The port's hardware type.
I32 paraPortInSigNumber	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2.1.3	Integer32	read-only	The number of input signals for the port in the input signal table (paraPortInSigTable). The table contains entries only for those signals the software can detect and that are useful to observe.
I32 paraPortOutSigNumber	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.2.1.4	Integer32	read-only	The number of output signals for the port in the output signal table (paraPortOutSigTable). The table contains entries only for those signals the software can assert and that are useful to observe.
paraInSigTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3		not-accessible	A list of port input control signal entries.
paraInSigEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3.1		not-accessible	Input control signal status for a hardware port.
NUM paraInSigPortIndex	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3.1.1	InterfaceIndex	read-only	The value of paraPortIndex for the port to which this entry belongs.
INT paraInSigName	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3.1.2	INTEGER	read-only	Identification of a hardware signal.
INT paraInSigState	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3.1.3	INTEGER	read-only	The current signal state.
C32 paraInSigChangesEx	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.3.1.4	Counter32	read-only	The number of times the signal has changed from 'on' to 'off' or from 'off' to 'on'.
paraOutSigTable	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4		not-accessible	A list of port output control signal entries.
paraOutSigEntry	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4.1		not-accessible	Output control signal status for a hardware port.
NUM paraOutSigPortIndex	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4.1.1	InterfaceIndex	read-only	The value of paraPortIndex for the port to which this entry belongs.
INT paraOutSigName	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4.1.2	INTEGER	read-only	Identification of a hardware signal.
INT paraOutSigState	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4.1.3	INTEGER	read-only	The current signal state.
C32 paraOutSigChanges	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.4.1.4	Counter32	read-only	The number of times the signal has changed from 'on' to 'off' or from 'off' to 'on'.
paraConformance	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.5
paraGroups	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.5.1
paraGroup	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.5.1.1			A collection of objects providing information applicable to all Parallel-printer-like interfaces.
paraCompliances	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.5.2
paraCompliance	1.3.6.1.2.1.10.34.5.2.1			The compliance statement for SNMPv2 entities which have Parallel-printer-like hardware interfaces.

RFC description

Parallel printer device management for port configuration and status monitoring.

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Download PARALLEL-MIB