PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-MIB

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Organization: Printer Working Group, a Program of IEEE/ISTO

Last Updated: 2005-10-25

Category: Server/Systems Management

Description: Manages PWG/IEEE printer port monitoring including port type, status, and print job forwarding statistics.

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What Is PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-MIB?

PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-MIB is an IEEE/PWG (Printer Working Group) standards-based module for managing printer port monitor functionality, tracking how printers are mapped to and forwarded across the network ports that serve them. It exposes general counts (number of printers and ports managed) and per-printer configuration/identification data, including device identification strings, port assignments, and the preferred port for each printer. This is used to monitor the operational status of the print subsystem's connectivity layer, since a printer's preferred-port assignment becoming invalid, or a printer's port count changing unexpectedly, can reveal a failed port, a misrouted print path, or a printer that has silently gone offline from its expected port. As a vendor-neutral standard, it is designed to complement the IETF/PWG Printer MIB (RFC 3805) and the Host Resources MIB, referencing a printer's ppmPrinterHrDeviceIndex back into Host Resources device data. It is deployed on network print servers and printers that implement PWG port-monitor support, independent of manufacturer, per the PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-MIB MIB specification.

IPNetwork Monitor allows you to monitor SNMP objects defined in PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-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
network printers and print servers with PWG port-monitor support

Monitoring Examples

The ppmPrinterTable/Entry, indexed by ppmPrinterIndex, holds ppmPrinterName, ppmPrinterIEEE1284DeviceId, ppmPrinterNumberOfPorts, ppmPrinterPreferredPortIndex, and ppmPrinterHrDeviceIndex. An administrator would poll ppmPrinterPreferredPortIndex alongside ppmGeneralNumberOfPorts to confirm a printer's preferred port assignment is still valid, catching a case where a port failure causes print jobs to silently queue against a dead port.

What Can Be Monitored

printer-to-port assignment
preferred port index per printer
number of printers/ports managed
printer IEEE 1284 device identification
SNMP community used per printer

Imported Objects

From SNMP-FRAMEWORK-MIB

SnmpAdminString

From SNMPv2-CONF

MODULE-COMPLIANCE
OBJECT-GROUP

From SNMPv2-SMI

Gauge32
Integer32
MODULE-IDENTITY
OBJECT-TYPE
enterprises

From SNMPv2-TC

TruthValue

How to Use in IPNetwork Monitor

Example using ppmGeneralNumberOfPrinters OID:

Select a device implementing PRINTER-PORT-MONITOR-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 ppmGeneralNumberOfPrinters into the Find box to locate it in the OID tree, then select it and click OK. The number of printers supported on this network system, i.e., the number of entries in the 'ppmPrinterTable' below, or zero if no printers are currently configured. 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 Gauge32-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
ppmMIB	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2			The MIB module for printer port monitor support. Copyright (C) IEEE/ISTO PWG (2005).
ppmMIBObjects	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1
ppmGeneral	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.1
STR ppmGeneralNaturalLanguage	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.1.1	SnmpAdminString	read-only	The natural language tag (RFC 3066), specified in US-ASCII, for all localized text string objects defined in this MIB (syntax of 'SnmpAdminString'), or the empty string if not specified. For example, 'fr-CH' (French as written in Switzerland). Compatibility Note: At the time of publication of this MIB, language tags are restricted to US-ASCII. In order to support possible future evolution of languages tags (in a successor to RFC 3066) to allow non-ASCII characters, this object has been defined with a syntax of UTF-8 (RFC 3629). This natural language tag is necessary for support of correct glyph selection for text display, for support of text-to- speech, for support of correct sorting of text values, etc. If this object is empty, then the natural language for all localized text string objects in this MIB MUST default to 'en-US' (US English).
G32 ppmGeneralNumberOfPrintersEx	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.1.2	Gauge32	read-only	The number of printers supported on this network system, i.e., the number of entries in the 'ppmPrinterTable' below, or zero if no printers are currently configured.
G32 ppmGeneralNumberOfPorts	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.1.3	Gauge32	read-only	The number of printer ports supported on this network system, i.e., the number of entries in the 'ppmPortTable' below, or zero if no printer ports are currently configured.
ppmPrinter	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2
ppmPrinterTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1		not-accessible	A table containing a list of printers configured on this network system, especially for use by operating systems to facilitate selection and automatic installation of device drivers.
ppmPrinterEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1		not-accessible	An entry containing one printer configured on this network system, especially for use by operating systems to facilitate selection and automatic installation of device drivers.
I32 ppmPrinterIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.1	Integer32	not-accessible	A locally unique identifier for this network printer. The value of this object SHOULD be preserved (for each printer) across reboots and administrative configuration changes. If the value of 'ppmPortEnabled' is 'false' for all supported ports (i.e., ports with the same value of 'ppmPrinterIndex'), then applications MUST NOT attempt installation of this printer. Per SMIv2 (RFC 2578), the DEFVAL clause has been omitted on this 'not-accessible' index object.
STR ppmPrinterName	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.2	SnmpAdminString	read-only	A user friendly name for this printer that may be used to facilitate user selection of a printer supported by a network system, in the locale specified by 'ppmGeneralNaturalLanguage'. This printer name may contain non-ASCII characters that are NOT allowed in a URI (RFC 3986) without percent-encoding. Systems that implement the IETF Printer MIB v1 (RFC 1759) SHOULD implement this object as an augmentation to the Printer MIB v1. Systems that implement the IETF Printer MIB v2 (RFC 3805) MUST ensure that the value of this object is identical to the value of 'prtGeneralPrinterName' for each printer. The value of this object SHOULD be unique across all printers on this network system and SHOULD be meaningful to end users (e.g., 'PrinterXYZ'). The value of this object SHOULD be set by an out-of-band method (e.g., local console) during installation (by the vendor or site administrator) and SHOULD NOT be subsequently modified, so that the value can be used as a static key for access to the printer. The charset of this text string object is UTF-8 (RFC 3629), in order to support names that cannot be represented in US-ASCII.
OCT ppmPrinterIEEE1284DeviceId	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.3	OCTET STRING	read-only	The IEEE 1284 device ID for this printer, a set of capabilities (keys and values) specified in the US-ASCII charset and the format 'key1: value {, value }; ... keyN: value {,value };', as follows: (a) SPACE (0x20), TAB (0x09), VTAB (0x0B), CR (0x0D), NL (0x0A), and FF (0x0C) are allowed, but are ignored when parsing (b) other control characters (less than 0x20) MUST NOT be used (c) COLON (0x3A), COMMA (0x2C), and SEMICOLON (0x3B) are used as delimiters and MUST NOT be included in any key or value (d) each key MUST be separated from value(s) using COLON (0x3A) (e) multiple values MUST BE separated using COMMA (0x2C) (f) each capability MUST BE terminated using SEMICOLON (0x3B) (g) all printers MUST include the following capabilities - MANUFACTURER (or abbreviation MFG) - MODEL (or abbreviation MDL) (h) all printers MAY include the following capabilities - COMMAND SET (or abbreviation CMD) - COMMENT - ACTIVE COMMAND SET For example (actually all on one line of text): MANUFACTURER:ACME Manufacturing; COMMAND SET:PCL,PJL,PS,XHTML-Print+xml; MODEL:LaserBeam 9; COMMENT:Anything you like; ACTIVE COMMAND SET:PCL; The value of this object MUST exactly match the IEEE 1284-2000 Device ID string, except that the length field MUST NOT be specified. The value MUST be assigned by the Printer vendor and MUST NOT be localized by the Print Service. Compatibility Note: At the time of publication of this MIB, IEEE device IDs are restricted to US-ASCII. In order to support possible future evolution of IEEE device IDs (in a successor to IEEE 1284-2000) to allow non-ASCII characters, this object has been defined with a syntax of OCTET STRING to support the future use of UTF-8 (RFC 3629). If this object is empty, then the value of 'ppmPortProtocolType' for the selected port SHOULD be used to load a generic driver.
G32 ppmPrinterNumberOfPorts	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.4	Gauge32	read-only	The number of printer ports supported on this network printer, i.e., the number of entries in the 'ppmPortTable' below with a first index of 'ppmPrinterIndex', or zero if no printer ports are currently configured.
I32 ppmPrinterPreferredPortIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.5	Integer32	read-only	The value of 'ppmPortIndex' for the preferred port for this printer (configured by vendor or site administrator), or zero if not specified. Compatibility Note: The value of zero is NOT valid for 'ppmPortIndex'. It is an out-of-band value. If this object is non-zero, then installation applications SHOULD default to this port in their user interface dialogue.
I32 ppmPrinterHrDeviceIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.6	Integer32	read-only	The value of 'hrDeviceIndex' in the IETF Host Resources MIB (RFC 1514/2790), or zero if not specified. This value of 'hrDeviceIndex' MAY be used for status queries for this printer if the value of 'ppmPrinterSnmpQueryEnabled' is 'true'. Compatibility Note: The value of zero is NOT valid for 'hrDeviceIndex'. It is an out-of-band value. If this object is zero, then monitoring applications MUST NOT attempt status queries for this printer in the IETF Host Resources MIB (RFC 1514/2790) and/or IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805).
OCT ppmPrinterSnmpCommunityName	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.7	OCTET STRING	read-only	The SNMP read community name, an opaque binary string, for access to status information in IETF Host Resources MIB (RFC 1514/2790) and IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805) for this printer via the value of 'ppmPrinterHrDeviceIndex' (i.e., a 'MIB view' of these two MIBs). Security Warning: Due to the widespread availability of free 'packet sniffers' (network traffic snooping applications) and SNMP packet decoders, SNMP community names no longer offer even weak security. This object SHOULD only be used to support 'MIB views'. Implementations SHOULD use SNMPv3 security to protect network resources from unauthorized monitoring. If this object is empty, then the SNMP read community name for this printer (if any) SHOULD default to 'public' in US-ASCII.
T/F ppmPrinterSnmpQueryEnabled	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.2.1.1.8	TruthValue	read-only	The status query mode for this printer, for queries by monitoring applications in the IETF Host Resources MIB (RFC 1514/2790) and/or IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805). If this object is 'true', then monitoring applications MAY attempt status queries for this printer in the IETF Host Resources MIB and/or IETF Printer MIB. If this object is 'false', then monitoring applications MUST NOT attempt status queries for this printer in the IETF Host Resources MIB and/or IETF Printer MIB.
ppmPort	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3
ppmPortTable	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1		not-accessible	A table containing a list of input printer ports configured on this network system, especially for use by operating systems to facilitate selection and automatic installation of device drivers.
ppmPortEntry	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1		not-accessible	An entry containing one input printer port configured on this network system, especially for use by operating systems to facilitate selection and automatic installation of device drivers.
I32 ppmPortIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.1	Integer32	not-accessible	A locally unique identifier for this printer port when appended to the value of 'ppmPrinterIndex' for this printer port. The value of this object SHOULD be preserved (for each port) across reboots and administrative configuration changes. Per SMIv2 (RFC 2578), the DEFVAL clause has been omitted on this 'not-accessible' index object.
T/F ppmPortEnabled	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.2	TruthValue	read-only	The current administrative configuration mode for this port. If this object is 'false', then applications MUST NOT attempt installation of this port and SHOULD NOT attempt print job submission to this port. If this object is 'true', then the port is currently enabled. If this object is 'false', then the port is currently disabled.
STR ppmPortName	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.3	SnmpAdminString	read-only	A user friendly name for this port that may be used to facilitate user selection of a port on a multi-port network system, in the locale specified by 'ppmGeneralNaturalLanguage'. This port name may contain non-ASCII characters that are NOT allowed in a URI (RFC 3986) without percent-encoding. The value of this object SHOULD be unique across all ports on this network system and SHOULD be meaningful to end users (e.g., 'PrinterXYZ-LPR-Duplex'). The value of this object SHOULD be set by an out-of-band method (e.g., local console) during installation (by the vendor or site administrator) and SHOULD NOT be subsequently modified, so that the value can be used as a static key for access to the port. The charset of this text string object is UTF-8 (RFC 3629), in order to support names that cannot be represented in US-ASCII.
STR ppmPortServiceNameOrURI	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.4	SnmpAdminString	read-only	The service name or URI for this port, specified in UTF-8 (RFC 3629), in the locale specified by 'ppmGeneralNaturalLanguage'. The service name is typically a queue name. Compatibility Note: At the time of publication of this MIB, the Microsoft tools do not support LPR queue names longer than 32 characters. Network administrators SHOULD NOT assign longer LPR queue names, to prevent interworking problems. Compatibility Note: At the time of publication of this MIB, IETF URI Generic Syntax (RFC 3986) requires that all non-ASCII characters be percent-encoded, while IETF Internationalized Resource Identifiers (RFC 3987) permits native UTF-8 resource identifiers and supplies mappings to and from standard URI. In order to support current use of IRI and possible future evolution of URI (in a successor to RFC 3986) to allow non-ASCII characters, this object has been defined with a syntax of UTF-8 (RFC 3629). Examples of well-formed service URI for print protocols include: - 'lpr://foo.example.com/public-printer' (where 'public- printer' is the LPR queue name portion) and - 'ipp://bar.example.com/printer/fox' If this object is non-empty, then it SHOULD NOT conflict with a the default (e.g., IANA-registered) or explicit transport target port specified in 'ppmPortProtocolTargetPort'. In case of conflict, the URI value in 'ppmPortServiceNameOrURI' is authoritative (e.g., 'ipp://example.com:631/~smith/printer'). If this object is empty and 'ppmPortProtocolType' is 'chLPDServer(8)', the LPR queue name MUST default to 'LPR'.
I32 ppmPortProtocolType	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.5	Integer32	read-only	The protocol type of this printer port, specified as a value from 'PrtChannelTypeTC' in the IANA Printer MIB (e.g., 'chLPDServer(8)' for LPR (RFC 1179) or 'chPort9100(11)' for Raw), or zero if not specified. Compatibility Note: The value of zero is NOT registered in the IANA Printer MIB. It is an out-of-band value. Thus the syntax of this object is NOT specified as 'PrtChannelTypeTC'. Systems that do NOT implement IETF Printer MIB v2 (RFC 3805) SHOULD use 'chPort9100(11)' for Raw printing (with an alternate port in 'ppmPortProtocolTargetPort', if necessary), because 'chPortTCP(37)' and 'chBidirPortTCP(38)' are NOT defined in IETF Printer MIB v1 (RFC 1759). Systems that do implement the IETF Printer MIB v2 (RFC 3805) MAY instead use 'chPortTCP(37)' or 'chBidirPortTCP(38)' for Raw printing, because 'chPort9100(11)' is DEPRECATED in IETF Printer MIB v2. Systems that implement any version of the IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805) SHOULD use the same value of protocol type for this port in the 'prtChannelTable', so monitoring applications MAY search for more channel information and status.
I32 ppmPortProtocolTargetPort	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.6	Integer32	read-only	The transport (TCP, UDP, etc.) target port number for this protocol, i.e., an alternate port from the protocol default, or zero if not specified (use protocol default). This object MAY be used for any print protocol (from the Internet, NetWare, AppleTalk, or other protocol suite). If this object is zero, then the actual target port number is the default port for the specified 'ppmPortProtocolType' (e.g., 'chPort9100(11)' uses '9100'). If this object is non-zero, then it SHOULD NOT conflict with the default (e.g., IANA-registered) target port implied by the value of 'ppmPortProtocolType' or the explicit transport target port specified in 'ppmPortServiceNameOrURI'. In case of conflict, the URI value in 'ppmPortServiceNameOrURI' is authoritative (e.g., 'ipp://example.com:631/~smith/printer'). If 'ppmPortProtocolType' is 'chLPDServer(8)', then this object MUST be ignored (because LPR target port is fixed at '515').
T/F ppmPortProtocolAltSourceEnabled	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.7	TruthValue	read-only	The alternate transport source port mode for this protocol. If this object is 'true', then transport source ports outside the standard range MAY be used (e.g., LPR source port standard range is defined in RFC 1179 to be '721' to '731', inclusive). If this object is 'false', then transport source ports outside the standard range MUST NOT be used (to avoid protocol errors).
I32 ppmPortPrtChannelIndex	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.8	Integer32	read-only	The value of 'prtChannelIndex' in IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805) that corresponds to this printer port, or zero if not specified. Compatibility Note: The value of zero is NOT valid for 'prtChannelIndex'. It is an out-of-band value. Systems that implement any version of the IETF Printer MIB (RFC 1759/3805) SHOULD correctly implement this object, so monitoring applications MAY search for print channel information and status. If this object is zero, then monitoring applications MUST NOT attempt print channel status queries for this printer port.
T/F ppmPortLprByteCountEnabled	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.1.3.1.1.9	TruthValue	read-only	The current LPR byte counting mode for this port if applicable. If the value of 'ppmPortProtocolType' is NOT 'chLPDServer(8)', then monitoring applications MUST ignore the value of this object. If this object is 'true', then LPR byte counting is enabled. If this object is 'false', then LPR byte counting is disabled.
ppmMIBConformance	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2
ppmMIBCompliance	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2.1			The compliance statements for SNMP Agents that implement this Printer Port Monitor MIB.
ppmMIBObjectGroups	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2.2
ppmGeneralGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2.2.1			The General object group in the Printer Port Monitor MIB
ppmPrinterGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2.2.2			The Printer object group in the Printer Port Monitor MIB
ppmPortGroup	1.3.6.1.4.1.2699.1.2.2.2.3			The Port object group in the Printer Port Monitor MIB

RFC description

Manages printer port monitor support for network printer management and port monitoring.

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