Print Server / Printer Accounting

[Adrian Head]

Quite some time ago I tried to get the internal page count out of a HP
LaserJet 4MV with a DirectJet card.  I tried a few things at the time
including SNMP but could not find the page count.  What did I miss at
the time?? Where can I go to get more information - for memory HP web
site and service support were not very helpful.

Thanks

Adrian Head

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	J.L.Gilmour at exeter.ac.uk [SMTP:J.L.Gilmour at exeter.ac.uk]
> Sent:	Thursday, 20 July 2000 17:46
> To:	Multiple recipients of list SAMBA-NTDOM
> Subject:	Re: Print Server / Printer Accounting
> 
> > 
> >    If you have a bidirectional link to your printers (often
> available around port 9100 on HP's JetDirect Boxes), and have printers
> that keep track of page counts internally, you might be able to query
> the printer before and after each print job for the number of pages it
> has printed.   Subtract the two (or let a utility do it) and you have
> the number of pages printed.   Any decent departmental printer should
> support some method to do this (either by Hewlett Packard's PJL
> language or in Postscript itself).
> > 
> 
> We bought some commercial software which we discovered only counted
> show-pages,
> which when our students use 4up or similar commands, caused mayhem.
> 
> Anyway, there are two ways to implement it - either interogate the
> printer
> before & after the job for the page counter. Or, use something like 
> ghostview to count pages for you (assuming enough poke on the print
> server).
> 
> I have some code for accounting based on the printer's page counter if
> you
> can use it. Not guaranteed to work as it was written by my
> predecessor. 
> 
> 
> Jayne.
> 
> -- 
> +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
>       Jayne Gilmour, BSc. MSc.  Unix & Network Administrator 
>        Department of Computer Science, University of Exeter
> 
>     "Why is line printer paper strongest at the perforations?"
> +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+