I have completed a major rewrite of the Introduction/Goals sections
of the Job Monitoring MIB. Sorry for the uglyness of the IS: part.
I will save of copy of this on the ftp server if anyone requests.
IS:
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Introduction
The Job Monitoring MIB contains a set of objects for monitoring of the status and progress of print jobs
and to obtain resource accounting data at the completion of a job using SNMP.
This MIB is intended to be implemented in printers or the server that supports one or more printers.
Use of the object set is not limited to printing. However, support for services other than printing is outside
the scope of this Job Monitoring MIB.
Goals
The following goals are copied from the charter:
1. The major goals of this MIB are to satisfy the needs of an agent in the printer and secondarily an agent
in the server that submits jobs to printers and controls printers. Implementations should place the agent
as close to the processing of the print job as possible. This MIB applies to printers that spool as well as
those that don't. This MIB is also designed so that servers are able find out about jobs in a printer that
may have been submitted by other servers using any job submission protocol. In most environments
that support high function job submission/job control protocols, like ISO DPA, those protocols would
be used to monitor and manage print jobs rather than using the Job Monitoring MIB.
The following specific text was agreed to at the October 1996 JMP meeting:
"The job monitoring MIB is for agents in the printer (spooling or non-spooling) or the first server
closest to the printer where the printer is either:
a. directly connected to the server only
--or--
b. the printer does not contain the job monitoring MIB agent."
2. The job MIB is intended to provide the following information for the indicated Role Models (see
Appendix D - Roles of Users in the Printer MIB draft update to RFC 1759). A limited set of
mandatory job and document objects for a printer, plus a set of conditionally mandatory objects, will
be developed to provide this information.
User
(U1)
A timely notification that his job has completed and where.
(U2)
The current status of the user's job (user queries).
(U3)
Error and diagnostic information for jobs that did not
successfully complete.
(U4)
Ability to identify the least busy printer. The user will be
able to determine the number and size of jobs waiting for
each printer. No attempt is made to actually predict the
length of time that jobs will take.
Operator
(OP1)
A presentation of the state of all the jobs in the print
system.
(OP2)
Which users submitted each job.
(OP3)
What resources does each job need.
(OP4)
For which physical printers are the jobs candidates.
(OP5)
Some idea of how long each job will take. However, exact
estimates of time to process a job is not being attempted. Instead,
objects are included that allow the operator to be able to make
gross estimates.
Capacity Planner
(C1)
How busy are printers.
(C2)
What time of day are they used.
(C3)
How long do users' jobs wait before starting to print.
Accountant
(A1)
A record of resources used and printer usage data for charging
users or groups for resources used.
The MIB will provide for printers that can contain more than one job at a time, but still be usable for low
end printers that only contain a single job at a time. In particular, the MIB shall meet the needs of Windows
and other PC environments for managing low-end networked devices without unnecessary overhead or
complexity, while also providing for higher end systems and devices.
3. The MIB will provide job resource accounting information after the printer has finished printing the
job. This resource accounting information is intended to be used by:
A management station that is co-located with the printer to provide an enhanced console
capability.
End user job monitoring programs that provide status on progress and completion of jobs
during the complete life cycle of the job, including a defined period after the job completes.
System accounting programs that copy the completed job statistics to an accounting system. It
is recognized that depending on accounting programs to copy MIB data during the job-
retention period is somewhat unreliable, since the accounting program may not be running (or
may have crashed).
Issue 1 - Should we add a standard SNMP RowStatus object to the jmJobTable and
jmResourceTable?
Should we add a standard SNMP RowStatus object to the jmJobTable and
jmResourceTable so that an accounting program can delete a row in the table after the job is
completed and the accounting program has copied the accounting data to an accounting log?
Then no accounting data would get lost.
Issue 2 - If we add RowStatus to the jmJobTable, should we add a
jmGeneralTableOverflowPolicy object to the jmGeneralGroup?
If we add RowStatus to the jmJobTable, should we add a jmGeneralTableOverflowPolicy
object to the jmGeneralGroup that specified whether the printer stops when the table fills up
or continues? Then an administrator could decide whether it was more important to keep
accurate accounting data or to keep the devices processing.
Issue 3 - If we add jmGeneralTableOverflowPolicy object should it be read-write?
If we add jmGeneralTableOverflowPolicy object should it be read-write, so that the policy
can be set by an NMS?
4. System usage statistics gathering programs that copy the completed job statistics to system usage logs.
5. The MIB will provide objects that represent a compatible subset of job and document attributes of the
ISO DPA standard, so that coherence is maintained between the two protocols and information
presented to end users and system operators. However, the job monitoring MIB is intended to be used
with printers that implement other job submitting and management protocols, such as IEEE 1284.1
(TIPSI), as well as with ones that do implement ISO DPA. So nothing in the job monitoring MIB shall
require implementation of the ISO DPA protocol.
6. The MIB will be designed so that an additional MIB(s) can be specified in the future for monitoring
multi-function (scan, FAX, copy) jobs. The job MIB will be designed such that a future multi-function
job monitoring MIB will be able to augment this MIB.
7. The MIB will not address any security issues. Security provisions will be limited only to those
provided by SNMP, in current or future versions.
8. The MIB will provide for the monitoring of jobs that clients submit directly to devices, to supervisor
control programs, or to spooling systems.
9. The MIB will provide SNMP MIB access to jobs submitted to the device by any protocol, including
devices that accept jobs using multiple protocols.
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Introduction
The Job Monitoring MIB is intended for use by an agent within a printer
or the first server closest to the printer, where the printer is either
directly connected to the server only or the printer does not contain
the job monitoring MIB agent. It is recommended that implementations
place the SNMP agent as close as possible to the processing of the print
job. This MIB applies to printers with and withoutspooling
capabilities. This MIB is designed to be compatible with most current
comonly used job submission protocols. In most environments that
support high function job submission/job control protocols, like ISO
DPA, those protocols would be used to monitor and manage print jobs
rather than using the Job Monitoring MIB.
The job MIB is intended to provide the following information for the
indicated Role Models (Refer to RFC 2XXX, Appendix D - Roles of Users).
User:
Provide the ability to identify the least busy printer. The user
will be able to determine the number and size of jobs waiting for
each printer. No attempt is made to actually predict the length of
time that jobs will take.
Provide the ability to identify the current status of the job (user
queries).
Provide a timely notification that the job has completed and where
it can be found.
Provide error and diagnostic information for jobs that did not
successfully complete.
Operator
Provide a presentation of the state of all the jobs in the print
system.
Provide the ability to identify the user that submitted the print
job.
Provide the ability to identify the resources required by each job.
Provide the ability to define which physical printers are candidates
for the print job.
Provide some idea of how long each job will take. However, exact
estimates of time to process a job is not being attempted. Instead,
objects are included that allow the operator to be able to make
gross estimates.
Capacity Planner:
Provide the ability to determine printer utilization as a function
of time.
Provide the ability to determine how long jobs wait before starting
to print.
Accountant:
Provide information to allow the creation of a record of resources
used and printer usage data for charging users or groups for
resources used.
The MIB will support printers that can contain more than one job at a
time, but still be usable for low end printers that only contain a
single job at a time. In particular, the MIB shall support the needs of
Windows and other PC environments for managing low-end networked devices
without unnecessary overhead or complexity, while also providing for
higher end systems and devices.
The MIB will provide job resource accounting information after the
printer has finished printing the job. This resource accounting
information is intended to be used by:
- A management station that is co-located with the printer to provide
an enhanced console capability.
- End user job monitoring programs that provide status on progress and
completion of jobs during the complete life cycle of the job, ncluding
a defined period after the job completes.
- System accounting programs that copy the completed job statistics to
an accounting system. It is recognized that depending on accounting
programs to copy MIB data during the job-retention period is somewhat
unreliable, since the accounting program may not be running (or
may have crashed).
The MIB provides a set of objects that represent a compatible subset of
job and document attributes of the ISO DPA standard, so that coherence
is maintained between the two protocols and information presented to
end users and system operators. However, the job monitoring MIB is
intended to be used with printers that implement other job submitting
and management protocols, such as IEEE 1284.1 (TIPSI), as well as with
ones that do implement ISO DPA. So nothing in the job monitoring MIB
shall require implementation of the ISO DPA protocol.
The MIB is designed so that an additional MIB(s) can be specified in the
future for monitoring multi-function (scan, FAX, copy) jobs as an
augmentation to this MIB.
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Ron Bergman
Dataproducts Corp
rbergma at dpc.com
(805)578-4421