PMP Mail Archive: RE: PMP> prtAlertTime issue

RE: PMP> prtAlertTime issue

Bob Pentecost (bpenteco@boi.hp.com)
Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:58:31 -0600

HP printers do support sysUpTime in the network card. Unfortunately, our =
current implementations do not provide a method to get that value into =
the printer. While the printer can count time ticks, I worry about the =
two counters drifting apart and then there would be confusion about when =
an alert occurred. I plan to have this fixed in the future, but for now =
I have to respond with prtAlertTime as zero.

Bob Pentecost
HP

----------
From: Harry Lewis[SMTP:harryl@us.ibm.com]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 1997 4:04 PM
To: pmp@pwg.org
Subject: PMP> prtAlertTime issue

Guess I'd like to *strongly* recommend that every device with the =
printer MIB
supports sysUpTime.
I recall, rather vividly, the reason we chose sysUp was to acknowledge =
that
many (most?) printers would not have a "real time" clock. But, the =
premise has
always been that all printers could count ticks.

I can see where there could be problems associated with sysUpTime, one =
that
comes to mind is printers might not be real consistent (among vendors) =
as to
how they treat sysUpTime on power cycles, remote resets, local resets =
etc. But,
I thought the notion of synching with the printers sysUpTime on the =
PowerUp
trap was a rather fundamental notion.

Now, what if there *is no* sysUpTime (the original question)? Well, if =
there is
no meaningful value, I guess 0 is about as good as any.

>>> Harry Lewis <<<

------- Forwarded by Harry Lewis/Boulder/IBM on 06/06/97 03:14 PM =
--------

pmp-owner@pwg.org
06/06/97 01:54 PM
Please respond to rturner@sharplabs.com @ internet

To: pmp@pwg.org @ internet
cc:
Subject: PMP> prtAlertTime issue

Lloyd referenced an earlier mail message by Bob Pentecost reflecting a
request by Bob as to
what value should be returned by a GET for prtAlertTime if the printer
didn't know the time.
Values for INTEGER types have (other) and (unknown) as possible values.
The 'TimeTicks'
object has no such equivalents. prtAlertTime is now mandatory, and is
based on sysUpTime
from MIB-II. If someone performs a GET on prtAlertTime (according the
curent definition),
then it MUST return a valid value. There are no alternative 'other' or
'unknown' scenarios
for an object like prtAlertTime, with type 'TimeTicks' that is based on
MIB-II sysUpTime.

Randy