>During the PMP conference call last Friday (Oct 18), I brought up
>the question of how a client can accurately determine the precise
>printer model for an agent of the Printer MIB.
Jay, I'm glad you brought this up. A very valid requirement and the
fact that it's surfacing so intensely is a good sign of growing
RFC1759 oriented software support!
>I went on to say that Underscore has been unable to locate any
>relevant MIB object (either in the Printer MIB or other MIB) that
>can give us that information.
Actually, you did more - you proposed or suggested) a prtGeneral object
to address the need for printer Model identification. Your idea has
the advantage of symmetry with similar Input and Output printer MIB
objects as well as a "common sense" containment of printer attributes
within the printer MIB.
>Harry Lewis was kind enough to point out that the hrDeviceID object
>in the Host Resources (HR) MIB does indeed exist to provide exactly
>that kind of information.
Given that it's October, it may have been more like trick-or-treat than
kindness... anyhow... it's true. The fact that no one seems to
remember the hrDeviceID scenario probably means that you have developed
a healthier ability to block out the memory of extremely painful
experiences. Remember? "Common sense containment" was not our forte
in those early days!
>Well, upon further investigation, Harry was 110% correct. (Sorry, Harry!)
>The hrDeviceID object is *exactly* what we've been looking for!
No apology needed. I think the key point here is, although distasteful,
I don't believe we can say the MIB is substantially "broke" in this
regard. So, by our guidelines, we shouldn't be adding a new object,
even though the symmetry is very tempting.
>Therefore, while it's great that we won't have to add a new MIB object
>to the prtGeneral Group, it is imperative that all Printer MIB implementers
>accurately implement the hrDeviceID object for all of us software vendors.
I agree. Easy for me to say, huh? Remember, I'm the guy who had my
hrPrinterDetectedErrorState bits backward. Can't win them all!
>PS: Following on the heels of this topic should be a discussion as to
> how printer vendors can publish their printer model OID values in
> a general and public manner so that developers can stay abreast of
> the set of defined values. To my knowledge, no such general repository
> exists for this purpose (please correct me if I'm wrong here!).
>
> If no such Internet-accessible repository exists, then Underscore
> would be willing to maintain such a repository as part of the PWG
> ftp site. Let's get this going as soon as possible!
I have already posted this portion of the IBM enterprise MIB. I don't
have the structure memorized or in front of me but I think I took the
liberty to create an "enterprise" directory on PWG and put my stuff
under /IBM. I suggest everyone follow suite if agreed.
Harry Lewis - IBM Printing Systems