Gathering information from Lexmark Printers using SNMP

[rhipwell]

Hi Everyone,

I am currently starting a small project to pull toner yeild information from a Lexmark printer. I have used tools such as Markvision and Web Jet Admin, but these are cumbersome and quiet frankly overkill for my needs.

I have checked RFC 1759, but alas most of the options contained within seem to be unsupported.

My question is as follows:

Has anyone successfully pulled toner cartridge information from a lexmark printer using snmp before? and if so, what commands did you use?

Thanks in advance,

-Rob

[dwhitney67]

You would use an SNMP getRequest or getNextRequest. If you are unfamiliar with SNMP, then that might not make sense at all. SNMP can be "simple" to use if you have an SNMP-agent software suite. Without an agent, I personally would not know how to proceed.

It's been over 5 years since I've dealt with SNMP, but I do recall that there are free downloadable SNMP agents written in C++; just search the web.

Btw, does your printer not support the HTTP protocol? Try connecting to your printer from your browser. Use http://IP-of-printer.

[rhipwell]

Thanks for the reply dwhitney67. Let me explain a bit better to why the printer web page and the various other tools do not scale to my need.

I am responsible for a site with over 500 printers of various makes and models, most of them are either HP or Lexmark. Recently we have noticed a trend with our lexmark machines where toner yield seems to corrospond to print quality issues. As such I need to find the toner yield of approx 68 machines.

Markvision ( Lexmarks SNMP tool for printers ) takes approx 3 minutes to gather the data I need per machine.

The printers native interface (i.e the web page) is quicker, taking approx 2 minutes for me to gather the data, however it does not support exporting the data to file.

Running smnpget or snmpwalk commands can gather the data in a blink of an eye - however I am unsure of the OID for the toner yield command.

All the tests I ran earlier today for time used the following command: (IP has been changed to <IP> )


snmpget -v 2c -c public <IP> printer.prtgen.prtgenInfoTable.prtgenInfoEntry.prt genSerialNo.1


That command returns the serial # in less then a second. Compared to 2 to 3 minutes per the other solutions. Plus I can pipe the data to file.

Anyone have any ideas?

Also - Would copying the toner yield commands from the RCF to a MIB file work? Thanks

-Rob

[dwhitney67]

I sure wish I had more time on my hands to help you out. I really would like to get back into SNMP realm. Unfortunately it seems like you need your solution "yesterday".

I have source code for an SNMP agent (written in C++), but it was written 5+ years ago and I am not sure it will compile with gcc-4.1.x.

Btw, have you attempted to walk the MIB of a single printer? Does it not report back the VB-pair (OID and Value)? I would think that you would be able to deduce which OID pertains to the toner level. Maybe it might help if you contacted Lexmark so see if they can send you the MIB.

[rhipwell]

Thanks again for the reply,

The MIB Lexmark provides unfortunatly only has basic printer information on it, most of the MIB pertains to TCP/IP settings etc.

I will try and walk to entire printer this morning and post any results.

Thanks again.

-Rob

[rhipwell]

I walked the printer and the supported OINs are listed as follows (small subset) :



SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.2.1.18 = STRING: "ZH"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.2.1.19 = STRING: "ZH"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.2.1.20 = STRING: "KO"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.3.1.1 = STRING: " "
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.3.1.2 = STRING: " "
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.3.1.3 = STRING: " "
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.4.1.1 = INTEGER: 2009
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.4.1.2 = INTEGER: 2009
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.7.1.1.4.1.3 = INTEGER: 2009
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.1 = STRING: "Cyan Toner"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.2 = STRING: "Magenta Toner"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.3 = STRING: "Yellow Toner"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.4 = STRING: "Black Toner"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.5 = STRING: "Photo Drum:Cyan"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.6 = STRING: "Photo Drum:Magenta"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.7 = STRING: "Photo Drum:Yellow"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.8 = STRING: "Photo Drum:Black"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.9 = STRING: "Waste Toner Box"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.10 = STRING: "Fuser"
SNMPv2-SMI::mib-2.43.11.1.1.6.1.11 = STRING: "Transfer Belt"

Does anyone know where I can find the information on what theses OIN's pertain to? Thanks

-Rob

[gdesmet]

More OID info can be found here:

http://www.oid-info.com/cgi-bin/display?tree=1.3.6.1.2.1.43

The 43.10 group contains Marker(=toner) info:


OID Object Type Value
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.2.1.1 prtMarkerMarkTech INTEGER 4
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.3.1.1 prtMarkerCounterUnit INTEGER 8
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.4.1.1 prtMarkerLifeCount COUNTER 470285
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.5.1.1 prtMarkerPowerOnCount COUNTER 2879
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.6.1.1 prtMarkerProcessColorants INTEGER 1
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.7.1.1 prtMarkerSpotColorants INTEGER 0
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.8.1.1 prtMarkerAddressabilityUnit INTEGER tenThousandthsOfInches(3)
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.9.1.1 prtMarkerAddressabilityFeedDir INTEGER 1200
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.10.1.1 prtMarkerAddressabilityXFeedDir INTEGER 1200
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.11.1.1 prtMarkerNorthMargin INTEGER 1667
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.12.1.1 prtMarkerSouthMargin INTEGER 1667
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.13.1.1 prtMarkerWestMargin INTEGER 1667
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.14.1.1 prtMarkerEastMargin INTEGER 1667
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.10.2.1.15.1.1 prtMarkerStatus INTEGER 4


The 43.11 group contains MarkerSupplies info:

OID Object Type Value
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.2.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesMarkerIndex INTEGER 1
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.3.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesColorantIndex INTEGER 1
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.4.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesClass INTEGER 3
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.5.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesType INTEGER 3
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.6.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesDescription OCTET-STRING "Diamond Fine Toner"
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.7.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesSupplyUnit INTEGER 7
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.8.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesMaxCapacity INTEGER 30000
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.11.1.1.9.1.1 prtMarkerSuppliesLevel INTEGER -3


And the 43.12 group contains MarkerColorant info:

OID Object Type Value
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.12.1.1.2.1.1 prtMarkerColorantMarkerIndex INTEGER 1
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.12.1.1.3.1.1 prtMarkerColorantRole INTEGER 3
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.12.1.1.4.1.1 prtMarkerColorantValue OCTET-STRING black
1.3.6.1.2.1.43.12.1.1.5.1.1 prtMarkerColorantTonality INTEGER 2


Unfortunaly I don't see a value which indicates a toner level :(

The 1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1 OID gives more general info about your printer:

OID Object Type Value
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.1.0 sysDescr OCTET-STRING "IBM Infoprint 1130 version 54.10.21 kernel 2.4.0-test6 All-N-1"
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.2.0 sysObjectID OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.641.1
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0 sysUpTime TIMETICKS "19/09/2007 21:55:45"
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.4.0 sysContact OCTET-STRING
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0 sysName OCTET-STRING PREXP3
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.6.0 sysLocation OCTET-STRING
1.3.6.1.2.1.1.7.0 sysServices INTEGER 72


But the 1.3.6.1.4.1.641 is a private/enterprise OID and the info is hard to find.

Can you give us some OID's of printers you find in the 1.3.6.1.2.1.1 branch? Are they all 1.3.6.1.4.1.641?

Geert

[gdesmet]

The Lexmark MIB file can be found here (and click on the ZIP icon) :

http://www.oidview.com/mibs/641/LEXMARK-PVT-MIB.html

Geert

[rhipwell]

Thanks for the Reply, that information is great. I have a meeting with Lexmark on Monday. I think im going to see if they have anything above and beyond the information you've provided thus far. Again thanks!

-Rob