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Legacy Article - Information may
be dated
Troubleshooting NDPS
NDPS printing can make an administrators life much easier when
working properly. When it is not working properly, life can is not
quite so bright. Luckily, NDPS tends to be a solid and reliable
product once you get a handle on the possible problems that can
occur and their resolutions.
I’ve found most problems can be traced to one of three areas
-
NDPS Modules not being updated properly by service packs
- Bugs fixed
updated versions of HPGATE.NLM
- HPGATE.NLM
settings not optimized
- Outdated Jetdirect
Firmware
- Non-Optimized Novell
Client
- Latest NDPS Patches
- Update the
Lexmark or Xerox Gateway
- Fix NWADMN32 Crashes
- Stuck Jobs
in Lexmark Gateway
- NDPS Modules not being updated
properly by service packs
For one reason or another, NDPS may not appear in the installed
products list. This cause the NDPS modules to not be updated by
any service packs applied to the server. The following is taken
directly from the NOVELL TID 10017746.
To resolve this condition, create a temporary
directory on the NetWare server and create a dummy
NDPS.IPS installation script file in
that temporary directory using Notepad or any DOS text editor. The
file should contain only the following two lines plus an extra
blank line to ensure the file is properly terminated:
ProductRecord NDPS,
0, "2.0.0"
ProductRecord NDPS, 1, "Novell
Distributed Print Services (NDPS)"
Ensure you create the file in it's own
temporary directory, where no other .IPS files exist. After
creating this dummy NDPS.IPS
file, at the server console type "NWCONFIG", then press Enter.
From within NWCONFIG, select "Products Options" | "Install a
product not listed". Press F3 to override the source path with the
temporary directory where you created the
NDPS.IPS file (e.g. "SYS:TEMP") and press Enter.
Because the NDPS.IPS
file contains only the above two statements, there will be no
confirmation that the NDPS.IPS
file was processed. But after performing the above steps you
should be able to use NWCONFIG and select "Product Options" |
"View/Configure/Remove installed products". Under the "Currently
Installed Products" list you should now see "NDPS
2.0.0 Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS)".
(Note: If NDPS is installed after the server is
up and running, the latest service pack will need to be reapplied
to the server.)
-
Bugs fixed in updated versions of HPGATE.NLM
Some bugs have been reported reported in the older versions of
the HPGATE.NLM used by NDPS to print to HP printers.
Get the Latest here -
New Improved:
-
HPGATE.NLM settings not optimized.
By default, the settings used by the HPGATE.NLM will work fine
for small installations, but you may begin to see poor performance
with these settings as you add more and more NDPS printers. I have
found by increasing the default settings under the configuration
menu selection, that print jobs are as fast to NDPS printers as they
are to locally connected printers even with nearly 100 printers
running from a single gateway.
The key stat to look at on the HP Gateway statistics page is the
"Processes Waiting to Run". Using the default settings with 100
printers attached, this figure was constantly high with peaks over
100. Once implementing the settings below, this figure dropped to
generally 0 with only very small spikes. Delays for print jobs
decreased from 30-60 seconds to nearly 0 seconds. Furthermore, the
HPGATE.NLM which was causing nearly daily abends, has completely
stabilized.
The Processes Delayed figure did not change significantly, but
does not seem to effect performance and will remain nearly constant
even during weekends and evenings when few if any users are
printing.
4. Outdated Jetdirect Firmware
If your having I/O errors or "Needs Attention Errors" on your
NDPS printer, you may need to update the Jet Direct Firmware.
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/prodhome/hpjetdirec19284.html
5.
Non-Optimized Novell Client
Some applications perform a UNC search while
attempting to locate an NDPS printer. One such application is
Groupwise. In some cases, there can be a delay as long as 30
seconds before the print job prints. If you notice that some
applications take much longer to start printing than others, it may
mean that your client configuration needs tweaking. The most likely
cause is that your client is set to use resolution methods that are
not configured such as host files, DNS searches, and SLP. The key
is to remove the unused resolution methods and reducing the name
resolution timeout on the client from the default of 10seconds to 1.
READ MORE ON
CLIENT OPTIMIZATION - MS-Novell Client - Performance Boosting!
6. Apply
Latest NDPS Patch
If you are running the Novell Gateway, the latest
NDPS patch resolves a number of performance problems as well as a
few memory leak problems.
For NW5SP6a -
ndp2xp7.exe
For NW51SP3a -
ndp21p3c.exe
Note: The latest Novell Clients also correct a number of client
related NDPS patches.
7. Update the
Lexmark or Xerox Gateway
http://www.xerox.com/go/xrx/template/012.jsp?prodID=NDPS&Xcntry=USA&Xlang=en_US&Xseg=corp
http://partnersource.lexmark.com/US/solutions/ndps.html
8. Fix NWADMIN32 Crashes
If you have installed 3rd party gateways, try restoring the
3dimage.dll provided with your most recent NetWare service pack.
This has resolved issues that sometimes occur after installing the
XEROX and LEXMARK gateways.
9. Stuck Jobs
with the Lexmark Gateway
Add the following line to the SYS:\SYSTEM\LEXGATE.INI file.
TRUEENDOFJOB=OFF
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03-Apr-05,
