INTERIM_MEETING_REPORT_

Reported by Don Wright/Lexmark and Joel Gyllenskog/Hewlett-Packard

Minutes of the Printer MIB Working Group (PRINTMIB)

An interim meeting of the PRINTMIB Working Group was held in SnowBird,
Utah on 22 February 1994.


Discussion Topics

  o Model
     -  Component sets, objects
     -  Two alert tables or one
     -  Alerts summary or new information
     -  Terminology
  o Multifunction ``printers''
  o Medium size:ENUM or dimension
  o ``Interfaces'' connection or channel
  o MIF to MIB translation
  o When does a change take effect
  o Additional values for interpreter ENUM
  o IEEE 1284.2, 1284.3
  o Editor
  o Margins on input
  o Simple-text
  o Media names
  o Schedule
  o Mapping media to inputs
  o Which objects are we importing from other MIBS - what about MIF
  o Operator console
  o Localization
  o Language codes
  o Bit fields for status


Report on 1284.2, 1284.3

Larry Stein reported on the first meeting of the 1284.2 and 1284.3 study
groups.


  o 1284.2 is the test, measurement and certification of the 1284
    standard
  o 1284.3 is the extensions to 1284 (BIOS, etc.)


Anyone interested in participating should contact Larry Stein at
+1 805 726 4420 (voice) or +1 805 726 4438 (fax).  The EPP/1284 BBS is
+1 818 878 7618.

                                  1





The next meeting of 1284.2/3 is scheduled for 18-19 April in San Diego
at the Marina Marriott.



Model


A discussion was held on the various ``pictures'' of the printer models.
Clarification is needed on which classes correspond to the entities in
the model.


  o Disks will be managed in the HOST MIB space
    (Drawing omitted from TEXT file).

  o System controller objects are managed by the host MIB.

  o The DMTF Printer Component will have groups under it such as
     -  Host
     -  Printer Controller
     -  Inputs

  o If the DMTF does not predefine a GROUP equivalent to the HOST MIB,
    this group will.

  o Discussion on Media Path Device by combining that with the Media
    Path and make Media Path a table.  MaxSpeedPrintUnit,
    MaxSpeedTimeUnit and PhyMediaUnit would not be in the table.
    Result:  We will have a single group combining Media Path and Media
    Path Device.  This group could have a multiplicity of Media Paths,
    for example:  Simplex Path, Long Edge Binding Duplex Path, Short
    Edge Binding Duplex Path.  We will have a Default Path object.

  o Printer Control will become General Printer and includes a table of
    doors with their status.

  o Should CRITICAL ALERTS and NON-CRITICAL ALERTS be in a single table
    or separate?  Result:  One table which means the table must include
    a level of criticality:  - CRITICAL & WARNING.

  o Should there be an INFORMATIONAL level alert?  No.

  o Mike MacKay will make a recommendation as to the names of these two
    alert levels.

  o TRAPS will only be generated when a critical alert is added or
    removed from the table.

  o SUMMARY OF ALERT TABLE CONTENTS

                                  2





     -  Components - Index (monotonically increasing, without reuse)
        Severity Level (Other, Unknown, Critical, Non-critical)
        Infoclass (Other, Unknown, Untrained, Trained, Field Service,
        Mgmt) Group (Input, Finisher, Marker, etc.)  Group Index (Index
        into the Group Table ID/Top Level) Location (Manufacturer
        assigned) Alert Code Description (Vendor defined string)

     -  ``Index,'' ``Infoclass,'' ``Location,'' ``Alert Code,'' and
        ``Description'' are not in the various groups only in the alert
        table.


MIFs vs.  MIBs

  o Discussion on the quality of the MIF to MIB translation

  o Limitations on character sets for MIBs

  o The MIF names are the MIB names with white space removed, special
    characters removed, etc.

  o A ``component'' to DMTF is a product, to IETF it is a device.
    Therefore Lotus 1-2-3 installed on a PC is a component to DMTF but
    not to the IETF.

  o The DMTF is building a set of standard parts, such as the Component
    ID group, and will place them on a server (DMTF.COM?)

  o Chris Thomas talked about some of the problems of mapping MIF/MIB
    due to the assumption by the DMTF that it is okay to duplicate
    objects in MIFs.  The IETF wants everyone to use existing MIB
    objects rather than duplicate them.

  o Chris Thomas expressed his opinion on whether DMI will be
    implemented in the printer and accessed directly.  No.

  o Joel Gyllenskog re-iterated our desire to leverage the HOST MIB


Editor

  o Person needs to be an expert on MIFs and MIBs

  o No single person really exists

  o HP is willing to contract with Steve Waldbusser to have his
    assistance in developing the MIB

  o Intel will have a software developer's kit for the service layer
    for DOS and Windows 3.1 in May.  They will license their code to
    system vendors.

                                  3





  o Novell has now committed to providing the service layer in their
    Novell DOS product.

  o NetManage will be shipping their product with DMI support in March

  o Each ``group'' editor will have a foil of objects, by group for
    tomorrow.



Bit Fields for Status

  o Discussion on the need for the octet defined for each group that
    contains the status of that group.

  o An alert code was added for Interpreter to indicate ``Resource
    Unavailable''

  o A trailing edge event does not cause an alert.  If a ``Cover Open''
    condition is the error then when the cover is closed a ``Cover
    Closed'' alert is not generated.  If the error is caused by a
    ``Cover Closed'' condition, then a ``Cover Open'' is not reported
    when the condition is fixed.

  o The status field should indicate the ``state'' of the entity.
    Events which are not states should not be represented by this
    status field.

  o Vendors are required to report via alerts any critical errors

  o Vendors are to remove warnings from alert table if space is needed
    to insert new critical errors

  o Add a configuration change counter in the General Printer group.
    If the vendor wants to, an entry in the alert table can be added to
    provide more specific information about the configuration change.

  o Will need to add Marking Supplies Tables

  o Entity status which applies to all the rows of the various group is
    changed from an Octet to an ENUM:
        1 = Other
        2 = Unknown
        3 = Ready/Available
        4 = Critical State
        5 = Warning State
        6 = Both critical and warning state
        7 = On Request
        8 = Unavailable
        9 = Busy/Temp Unavailable

                                  4





Interfaces

  o Steve Zilles presented his thoughts on the Interfaces Group.

  o The IETF concept of interfaces does not match the realities of
    printers.

  o New Interfaces MIB is RFC 1573.

  o Steve recommends we develop a Channel Group which is more closely
    aligned with how printers get data.

  o Discussion on the objects to be included in this group

     -  Object to set/read default page description language (In the
        absence of explicit job control, this object specifies where to
        send the data received on this channel)

     -  Object to turn on/off a channel and/or interface

     -  Object to set/read the current job control language

     -  Object to contain current back channel syntax (optional object)

         * NPAP
         * PS
         * PCL


  o Discussion on distinguishing the back channel information format

  o The boundary between page description language and job control
    language is very fuzzy and is job related.  Since we are not going
    to include jobs in this MIB we are going to leave this open.

  o Should we add an object to the interpreter group to indicate
    whether the interpreter can talk back?

  o The group should send a list of CONNECTIONS or SERVICES to Steve
    like:  Serial, Parallel, LPD, PServer, AppleTalk PSP



Multifunction Devices

  o Does the existing model accommodate a multifunction device?
  o We recognize that there are potential issues with the current model
    but we have decided to not address them.

                                  5





Interpreter

  o Add simple-text (assumes ASCII) interpreter type
  o E-mail discussion on the need to provide a field which indicates
    whether the interpreter uses the back channel.


When do Changes Take Effect

  o Vendor dependent - when the vendor ``darn well pleases''
  o The change will be reported back, if asked, immediately whether the
    change has actually taken effect or not.


Language Codes/Localization

  o Tom Hastings made a proposal of a means of the printer identifying
    the list of languages support by the printer.

  o Would be located in the General Printer Group.

  o Add two objects to the interpreter table to identify the default
    character sets for inbound and outbound data.

  o Tom will clean up the proposal and send out via e-mail for
    inclusion in the General Printer Group


Operator Console

  o Andy Davidson presented a proposal on objects for the Operator
    Console.

  o Issues on:

     -  Multiple people writing to the panel

     -  Separate code page for each line of a display

     -  What about alerts when the panel changes or a button is
        pressed?

     -  Ability to read/write a line of the display

     -  Is an alert/trap necessary when a button is pressed

     -  Using a full remote op panel can provide a means to access
        parameters, etc.  that are not in the MIB.


                                  6





     -  Charlie Kimber will make a proposal of how to do a full remote
        operator panel


  o Andy will clean-up his proposal and distribute on the Network.


Input/Output

  o prtInputTable Status changed from Octet to Enum(1)

  o prtInputTable MediaName and MediaSize are removed and a new group
    is created in the input component objects that augments the input
    table

  o the changes that Ron made to prtInput - TypeExtended are OK

  o Are we going to include media by enumeration or by dimension?
    Discuss by e-mail.

  o Harry will update the Tables.


Future Meetings

The next PRINTMIB meetings will be held during the Seattle IETF. The
following meeting will be during the last week of April in New Orleans.


Attendees

Azmy Abouased
Andy Davidson            [email protected]
Jack Demcak              [email protected]
Neal Fischer             [email protected]
Joel Gyllenskog          [email protected]
Thomas Hastings          [email protected]
Jeff Johnson             [email protected]
Theodore Kearley         [email protected]
Charles Kimber           [email protected]
Peter Leunig
Harry Lewis              [email protected]
Jay Martin               [email protected]
Michael Moore
Ron Norton
Noga Prat                [email protected]
Dave Roach               [email protected]
Larry Stein              [email protected]
Koji Tashiro             [email protected]
Jody Terrill             [email protected]

                                  7





Michael Timperman        [email protected]
Randy Turner             [email protected]
F. Don Wright            [email protected]
Steve Zilles             [email protected]



                                  8