Here are a ton more details:
My users are having problems with missing printouts on their Remote printers. Our multi-group team (Application Developers, Mainframe Engineering, Network Engineering, Field Tech printer support) has been troubleshooting and I have collected a LOT of details, but we haven't figured out the right solution.
Symptoms:
Most of the time, the printouts are fine. Occasionally, a printout won't arrive at all. Sometimes this is in a single print request, sometimes it is in a group of about 10 requests and several in the middle just don't print.
Tracing:
We have traced missing prints all the way from the application, through JES and CASpool, across the network to the printer's switch and it all looks successful, right up to the point that nothing comes out of the printer. We don't think the printers have logs to look at.
Setup:
IBM 3270 mainframe
z/OS v2.2
CICS application
JES nodes
CA Spool
TCP/IP
HP M402dn or M402dne printers, which recently replaced our old Tally dot matrix printers and/or Toshiba. All of these printers have had the issue intermittently, but it has been increasing with the HP printers.
NOTE: I can get more details about any part of this if it is necessary.
CA Spool configuration
Single printer:
NODE RMT12,HPLASER,TCPDRIV=LPR3E, <--- here, we added the E parm which eliminated delays
FCB=8,FORM=PICK,
TCPHOST=nn.nnn.nnn.nnn,
GROUP=1,ACQUIRE=WORK
HPLASER setup: (we have also tried HPPort - I dont have that config, but i can get it)
DEFNODE HPLASER,TCPIP,SEP=0,TCPDRIV=LPR3E,FORM=SSTD,PURGE=NO,
GROUP=1,ACQUIRE=WORK,RELEASE=NOWORK,TRANS=ASCIITCP
Sample CASpool log:
4:48:02 -ESF766 STC00687 CICSPWP TRANSFERED FROM JES2 TO CASP DESTINATION RMT12 FILE 2635
4:48:02 -ESF921 File 2635 on printer RMT12 initially, 2 pages (Sock# 001)
4:48:02 -ESF931 File 2635 printed on printer RMT12 2 pages (Active= 1 / Elapse= 0 secs)
4:48:02 -ESF420 PRINTER RMT12 INACTIVE, CLASS = A
Other questions we've been asking:
- Are there more parameters in CASpool that we should be looking at? The MF Engineer has been in contact with CA Spool directly and received the E parm which "will cause CA Spool to use a broader range of ephemeral ports to establish the connections with the printers." This eliminated a HUGE amount of delay problems. We're certainly open to more.
Is there a character set that is being used on the mainframe that maybe the HP can't interpret?
Is there some other feature of the printer that does not support mainframe printing?
Is the printer waking up correctly? this was our initial thought, but we have user statements that this is happening when the printer is not asleep, and in fact, is also happening in the middle of a set of about 10 print requests.
Just FYI -
Why don't they notice their printouts missing?
This is a supply-chain warehouse application to deliver parts for a repair organization that is spread out across the USA. One user in an area of the company completes a screen in the application to authorize the work, the application processes it, and then prints a work request for the warehouse team on a remote printer that is in another area far from the first user. The printout is supposed to trigger the warehouse users to perform some work. If they don't get the printout, they don't know that work is waiting. There is a screen in the application that the warehouse can use as a monitor of the transactions - this is how they notice that there is work which is not printing. It's also true that the request to reprint the document from the application is occasionally not printed.
YES - there are business processes and workarounds that we are using to get around the problem. And there is a project to replace this system within the next year, but of course it has been delayed several times already. We're trying to fix it.
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
