Are you managing a complex group structure in HP Web Jetadmin and looking for an easy way to have devices in child groups populate the parent group as an aggregate?  Then view the video tutorial I put together for you here.

Have devices in child groups populate into their parent groups in HP Web Jetadmin 10.x Click Here to launch the video Please note that clicking the link above will redirect you towards my personal website (a non-HP website) where the video I have created is hosted.

Please be very careful about any auto-group you create in HP Web Jetadmin.  Sometimes administrators create policies to trigger against a group which can produce unpredictable results if you're adding large groups of devices you would otherwise not prefer to configure.  I strongly recommend customers test in an isolated environment first, then bring over into production afterwards.  HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 facilitates this by allowing administrators to import and export groups in its most recent versions.

Take care, B.

I had a question come up from one of my customers recently about configuring icons at the front panel of HP MFPs.  I figured this would be a good opportunity to do up a brief video (10 mins) showing how to hide/display icons as well as offer alternate languages for multi-lingual envirponments.  These settings were at the devices already of course (although you may need to update your firmware).  But the ability to configure fleet-wide was just introduced in recently with HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 and later.

Use HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 or later to configure MFP Home Screens Click Here to launch the video Please note that clicking the link above will redirect you towards my personal website (a non-HP website) where the video I have created is hosted.

Take care and happy new year!  B,

In a previous post I mentioned that HP Web Jetadmin had launched.  It was temporarily pulled to deal with an installer-related issue and re-released super quickly with the necessary hot-fix.  I shan't bore you with the details found nestled in the release notes, but I do suggest, if you have the old installer 10.2.58560, ditch it and please use 10.2.59093 exclusively.  Many thanks to the WJA and support teams who caught the issue and dealt with it in an expedient fashion.  I'm sure people will love WJA 10.2 given all the fantastic new features I mentioned earlier.  Take care, B.

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used in many network appliances like switches, routers, printers, IP console KVMs, etc.  While most network administrators would be directed to use tools like HP Web Jetadmin to do the work for them, for various reasons some administrators may prefer to query devices directly.  I put together this simple video to show how you can use a simple tool like Net-SNMP to walk the list of OIDs, hunt for a particular value to find its corresponding OID to use in specific SNMP get queries admins may choose to build into their own scripts, programs etc.

Use SNMP to Query Select Device Settings: Serial Number & MAC Address Example Click Here to launch the video Please note that clicking the link above will redirect you towards my personal website (a non-HP website) where the video I have created is hosted.

Firstly a caution.  Not all objects are enumerated in SNMP.  Examples of objects which typically are in SNMP include low-level objects like serial numbers, mac addresses, system location, system contact, etc.  Examples of objects which are not typically found in SNMP include high-level objects used in functions like digital sending such as the type of authentication used and servers jobs are sent to.  I may cover a little about scripting and HTTP in the future, but that gets a little more interesting, so mining that from HP Web Jetadmin (or exporting it in a CSV format) might be the easiest.

Secondly, not all devices behave the same way.  As you dip into the more consumer oriented devices, SNMP objects may not be as consistent.  I don't have specific examples, but don't automatically assume because you can find the object in one device that it will be there for all.  There's a good chance it will be but double-check to be sure.

And finally, this is only one technique used to accomplish the goal of looking for an OID and them mining that OID from various devices using Net-SNMP (http://sourceforge.net/projects/net-snmp/).  Other approaches could be to navigate a MIB if you're comfortable navigating the trees in tools like iReasoning's MIB Browser (www.ireasoning.com).  If you're looking for HP specific MIBs, get them from the "Public SDK's" section on HP's developer website (www.hpdevelopersolutions.com).

Here are some resources for those interested in taking SNMP to the next level in their scripting and programming:

• For those managing their own BAT or PERL scripts, "Net-SNMP" is great (http://sourceforge.net/projects/net-snmp/)


• I'm fond of "#SNMP for C#" as it's the only set of libraries I was able to use for free with my C# (C-Sharp) programming hobbies (http://lextm.blogspot.com/search/label/%23SNMP).  There's many other commercial libraries out there, but as a hobbiest I liked this one since I could play without paying money.


• I haven't done much with Java or PHP or C++ or VisualBasic (VB, VBA, VBS), if anyone has any freebie recommendations out there they'd like me to reference, write in your comments.

Take care everyone. B, out.

HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 (10.2.58560) has launched.  There are a lot of really great new features that have been added with a couple altered or removed all-together.  Give yourself some time to absorb the new features and treat this like a major upgrade.  While the release notes show the detailed "What's New" information, here are some of the highlights I'm mainly appreciative of:

• Alternate log-in feature allows users to specify a username and password
  (helpful for administrators launching the browser outside of their standard desktop environment)


• New device mapping features resurrected from when they were retired with WJA 8.1


• Ability to schedule device resets (e.g. power cycles)


• Print test pages or push PJL configuration files like Send-to-Self to multiple devices


• Fleet configuration of gateway and subnet mask for static IP address assignments


• Vastly superior summary view of firmware with JetDirect and Device firmware broken into seperate easier to view sections


• Histories can be archived to disk now for configuration, discovery, alerts. etc.


• Device groups can be imported and exported now.


• Faster PC-connected discovery by allowing a WMI-only interrogation for customers who have not deployed the HP SNMP Proxy Agent


• Firmware for JetDirect and Devices can be automated with policies like configuration templates now.


• Advanced Storage function for advanced font and macro manipulation including use of templates.


• Official support for SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Standard and Enterprise versions (note that by default it installs with 2005 Express).  IMPORTANT: I've not performed this myself, but I have reviewed the section entitled "Using a Separate Instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005" in the "HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 Installation and Setup Guide" (http://ftp.hp.com/pub/printers/software/wja/docs/hpwja_installguide_en.pdf).  Read the instructions thoroughly.  There are references to HP Web Jetadmin Enterprise Edition.  Consult your sales representatives if interested so they can follow-up to you with more information once ready for puchase/release.


• Home Screen manipulation on M-series devices now possible.


• Configuration of sleep mode with wake/sleep schedules.


• Configuration of more digital send functions including message options, file settings, etc.


• Dozens of new columns added to the list view for selection and triggering automated groups if desired.


• System name shows as a configurable field when using the "Import From" feature
  (this was something someone commented on with regards to one of my earlier posts)


• Pleanty of other goodies added or issues specific customers had which are now resolved.

NOTE: Supplies Groups have been removed in favour of using standard reporting.

It's worth noting that for those customers who have open bug-fix items through support that HP Web Jetadmin 10.1 is being updated to Service Release 3 in parallel as well (10.1.58563).  It doesn't contain nearly the ammount of new items that WJA 10.2 has, but for those requiring hot fixes to items not yet ready to migrate, this might be a good option for you.  You'll see both options under the "Download Now" link.

All of the documentation (PDFs) have been updated to reflect the new HP Web Jetadmin 10.2 functionality.  It may take a couple of days for the download now link to reflect WJA 10.2 correctly, but I assure you after selecting it you will be brought to the correct download locations.  Enjoy!

http://www.hp.com/go/webjetadmin

Many thanks to the HP Web Jetadmin product developers, support personnel, technical marketing and enterprise solutions consulting teams for making this release one of the best ever.  Regards, B.

UPDATE (9th July, 2009 @ ~1:30 PM): Please note that the installer for HP Web Jetadmin has been taken off the web temporarily while an issue is investigated for people doing upgrades over-top of previous editions where an issue was uncovered in some environments.  It will be reposted when resolved we hope in the next week or two.  Look back here for updates or the main HP Web Jetadmin portal.

UPDATE (15th July, 2009 @ ~1:30 PM): The HP Web Jetadmin folks have found out what the issue was with the initially released installer.  They are re-releasing and you should see it on the web very soon.  I'll do a new post/announcement when it comes to update peoples' RSS readers.  Please don't use 10.2.58560.  This hot-fixed release with the corrected installer will show as version 10.2.59093 which supercedes 10.2.58560.  Please use 10.2.59093 moving forward.  It should be on the web in a matter of days.

UPDATE (28th July, 2009 @ ~9:00 PM): The 10.2.59093 update mentioned above did indeed post to the web last week.  Given the importants, I referenced in this in a new article.  Please download from www.hp.com/go/webjetadmin.  I would have updated sooner, but I'm fresh back from vacation.  Thanks for everyond advising the update had posted while I was away.