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14 Monitoring Printers
Implementing Printer Management
Printer management includes the following tasks:
• Monitoring the status of network printers
• Responding to alarms
• Gathering statistics on printer operations
The three elements of network printer monitoring and management
are:
• Agent/manager model
• The management information database (MIB)
• SNMP, the protocol used to get management information
• Printer management utility (PMU)
Agent/Manager Model
The elements of a monitoring system, MIB and SNMP, are
implemented in an agent/manager model:
• The MANAGER is a console, workstation, or server on working
hubs or routers which has a global knowledge of Ethernet
Interfaces and printers.
• AGENTS are utilities that reside on devices, such as a Ethernet
Interface, that respond through SNMP to management
requests for information. The information is stored in an MIB.