match printers to ip addresses

[phishphreek]

Ok, say you have a win2k domain. You have several network printers that all use DHCP.

I know how to map a computer to a printer and I know how to discover the printers.

My question is:

After I have discovered the printers, how can I tell the IP of a printer? DHCP changes it all the time and if I have to config the network card.. its a pain tracking down the ip.

Are there any utilities that will scan for printers and match the printer with an IP address?

Thanks in advance!

[qwerty_smith]

depends on what kind of printer you have.

for a lot of printers, you can just print out the configs set at the printer by scrolling through menu
for example: on my HP LJ 5000n, it is in the information menu> print configs
on my Pansonic Workio DP-3000, press function key, set mode> user parameters, scroll to IP address
in addition, the printer company should offer some kind of proggie that will help administrate. HP has the HPJetAdmin

DHCP shouldnt change the IP everytime. correct me if im wrong, but DHCP just assigns an open IP address to the node. so unless someone uses that specific IP address, it should be available every time

[phishphreek]

qwerty_smith:
I thought about your idea... but say I just wanted to so a quick scan of the network... not go around to every office and print out the config, organize them to find out that DHCP has changed the ip address yet again by the time I got back to my desk.

I got to thinking about it a bit more. Most of them are hp jet directs so, if I use the install tool, it will search for available devices. They will show up in there... IP, MAC and description.

I also have some lexmarks that have a utility that is much better than HPs. It will do a discovery and give you status and all. Even control over the printer console.

hmmm... still thinking. I'd like to just do it with a script... but that could prove to be more trouble than its worth.

Thanks for your reply qwerty_smith!

DHCP sets a lease time. You can set to be whatever you want. Seeing that most people turn off their printers at night, every day they get a new IP. Guess the best way would just be to set static IPs for the printers and block those from DHCP leases.

[Spyrus]

I worked on a contract team that rolled out a bunch of new printers to every plant location and what we did might be your best option. I know you say its a pain to manually set all the IPs but it is the best solution for printers. So take the time to set all the ips and then choose a server at the office and install every printer on it and share them. Then all you need to do is do a Start>Run and type \\Servername then it will pull up all the shares available. Double click the printer and you now have your printer setup on the new workstation. Makes it easy to always add new printers, gives you one machine to see all the print queues and relieved a lot of our headaches.

Hope this helps

[Tiger Shark]

You could also set reservations in DHCP for the MAC addresses of the printers so they always get the same IP address - then you will know where to find them.

[ammo]

Yup, like Tiger Shark said, set reserved IP's for the printer on the dhcp server...
(That's what I do... I also then give em a dns name...)

Alternatively, *although I haven't tried it*, if you're using a win2000 dhcp & dns server, you might perhaps be able to refere to the printer with only it's configured hostname: configured by default, win2000's dhcp should register the lease with the dns server...
Again, not sure it would work but might be worth a try...

Ammo