Subscriber Discussion

Print Server - Firmware Errors

JV
Jason Vidéo
Feb 22, 2014

Dear IPVM

Have recently insatlled a system with several IP cameras and two servers. The cameras are all on a subnetwork and the servers are on the main network. Seems that ever since the system was installed the Lexmark printers need to be rebooted. The local network is on a domain.....

Any ideas why this would occur?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 22, 2014
IPVM

Could be incidental? Or the cameras might be assigned the same IP address as the print servers?

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Feb 22, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Lexmark printers are not exactly renowned for their reliability. Are they generating error logs?

JV
Jason Vidéo
Feb 22, 2014

Hi John

Having been hearing the client complain about it several times and saw the error today and they had to reboot the printers. Was giving a "Frimware Error" on the printers LCD.

Cameras are on a subnetwork and do not communicate on the same network as the computers and printers.

Hi Brian

Do not have access to the logs but they do show a "Firmware Error" on the LCD.

Avatar
Brian Rhodes
Feb 22, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Is there more than one printer generating this error? Are they the same model?

JV
Jason Vidéo
Feb 22, 2014

Only one of the printers we saw had an LCD. They are different models.

Was thinking it could be UPNP on the cameras although

a) they are not on the same network

b) the problem still persists even though it was turned off

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Feb 22, 2014

Sir, echoing Brian, is it more than one printer? How often does it occur?

If it is more than one printer with a firmware issue after you created a subnet, it may be related to Unpnp or some other network advertising/discovery that the printer is attempting now that it 'sees' another network that wasn't there before.

Is there static or dynamic routing by the router that is going on now that wasn't present before? Of course it shouldn't require a reboot in any event.

1. update the printer firmware if possible

2. try taking the subnet down temporarily if possible, and if the problem manifests quickly enough to confirm a correlation.

3. if the printers don't need to see beyond their local subnet you can try to leave the default gateway setting blank on the printer to see if that has an effect.

4. Double check static/dynamic routing for sanity

5. Make sure there is only one DHCP server running per ethernet segment

JV
Jason Vidéo
Feb 22, 2014

Hi Rukmini

Seems to happen quite often probably several times a week. The UPNP is diabled on the cameras.... there is only 1 router on the main network. The cameras are static ip with a different default gateway than the printers.

1) will suggest it to the IT

2) have not tested this yet but will try

3) what are the advantages or disadvantages of leaving the default gateway blank?

4) done, the DHCP serve is a windows machine

5) there is only 1 DHCP server.

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Feb 22, 2014

Hi, Mr. Video. I'm afraid I'm having trouble visualizing your network topology. Let me back-up and ask a coupl basIc questions.

1. You say there is a "main" network with one router on, does the router route only between your LAN and the Internet, or is it only routing traffic between different IP subnets?

2. What makes what you call your "subnetwork" a subnetwork, is it a true IP subnetwork with a different class c address or a netmask, or do you just mean a layer 2 ethernet bridge/switcb or two? Give an example of a server ip and camera ip and printer ip.

3. You say that the cameras have a different default gateway than the printers. But if you only have one router and you are using that to get to the internet then you would only have one ip to use as your default gateway, not two. Give example of the two different gateway values.

The reason to leave the gateway blank if possible was to stop the printer from being able to talk to another subnet.

Thx

AK
Alex K
Feb 22, 2014

May be his server has 2 network cards

One for cameras and One for Corporate Lan

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Feb 22, 2014

I think you may be right Mr. K., although as I purist I would say that a multi-homed server that routes between the two cards is a router, of which Mr. V. said there was one. But he may not think of it that way or perhaps the networks are isolated (or are intended to be so).

Do you setup a lot of servers this way for your installs? Do you route between the segments on the server usually? Is it mainly for economy?

Avatar
Marty Major
Feb 22, 2014
Teledyne FLIR

Solution:

1. Get a time machine

2. Go back to 1998 and call Axis tech support.

JV
Jason Vidéo
Feb 22, 2014

Hi, Mr. Video.

1. You say there is a "main" network with one router on, does the router route only between your LAN and the Internet, or is it only routing traffic between different IP subnets?

Only Lan and Internet. There is also a Firebox on that aspect of the LAN

2. What makes what you call your "subnetwork" a subnetwork, is it a true IP subnetwork with a different class c address or a netmask, or do you just mean a layer 2 ethernet bridge/switcb or two? Give an example of a server ip and camera ip and printer ip.

The main Lan is 10.11.X.X net mask 255.255.255.0

The camera network is 192.168.x.x

Both servers have a dual NIC's and the both mhave addressing 10.11.x.x and 192.168.x.x on each of the NIC's

3. You say that the cameras have a different default gateway than the printers. But if you only have one router and you are using that to get to the internet then you would only have one ip to use as your default gateway, not two. Give example of the two different gateway values.

The "default gateway" ion the cameras and server NIC is just for consistency, there is a Layer 2 swicth on the building where some of the cameras are hosted.

The reason to leave the gateway blank if possible was to stop the printer from being able to talk to another subnet.

- wouldn't that be prevented by having a default gateway as opposed to not? Also would DNS settings on the cameras have any issues?

Thx

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Feb 22, 2014

Leaving the default gateway blank should have the effect of making all ip addresses unreachable except those allowed by the class license and the netmask. I was referring to the setting on the printer, just to be clear. If the DNS or hosts file does not exists on that subnet and the printer external name resolution, then that would fail. Which might be a good thing if you don't expect it to be trying to reach other networks and it tries and fails perhaps you would get a diagnostic message that could be of help.

Is it fair to say that hosts(besides the server(s)) on the 192. cannot (and are not intended to) reach to 10.?

Did you mention that the servers were MS domain controllers (with Netbios traffic and discovery) as well?

It sounds like Mr. K. might have some "in the trenches" experience with setting up these types of servers, so lets see what he (or others) say.

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