HP Jetdirect Network Configuration

[Edward W. Thompson]

I am using an HP Business Inkjet 2280 withJetDirect 620 installed. The
Jetdirect 620 is hard wired (ethernet) to a 3com OfficeConnect ADSL
Wireless Firewall/Router. Several laptops connect to the printer
wirelessly all using WINXP Pro.

The printer has worked flawlessly for some time but recently all
machines lost connection. I simply ran the HP driver setup from each
machine and all is now OK. However investigation shows the printer
had 'changed' its IP address from 196.162.1.3 to 196.162.1.2. I am
speculating this may have been the reason for not being able to
connect to the printer. Would this have caused the machines not to
communicate with the printer? As all machines could not communicate
with the printer, I assume the problem was at the printer

When I look at the printer 'setup' IP Configuration Method is set at
BOOTP (choices from drop down menu are DHCP, MANUAL, AUTO IP and
BOOTP). To 'fix' the printer IP address, and prevent the' losing' of
the address, what is the best setting? I assume MANUAL but I don't
know what BOOTP signifies or AUTO IP. Would someone kindly give me
some advice? All connected machines are set to DHCP.

 

[Warren Block]

I am using an HP Business Inkjet 2280 withJetDirect 620 installed. The
Jetdirect 620 is hard wired (ethernet) to a 3com OfficeConnect ADSL
Wireless Firewall/Router. Several laptops connect to the printer
wirelessly all using WINXP Pro.

The printer has worked flawlessly for some time but recently all
machines lost connection. I simply ran the HP driver setup from each
machine and all is now OK. However investigation shows the printer
had 'changed' its IP address from 196.162.1.3 to 196.162.1.2. I am
speculating this may have been the reason for not being able to
connect to the printer. Would this have caused the machines not to
communicate with the printer?

Yes. The client computers had been set to communicate with the old IP
address of the JetDirect.

As all machines could not communicate with the printer, I assume the
problem was at the printer

When I look at the printer 'setup' IP Configuration Method is set at
BOOTP (choices from drop down menu are DHCP, MANUAL, AUTO IP and
BOOTP). To 'fix' the printer IP address, and prevent the' losing' of
the address, what is the best setting? I assume MANUAL but I don't
know what BOOTP signifies or AUTO IP. Would someone kindly give me
some advice? All connected machines are set to DHCP.

The JetDirect should always have the same IP address (called a "static"
address). There are a couple of ways to do that.

There's a DHCP server on your network, probably the 3Com. DHCP (Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol) is there to assign IP addresses to machines
that don't have them. These addresses can change, that being the
dynamic part. IP addresses have to be unique; if two devices have the
same IP address, at least one of them won't be able to communicate.

To do this right, you need to accomplish two things. First, you need to
give the JetDirect a static address. Second, you need to tell the DHCP
server not to give that address to anybody else on the network.

Most DHCP servers can be configured to always give a fixed IP address to
a certain MAC (hardware) address. The MAC address is a unique ID built
into each Ethernet interface--the JetDirect's MAC is shown on the web
interface under Device Info/Hardware Address. (It's also probably
printed on a label stuck to the card and shown on a self-test page).

This is a nice option: leave the JetDirect as-is (DHCP) and set your
3Com's DHCP server to give out a fixed address to the JetDirect.

-

An alternative is to use the Manual option on your JetDirect and just
give it the static address yourself. That should work okay, as long as
the printer remains on. If the printer loses power, the 3Com may give
the IP address to something else on the network. When the JetDirect
comes back on, it won't be able to work because the IP address it's
trying to use is already taken.

-

One last thing to mention on this already too-long note. That is the
final variation: manual static IP address for the JetDirect, and
configure the DHCP server to not have that address in the assignable
pool. For example: configure DHCP to only assign addresses 192.168.0.1
through 192.168.0.240. This leaves the 192.168.0.241 to .254 range free
so you could manually assign any of those addresses to the JetDirect.

 

[Rod]

Most DHCP servers can be configured to always give a fixed IP address to
a certain MAC (hardware) address. The MAC address is a unique ID built
into each Ethernet interface--the JetDirect's MAC is shown on the web
interface under Device Info/Hardware Address. (It's also probably
printed on a label stuck to the card and shown on a self-test page).

I do quite like the "DHCP reservation" apporach you describe (at least,
that is what it is called within Windows Server 2003). But you can be
bitten - if you switch on the printer when the DHCP server is not
available the printer will probably end up with one of the
assign-it-yourself addresses and be invisible to everything else on the
network. Once the DHCP server is available again, simply switch off the
printer for a minute or two - then back on.

I do not like leaving bits of the range unassigned. I would far prefer
to assign the whole range to the DHCP server and then say "exclude this
sub-range of addresses". Might amount to the same thing but for some
reason it is easier on my brain.

 

[Edward W. Thompson]

Yes. The client computers had been set to communicate with the old IP
address of the JetDirect.



The JetDirect should always have the same IP address (called a "static"
address). There are a couple of ways to do that.

There's a DHCP server on your network, probably the 3Com. DHCP (Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol) is there to assign IP addresses to machines
that don't have them. These addresses can change, that being the
dynamic part. IP addresses have to be unique; if two devices have the
same IP address, at least one of them won't be able to communicate.

To do this right, you need to accomplish two things. First, you need to
give the JetDirect a static address. Second, you need to tell the DHCP
server not to give that address to anybody else on the network.

Most DHCP servers can be configured to always give a fixed IP address to
a certain MAC (hardware) address. The MAC address is a unique ID built
into each Ethernet interface--the JetDirect's MAC is shown on the web
interface under Device Info/Hardware Address. (It's also probably
printed on a label stuck to the card and shown on a self-test page).

This is a nice option: leave the JetDirect as-is (DHCP) and set your
3Com's DHCP server to give out a fixed address to the JetDirect.

-

An alternative is to use the Manual option on your JetDirect and just
give it the static address yourself. That should work okay, as long as
the printer remains on. If the printer loses power, the 3Com may give
the IP address to something else on the network. When the JetDirect
comes back on, it won't be able to work because the IP address it's
trying to use is already taken.

-

One last thing to mention on this already too-long note. That is the
final variation: manual static IP address for the JetDirect, and
configure the DHCP server to not have that address in the assignable
pool. For example: configure DHCP to only assign addresses 192.168.0.1
through 192.168.0.240. This leaves the 192.168.0.241 to .254 range free
so you could manually assign any of those addresses to the JetDirect.

Many thanks for your clear and comprehensive explanation.