SNMP Condition

SNMP is a communication protocol for helping network administrators manage devices and peripherals on their network. It is useful for verifying the status of network printers, as you can retrieve error and other status messages that printers send out, such as being out of paper or having low toner.

PReS Workflow uses the SNMP protocol in the form of an SNMP Condition, in two ways:

  • To check the status of printers on your network against values you set in a condition, and to return a true or false value. This is called setting a Printer condition in the SNMP condition's Properties dialog box.
  • To check different values of printers or other SNMP compatible devices against conditions you set, to return a true or false value. This is called setting a User defined condition in the SNMP condition's Properties dialog box. You indicate what is called management information bases (MIB) and object identifiers (OID) that are extensible and can be vendor specific.

Management Information Base Object Identifiers

A Management Information Base (MIB) is a database of Object Identifiers (OIDs) that can be used to monitor device objects using SNMP. An MIB OID can point be a printer tray, cartridge or hard disk, or to modem mode. Using an SNMP condition, PReS Workflow can communicate with a device located at a given IP address and request the status of the object identified by a given MIB OID number. Object Identifiers are typically assigned and registered by device manufacturers. They are based on a standard known as Abstract Syntax Notation One (often referred to as the ASN.1 standard).

Task properties

General Tab

  • Parameters group
    • Community: Enter the community name for the printer or other SNMP compliant device you want to monitor. A community acts like a combination of a user and password granting you access to an SNMP device. Depending on the community name, the device knows what rights to grant, for example, read-only or read-write. Community names serve as a form of organization and security used with SNMP. The community name must allow sufficient access to the SNMP device to monitor it with the condition. Most SNMP devices come with a public community name that usually gives you read-only and/or read-write access. It is recommended to increase security on your network by entering community names allowing varying levels of access depending on the particular device, its users, etc. The community name tells the device which rights to grant PReS Workflow (required to perform the test).
    • IP address: Enter the IP address of the network printer (or other device) whose status is to be checked via SNMP.
    • Get info: Click to retrieve information corresponding to the IP address you entered. If the information is successfully retrieved and it corresponds to a printer, the Host name and Description of the printer (or other device) appears in the corresponding boxes.
    • Host name: When you click Get info, if PReS Workflow is able to communicate with the device, it displays its name here.
    • Description: When you click Get info, if PReS Workflow is able to communicate with the device, it displays its description here.
    • Condition type: Select Printer Queue to test a standard printer status condition or User Defined to test a status identified using a printer specific identification code. Bear in mind that the failure to comply with any of the test conditions selected below will make the whole condition False.
  • Printer Queue group (displayed when Printer Queue is selected in the Condition Type box)
    • Printer status: Select Idle or Printing to test whether the printer is currently idle or printing. Select Do not test if you only want to test the printer’s alert status (below).
    • Alert status: Select No alert to make the condition False whenever an alert situation is detected, regardless of its type or severity. Select No critical alert to make the condition False whenever a critical alert is detected, regardless of its type. Select Non-critical alert to choose a specific non-critical alert in the Detected error box. Select Critical alert to choose a specific critical alert in the Detected error box. Select Do not test if you only want to test the printer status (above).
    • Detected error: Select a specific non-critical or critical alert. Note that this box is only displayed if you selected either Non-critical alert or Critical alert in the Alert Status box.
  • User Defined (displayed when User Defined is selected in the Condition Type box)
    • MIB OID number: Enter the Management Information Base Object Identifier corresponding to the object you want to test. Vendors of SNMP compliant devices sometimes list MIB OIDs in their documentation.
    • Test: Click to test communication with the device and the MIB OID number.
    • Operator: Select the operator used to test the condition.
    • Value: Enter a specific object status. Vendors of SNMP compliant devices sometimes list possible object states in their documentation.
    • Invert condition result: Select to toggle the result of the whole SNMP condition (true becomes false and vice versa).

On Error Tab

For a description of the options on the On Error tab see Using the On Error tab.

Miscellaneous Tab

The Miscellaneous tab is common to all tasks.

It contains a text area (Task comments) that lets you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with the OK button and are displayed in The Task Comments Pane.

Check the option Use as step description to display the text next to the icon of the plugin in the Process area.

The tab also provides an option to highlight the task in The Process area with the default color, set in the Preferences (see Colors), or the color selected or defined under Highlight color on this tab.
To revert the selected highlight color to the default color, open this tab, turn the Highlight option off and close the dialog with the OK button; then turn highlighting back on.
Highlighting can also be turned on and off via the task's contextual menu and with the Highlight button on the View ribbon.