Logging HP Laserjet Printer to a linux machine

[Dave Ihnat]

On Fri, Feb 11, 2005 at 08:36:05AM -0500, Reuben D. Budiardja wrote:
> > You can setup a cron job to parse out the info..
> 
> Yeah I figure something like that should do it, just wondering if there's 
> better way. Thanks again.

Well, it depends on what the printer sends, and whether you can control
it.

Syslog allows you to specify where various levels of alerts--by "facility"
and "priority"--are sent, you know.  For instance, an excerpt of a
syslog.conf file:

    # Log all kernel messages to the console.
    # Logging much else clutters up the screen.
    #kern.*					/dev/console

    # Log security warnings separately
    kern.=info					/var/log/ipchains

    # Log AntiVir messages
    local1.*					/var/log/AntiVir

    # Log all the mail messages in one place.
    mail.*;mail.!=debug				/var/log/maillog

So what I'd do in your shoes is configure the syslog server address on
the printer, and see what facility and priority the messages are being
sent to.  If you're lucky, it's unique to the printer or at least the
printing subsystem.  If not--if it's a facility/priority used by other
services--see if there's *anything* in the HP docs or on the 'Net about
changing the facility/priority that the printer sends.

Only at the point that both of the above fail will you have to descend
to the cron job.

G'luck,
--
	Dave Ihnat
	ignatz at dminet.com