how to find a local printer on a network

Hi all,

I'm in a situation where I can see a network printer,
I can touch it, I can smell it even, but no one
will tell me what its IP address is, nor its hostname.

Is there an innocuous way to determine what network
device(s) in my local network is/are the printer, and to get
a hostname for it so that I can add them to my hosts file?

Also, is this not the purpose of a directory service,
to help people learn what resources are available?
If so, how do I get a list, if the directory is,
for instance Windows based?

Thanks,
YF

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:22:22 -0700, <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> If so, how do I get a list, if the directory is,
> for instance Windows based?

Samba in client mode, smbclient at the command line, but you will
also have to set up samba to find the master browser (Windows
directory term, nothing to do with http) for your network.

From: <(E-Mail Removed)>

| Hi all,
|
| I'm in a situation where I can see a network printer,
| I can touch it, I can smell it even, but no one
| will tell me what its IP address is, nor its hostname.
|
| Is there an innocuous way to determine what network
| device(s) in my local network is/are the printer, and to get
| a hostname for it so that I can add them to my hosts file?
|
| Also, is this not the purpose of a directory service,
| to help people learn what resources are available?
| If so, how do I get a list, if the directory is,
| for instance Windows based?
|
| Thanks,
| YF

Most Print Servers will have TCP port 9100 open. You can test to see if that port is open
on an IP address. You v\can then use that IP address. You don't have to use the host name
and it isn't a good idea to add the host to your hosts table becuase it is a staic table and
if the host name changes you would have problems.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm

(E-Mail Removed) writes:

>Hi all,

>I'm in a situation where I can see a network printer,
>I can touch it, I can smell it even, but no one
>will tell me what its IP address is, nor its hostname.

>Is there an innocuous way to determine what network
>device(s) in my local network is/are the printer, and to get
>a hostname for it so that I can add them to my hosts file?

Look in the manual for the printer. It will tell you what its IP address
is. Make sure that none of your other machines have the same IP address.
hostname is up to you. It is addressed by IP address. So you can put
whatever you want into your /etc/hosts file. Call it blondie. What has to
be right is the ip address.



>Also, is this not the purpose of a directory service,
>to help people learn what resources are available?

They have to be set up.

>If so, how do I get a list, if the directory is,
>for instance Windows based?

>Thanks,
>YF

Unruh wrote:

> Look in the manual for the printer. It will tell you what its IP address
> is. Make sure that none of your other machines have the same IP address.
> hostname is up to you. It is addressed by IP address. So you can put
> whatever you want into your /etc/hosts file. Call it blondie. What has to
> be right is the ip address.

Every network printer I've seen, requires you to set the IP address.
Imagine what would happen, if all the printers had the same IP address.

James Knott <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

>Unruh wrote:

>> Look in the manual for the printer. It will tell you what its IP address
>> is. Make sure that none of your other machines have the same IP address.
>> hostname is up to you. It is addressed by IP address. So you can put
>> whatever you want into your /etc/hosts file. Call it blondie. What has to
>> be right is the ip address.

>Every network printer I've seen, requires you to set the IP address.
>Imagine what would happen, if all the printers had the same IP address.

That is why the private network addresses exist. Anyone can use 10.x.x.x or
192.168.x.x . They will never be routed across the net.
Yes, it may well be that there is some way of assigning an IP address to
the printer. But often it already has one, which you can change-- one from
one of the private ranges.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm in a situation where I can see a network printer,
> I can touch it, I can smell it even, but no one
> will tell me what its IP address is, nor its hostname.
>
> Is there an innocuous way to determine what network
> device(s) in my local network is/are the printer, and to get
> a hostname for it so that I can add them to my hosts file?
>
> Also, is this not the purpose of a directory service,
> to help people learn what resources are available?
> If so, how do I get a list, if the directory is,
> for instance Windows based?
>
> Thanks,
> YF
>

Set up a network sniffer, e.g. Ethereal or tcpdump
and switch off and back on the printer. It should
send a couple of ARP requests for its own IP
address on start, 'gratuitous ARP'. You should
be able to see the ARP's in the network sniffer
scan.

HTH

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

Unruh wrote:

>>> Look in the manual for the printer. It will tell you what its IP address
>>> is. Make sure that none of your other machines have the same IP address.
>>> hostname is up to you. It is addressed by IP address. So you can put
>>> whatever you want into your /etc/hosts file. Call it blondie. What has
>>> to be right is the ip address.
>
>>Every network printer I've seen, requires you to set the IP address.
>>Imagine what would happen, if all the printers had the same IP address.
>
> That is why the private network addresses exist. Anyone can use 10.x.x.x
> or 192.168.x.x . They will never be routed across the net.
> Yes, it may well be that there is some way of assigning an IP address to
> the printer. But often it already has one, which you can change-- one from
> one of the private ranges.

????

My comment was in reference to your claim that the IP address should be in
the manual. It won't be there, unless someone has written it there. In
many offices, there will be several printers of the same model. If they
all come with the same address, there will be problems. This is why they
must be configured, before they're put on line. For example, I recently
installed some Lexmark network printers. Before you can use it, it has to
have items such as protocol, IP address, host name etc., set. Otherwise,
it won't be usable. This has absolutely nothing to do with RFC1918
addresses. There is absolutely no reason why you can't assign any valid IP
address to a printer.

BTW, on these printers and many others, there's this little thing called an
"operator panel", where there's a display and some buttons, which can be
used to configure the printer.

Tauno Voipio wrote:

> Set up a network sniffer, e.g. Ethereal or tcpdump
> and switch off and back on the printer. It should
> send a couple of ARP requests for its own IP
> address on start, 'gratuitous ARP'. You should
> be able to see the ARP's in the network sniffer
> scan.

While it may be possible to determine the address, I have to wonder about
this situation. If they won't give him the info, perhaps they don't want
him to use that printer.

Actually, they finally gave me 2 IPs for 2 printers.

However, I tried using netcat thus

nc IPADDR 35 < file.ps
nc IPADDR 515 < file.ps

and neither work. Harrumph...

Mind you, I also have Windows, and it can't find the
printers either. They actually have said that to print,
I have to use their "driver" CD.