HP Network Scanner Folder Issues - SonicWall Router/CentOS Server/Win 7 Clients

pranaman

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Hi,

I am working with a couple of guys out of state who set up a network with a Linux CentOS server, some Win7 clients, and a SonicWall router.

They had a Ricoh Savin, and it was set up to scan to network folders. Part of the machine broke, so I brought in a brand new HP MFP M479fdn printer, and it prints fine. However, in trying to set up the scanner to scan to a network folder, it doesn't work.

I am told they connected to the router from the server via ssh and are unable to ping the printer's IP address, so, can't do much. I tried a lot of things. Resets, drivers, software, but it still is not seen properly. I tried through the IP address in the web (the Embedded Web Server (EWS)), and through the HP software.

Getting: "error. Your printer cannot connect the network. Press Edit to correct server name and address.". Turned on SMB 1.0 in Windows and on the printer (it was off). No difference.

Not sure if it's the HP, router, server, or something else. Anyone heard of such a thing and have any idea what it is and how to fix it?
 

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First, does your printer have an IP address? Is it getting that address from DHCP or is it statically coded at it's display window? How is the printer connected to the network? Wifi or ethernet (cord)? Can you ping the printer from the server? You won't be able to do ANYTHING until the server and printer can talk to each other. They do that via IP address.

Since you've mentioned they have a CentOS server, I'm assuming you want the printer configured on said server. That being the case, SMB won't help you. So go ahead and disable it. It wouldn't help you with Windows 7 desktops anyways since MS stopped using way back in Windows XP, if not before.
 
Yes, I've statically assigned an IP address to it that fits in with the schema of other devices.

The printer, and everything else there is cabled. It's an ethernet only environment. wifi has not been enabled.

Thanks for the tip on SMB. Our out of state network engineer said he cannot ping the printer from the server, but he can ping other devices, which seems to make it our current mystery.
 
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Ok, so one thing to try is swapping cables for the printer. It could be a bad network cable, it happens. Brand new cables can be faulty. Do the swap with a known good cable.

The other thing to try is double checking the printer IP settings (including gateway and mask) minor typos can keep them from being accessible. If possible, allow it to get an IP via DHCP.
 
I used the same cable that was used with the previous printer, which scanned to the network. Same issue with another printer, an HP 276.

Some other details, this office connects with another office about 30 miles away. Similar setup. Network shares are similar in both locations. They also both have a sonicwall router and a few W7 clients. Same kind of linux server, but the one there is the main server. I was told the server in the office I was in was not fully set up yet.

From a printer report, the WINS primary server is picking up the one that is in the office 30 miles away. Everything else points to local server and router.

The printer is getting its IP from DHCP and I can ping it from a W7 client.

From the sonicwall router I can ping clients and the server, but not the printer as shown in the pic.
 

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For simplification, lets call the office with the printer the local office and the office that's 30 miles away the remote office.
If at all possible we need to isolate the printer issue to the local office before we start worrying about the remote office.

1) So where is the server that you're wanting the documents scanned to or from? Is it in the same office as the printer?
2) You said originally, you bought the new printer and "it prints fine". Does that mean you can print from the client desktops fine?
3) is there a print server that the clients print to and it manages the print queue? If so, where is that server, same office or is it in the remote office?
4) Can all the devices in the local office ping the printer? Is it only the Sonic Wall that can't ping it?
5) where are the Win7 clients? Local office?
 
ok, sounds like a plan.
1. Most activity goes through the remote server as the setup for the local physical (and virtual) server(s) have not been finished. I've been advised that the only locally configured client service is DNS.
2. Yes, they can print from all local client desktops just fine.
3. I don't know yet. Working on getting that info.
4. Yes, all devices in the local office ping the printer, except the SonicWall
5. There are Win7 clients in both the local and remote offices. Since the remote office uses a Ricoh Savin, and it works, we've only been working with local clients at the local site.
 
It sounds like we've narrowed it down to just the communication between the Sonic Wall and the printer itself. So now you need to figure out how to get the Sonic Wall to see the printer. Once the router can see the printer, it should then allow traffic to flow thru it to the remote office where the documents are.

1) Are the Sonic Wall and the printer on the same subnet? both on 192.168.0.xxx (or whatever schema you're using)?
2) Can you compare the IP, Gateway and Subnet Mask of the new printer with that of the old printer?
3) Is it possible to give the new printer the same address as the one the old printer was configured with? Of course the old printer can't be on at the same time due to an IP conflict if they both have the same address at the same time.

Since the issue seems to be with the Sonic Wall seeing the printer, you may need to reach out to their support on this.
 
Hopefully we've narrowed it down as you've said. In regards to your questions:

1. I believe that all devices are on the same subnet. I'll be back later this week to verify.
2. I'll check the IP settings of the new printer with the old one. Also, the remote office has the same Ricoh printer, and a similar structure. I'll check there too.
3. I don't think so. The way the sonicwall is setup, DHCP connects/binds the MAC address with an IP address, so that IP is only for the old printer.

I'll look into how to involve SonicWall support if need be. Thank you.
 
Yes it may not be easy to get DHCP to assign the IP to the new printer, but it is possible, it's called MDHCP. Don't know if Sonic Wall allows it, but the way it works is you assign the IP to the MAC manually in the DHCP server, in this case Sonic Wall. Then when the device comes online, the DHCP server sees that MAC and gives it the desired IP. But for testing, you can statically assign the IP in the printer config. I'm wondering if there isn't some sort of firewall setting that allowed the old printer to go thru by IP but blocking the new printer on the new IP.
 
I haven't heard of MDHCP before. I think what you've explained is how the assigning is done in the SonicWall.

I spoke with SonicWall's support team, and they did some packet captures. They found there were dropped packets, multicast packets. They asked about VPNs, which are there as well.

Then we thought more of the remote office, and that there is another SonicWall there. I connected to that one too, and they worked on it, tried more packet captures as I tried to set up the network scanning.

I turned off multicasting on the printer, they corrected dropped packets, I restarted the router, switch, printer, turned off IP v6, set it to 100TX full, as recommended by HP, but it still simply won't ping from either SonicWall.

I got caught up with them, didn't get to test setting up a static IP yet. Sounds like a good idea. Planning for that on the next visit. Mulling over other options, including a conference call with SonicWall suggests and HP, which they suggest.
 
My company uses MDHCP for automating OS installations. We have thousands of servers and want them all built the same way. We have the OS repository on the network. Don't know the interface, but we supply the DNS guys the IP, MAC and OS name. Then when the new server comes online it does a network boot, PXE, finds out what it's IP and OS name are from the MDHCP and starts pulling down the OS installation data based on that. It's really cool.

Glad that you have some hope there with Sonic Wall and HP. I was starting to run out of ideas on what to look for next.

Keep us posted on your progress.
 

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