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Northern Illinois University

Information Technology Services

ITS Printer Agent Request Instructions

This page provides instructions for providing the information required for the ITS Printer Agent Request form.

Contents

Introduction

The Printer Agent Setup Request form will require specific pieces of information. This information must be accurate for the agent to be set up properly. If (after reading these instructions), you have any further questions, please contact your LAN Administrator or the ITS Customer Support Center at 815-753-8100.

Please be aware that agents cannot be set up until the printer is on site and connected to the NIU network via a live network connection. If there is not a suitable live network connection in place already, please submit a work order to request a new network connection before proceeding. Once a connection has been installed, connect the printer and proceed with processing the form.

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Obtaining the Hardware (MAC) Address

Hardware addresses (also called MAC [Media Access Card] addresses) are usually printed on a printer test page. Addresses are composed of twelve hexadecimal digits (hexadecimal digits are the digits "0" through "9" and the letters"a" through "f"). Addresses are often formatted with dashes ("-") or colons (":") separating pairs of digits (example: "0a-56-f7-2b-01-8c" or "0a:56:f7:2b:01:8c"). These formatting marks are not required, however.

If your printer is manufactured by Hewlett Packard (HP), further information regarding printing a test configuration page is available from the HP website.

For further assistance regarding printers from other manufacturers, please consult the printer's documentation or manufacturer's website.

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Obtaining the Manufacturer and Model

The manufacturer and model for a printer are usually displayed on the printer itself. It may also be displayed on the placard where the printer's serial number is displayed. This information is also usually displayed on a printer test or configuration page.

Please be aware that this information should be as complete as possible and will usually be composed of two parts:

  1. Manufacturer (such as "Hewlett Packard")
  2. Model, often a composition of model line and model number (such as "LaserJet 5 SiMX")

Please be aware that if the printer is not manufactured by Hewlett-Packard (HP), then please expect delays for additional preparation work.

Any printers that are manufactured by Canon may require different processing. Please contact ITS Document Services (email: itsdocuments@niu.edu or phone 815-753-1692) before proceeding.

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Obtaining the Subnet

The Subnet is the portion of the network where the printer will reside. In most cases, it will be the same portion of the network as the computers located near the printer. As such, please provide the subnet for the computer connected to a network jack closest to the network jack where the printer is installed.

If this is a Windows XP/2000 system, perform the following steps in order to find the subnet:

  1. Click on Start and select Run.
  2. Type in “cmd” (without the quotes) and press Enter.
  3. A command shell window will open. At this point, type “ipconfig” (without the quotes) and press Enter.
  4. The command window should now contain various pieces of information regarding this computer's network configuration. The specific information you need is located on the line "IP Address". IP Addresses consist of four numbers separated by a period. Valid IP Addresses on the NIU Network should begin with "131.156."
  5. The third number in the IP Address is the subnet for this computer. For example, if the IP Address was "131.156.7.149", the subnet would be 7.

If you experience difficulties locating this information, please contact your primary support technician. You may also contact the ITS Customer Support Center at 815-753-8100.

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Obtaining the NDS Context

In most cases, the printer agent will reside in the same network container as the primary users of the printer. Therefore, the context for the primary user is probably the context that the printer agent will require (unless the LAN Admin has reason to process the printer differently). Note that students and student employees are automatically stored in a separate network container than employees. Therefore, do not use the context for students or student employees when determining printer agent context.

Use the following steps to find the context for a few primary users for the printer:

  1. Go to www.logonid.niu.edu.
  2. Select the link to "Look up your LogonID".
  3. Enter the LogonID (such as "A10ABC1") for a primary user in the "LogonID" field and select "Next".
  4. Note the result displayed in the "User" column. The context is all information after the LogonID For example, if the user was displayed as "A10ABC1.ACS.CTS.DK.NIU", then the context would be ".ACS.CTS.DK.NIU".

Take a small sampling of the primary users for the printer. If the samples all result in the same context, then it is usually a safe assumption that this context will be the proper context for the printer agent. If sampling results vary, please contact your LAN Administrator or the ITS Customer Support Center (815-753-8100) for further assistance in determining the proper context.

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