Configuration synchronisation

Table of Contents

  1. General
  2. Creating a configuration image
  3. Synchronisation

General

This module is intended to synchronise printer configurations registered in the cab Network Manager. Using this tool offers the following synchronisation possibilities:

Synchronisation is done by configuring printers according to a reference, a configuration image. A configuration image is a representation of the settings of a printer written to a file.

!Warning! Advice: The synchronisation of printer parameters works under normal conditions trouble-free. Problems may occur due to the synchronisation of printer setup parameters:

To avoid difficulties caused by an incorrect verification result or incorrect settings we recommend:

Consider also a manual verification, even when an automatic verification is implemented. !Warning!

Creating a configuration images

Before you can start to synchronise printers it is necessary to create a configuration image:

  1. Select a printer in the synoptical table
  2. Choose in the menu the module you are going to change
  3. Crosscheck the setting of the printer, adjust as necessary and press the "Image" button of the dialogue
  4. The display dialogue (see picture 1) offers the possibility to enter additional user specific information.
  5. Select a file and save
Information dialogue ...

Picture 1: Information dialogue - Enables to save additional user specific information, too

The setup configuration saves every entry in the setup tree. All displayed values in the tree will be saved. The synchronisation process will not change printer specific parameters like:

Parameters like

will be saved for documentation purposes.

!Warning! IMPORTANT: If a synchronisation changes the country settings the synchronisation has to be done a second time !Warning!

Concerning the image of the E-Mail Alerter settings, the alerts enabled and shown in the list like addresses or kind of alerts will be saved.

The SNMP configuration saves the current displayed settings for both users.

Synchronisation

To synchronise printers select "Configuration synchronisation" in the cab Network Manager menu and the synchronisation dialogue will be shown. The process is divided into two steps:

  1. Basis configuration of the transfer by selecting the configuration image and the printers to be synchronised. The image and the bookmark can be selected with the list box below their description and overview field respectively. To read more about creating a bookmark refer to the bookmark help page.
  2. Synchronisation via a status dialogue ...

Select bookmarks ...

Picture 2: File Synchronisation - Select your bookmarks. The left side shows information about the selected configuration. The right side gives information about the selected printers to be synchronised.

!Warning! Note: The displayed and available bookmarks and configurations will be automatically loaded. The file paths stored in the cab Network Manager preference are used as default path. !Warning!

To initiate the synchronisation select "synchronisation" in the tools menu or press it's related button in the toolbar. The Synchronisation-Status dialogue will become visible. The dialogue is divided into three tab registers and a progress overview display below the tab registers:

It is possible to switch between the tabs all the time to watch what is happening.

Picture 2 is showing the "Synchronisation" tab register. The table contains the printers stored in the selected bookmark and displaying their types, names, IP address and connection status.

The connection status will be displayed as a coloured dot:

A blue dot ... - The connection is not checked
A green dot ... - Printer is reachable
A red dot ... - Connection check has failed

The dot colour is per default blue, which means "not a checked connection". Pressing the "Check" button on the left hand side below the tab can perform a check. If a printer could be reached over the network its dot will become green, otherwise it would gain the colour red. A check can be started all the time and will be performed independently.

Once the synchronisation has been started it can be stopped by pressing the "Stop" button. It is the same button like "Start", but its context meaning and label has changed. The progress of the synchronisation will be shown below the tab register, showing two progress bars. The upper bar gives information about the transfer of files, the lower shows the general status.

Start synchronization ...

Picture 3: File Synchronisation - Start synchronisation

Pressing the "Start" button will initiate the synchronisation. All transfers concerning printer connection will be logged. The log can be viewed in register tab "Protocol". The log can be also be cleared or saved to a log file. Clearing and saving the log can be done by using the protocol menu entry and by using the pop-up menu of the log text area.

View synchronization log ...

Picture 4: File Synchronisation - View synchronisation log

After the synchronisation printers will be sorted in groups of successful or failed processes, see picture 4. The status entry of a printer uses also a coloured dot to display the result:

Successful
A green dot ... - Transfer completed and verified

!Warning! Note: A verification of the synchronisation will be automatically performed after a transfer. The "Successful" and "Failed" processes are showing already the final result compared with the file synchronisation. !Warning!

Failed
A red dot ... - Transfer failed

!Warning! Information: A transfer commonly fails due to an I/O error like a connection loss. !Warning!

With the retry functionality a printer in the "Failed" group can be moved back to the synchronisation register tab to start over.

Synchronization evaluation ...

Picture 5: File Synchronisation - Status