Hardware Installation Notes

Setting Up Lantronix EPS Print Servers

The EPS1 and EPS2 line of Lantronix print servers support network attachment and sharing of traditional parallel and serial printers via a number of protocols, including the TCP/IP-based LPR/LPD protocol, which, for the purposes of this note, are the protocols we are interested in.

Depending on the model chosen, you can connect one parallel printer and one serial printer, two parallel printers and one serial printer, two parallel printers and two serial printers, or four parallel printers and two serial printers. Also, depending on the model chosen, you can get a 10 Mbps Ethernet connection or an 100 Mbps connection.

The steps for setting up the EPS1 and EPS2 print servers are identical, while the steps for setting up the EPS2-100 and EPS4-100 print server are also identical. All four servers operate the same and there are a lot of similarities in how they are administered. This note outlines how to set up these servers and assign one or more print queues to the connected devices so that network clients can print to them.

Initial Setup

If you are starting with a brand-new print server, you may be able to carry out a TCP converstion with it at the factory default IP address (reportedly 192.168.1.1). Rather than messing around, we have always found it to be much easier to reset the print server and start out by assigning an IP address right off the bat, before we try to do anything else. If you are setting up a pre-owned print server, this will definitely be your preferred route, since you probably won't know what IP address the server was given (nor will it necessarily fit into your network's subnetting scheme, even if you do know it).

To reset the EPS1/EPS2 to factory defaults:

  1. Unplug the EPS1/EPS2.
  2. Set the switch labeled "Factory NVR/Normal", on the bottom of the unit, to the number 1 position.
  3. Plug in the EPS1/EPS2 and let it boot up.
  4. After 20 seconds you can set the "Factory NVR/Normal" switch back to position 0.

To reset the EPS2-100/EPS4-100 to factory defaults:

  1. Unplug the EPS2-100/EPS4-100.
  2. Press and hold in the TEST or RESET button. A pen tip or small screwdriver can be used to reach it through the hole in the case. You will feel a distinct click, when it is depressed, although it has very little travel.
  3. Plug in or turn on the EPS2-100/EPS4-100 while holding in the TEST or RESET button.
  4. Count to 20 and release the button. The EPS2-100/EPS4-100 will go through a reload sequence (the panel lights will flash in a different pattern from the normal startup sequence). Once that completes the unit will be reset to factory defaults.

The next step is to assign an IP address to the print server. Note that EZWebCon cannot be used to assign an initial IP address because the print server must have an IP address before EZWebCon can talk to it.

The easiest way to assign an initial IP address is to plug the server in to a network that has a DHCP server on it. Then, when the server is powered up the first time after being reset, it will grab an IP address from the DHCP server.

If you go this route (even if it is not your intention but you simply plug the server into a network that has a DHCP server on it), pay no attention to the Lantronix Installation Guide where it says you can set the IP address via a directed ping packet. This only works if there is no IP address set into the print server. Since DHCP is available and the print server immediately tries DHCP, as soon as it starts up, there will always be an IP address set so the directed ping packet always fails.

If there is no DHCP server available, you can try using the directed ping technique to set an IP address. You must do this within the first two minutes of startup so set up your system's ARP table first and get the ping ready to go, before you power up the print server. You will need the MAC address, which can be found on the sticker on the bottom of the device, to set up the ARP table. Pick whatever IP address you want to use. Here's an example of how to do it on Linux:

su
/sbin/arp -s 192.168.1.155 00:80:A3:66:F6:65
ping 192.168.1.155

The directed ping may still fail to set the IP address, if the reset sets the IP address to the default 192.168.1.1 so don't expect much. As we said, having your DHCP server assign an IP address is the best approach, especially since the directed ping approach only sets a temporary address that will go away with the next reboot.

The next thing to do is figure out what IP address the print server is using. If you set the address via directed ping or are using the default 192.168.1.1, you are good to go. Otherwise, you need to consult your DHCP server to get the assigned IP address. If your DHCP server is a Linux box, the assigned IP addresses are usually stored in /var/db/dhcpd.leases, which is a text file that can be examined with your favorite text editor.

Once you know what the print server's current IP address is, you'll want to set it to a permanent, static IP address of your choice, particularly if you used the directed ping method. You can try changing the IP address using EZWebCon or the Web UI. We prefer to use telnet because it always works (and, besides, real sysadmins don't use Java apps or Web UIs).

Aim your telnet application at the print server's IP address. Once you get there, the initial login name is "gopher" (actually, you can use any name but "gopher" is traditional). The default, secret password for privileged mode is "system":

[root@mysystem ~]telnet 192.168.1.155
Trying 192.168.1.155...
Connected to 192.168.1.155.
Escape character is '^]'.
Lantronix EPS2-100 Version V3.7/1(031017)
Type HELP at the 'Local_6> ' prompt for assistance.
Username> gopher
Local_6> set privileged
Password>
Local_6>> ...

Once you see the double arrow prompt, set the IP address and subnet mask:

Local_6>> define server ipaddress 192.168.1.66
Local_6>> define server subnet 255.255.255.0

Setting a static IP address automagically turns off DHCP (and conversely, in violation of the principal of least astonishment, turning off DHCP clears the IP address). You may want to disable all of the other startup methods like this:

Local_6>> define server bootp disabled
Local_6>> define server rarp disabled

If you want to change the server's name (maximum 13 characters, despite the manual's saying 16), you can do it like this:

Local_6>> define server name mrprint

None of the changes will take place until you logout and reboot the server. In lieu of the sledge hammer approach ("crash 451"), we prefer to log out and then power the server off/on:

Local_6>> logout
LOGOUT
Exiting the Lantronix EPS2-100
Connection closed by foreign host.

Further Setup

The EPS series print servers can be set up using EZWebCon, which is the Lantronix, Java-based printer control application. You can find the latest (final) revision of this program on the Lantronix legacy products Web site:

http://www.lantronix.com/support/discontinued.html

Rather than installing the Java interpreter and monkeying around with getting EZWebCon up and running, we prefer to use the Web UI. Although you can also do everything via telnet, for the further setup steps, the Web UI is the easiest option (despite what we said about real sysadmins, above).

Once the print server is up and running, with a known IP address, simply aim your browser at it. You will see the home page, which gives a bunch of status information. If a password is required, it is probably the default password "access".

You can surf over to the other setup pages by clicking the choices on the left. If a userid and password are required, the userid is "root" and the default password is "system". Entering this userid/password combination should get you all the power you need.

Note that we experienced problems entering the root userid and password when we accessed the server through the Web UI, using a hostname (despite the fact that the hostname was resolved through an entry in /etc/hosts). If you want to avoid these kind of antics, you should always use an IP address to reach the print server.

The "Server Properties" page is good because from there you can disable all of the other printing protocols in one fell swoop. We turn off: Novell; AppleTalk; LAT; MOP; and LanMan. The only protocol that we leave on is TCP/IP. From the "TCP/IP" page, we make sure that "Enable WINS" is not checked.

Port Setup

The "Port Properties" page will allow you to set up the properties for each physical port. When you click the link, you are taken to a page that lets you configure each of the physical ports. From that page, you click the "Configure" link of each of the physical ports to set them up.

For parallel ports, we make sure that all of these boxes are unchecked: "Bitronics"; "DSR Logout"; "Inactivity Logout"; "Incoming Password Req"; and "Signal Check". Don't forget to click the "Update Port Settings" button when you're done.

For serial ports (the only use we make of them is to drive an HP pen plotter such as the HP7580A), we set the speed to "9600" and the Char/Stop/Parity fields to "8/1/none" (the plotter is identically configured). Access is set to "dynamic" and Flow is set to "xonxoff", "ctsrts" or "none", as required by the connected device. For HP plotters, for example, we make sure that "ctsrts" is used and that the appropriate plotter setup string is sent by the driver, to turn on the use of CTS/RTS by the plotter. We make sure that all of these boxes are unchecked: "Command Completion"; "Incoming Password Req"; "Inactivity Logout"; "DSR Logout"; "Signal Check"; "DTR Wait"; "Printer"; "Password"; and "Passflow". Don't forget to click the "Update Port Settings" button when you're done.

Note that, if we only have one serial device attached to the EPS2-100 or EPS4-100 print servers, we use Port 2, thereby leaving Port 1 free for use as a service console port, just in case.

Service/Queue Setup

Depending on the firmware installed on the print server, we have seen the print queues identified as either "queues" or "services". Regardless of how they are named, the operation of the queues/services are the same. The print server listens on the well-known TCP port for the LPD protocol and the clients contact it to handle print jobs. As part of the handshake used to set up the print job, the client sends the server the name of the queue/service that it wants the print job to be sent to. The print server takes care of local buffering, etc. and sends the output to the physical port that is mapped to the queue/service.

The upshot of this arrangement is that the clients of the print server know nothing about the physical port arrangement on the server. They just connect to the print queue/service that describes the type of printing they want to do (e.g. "Laser", "Dotty", "Inkypoo", "MrPlotter"). During print server setup, you get to map these names to the physical ports.

Lantronix, in an attempt to be helpful, automatically defines print queue/service names for each port, when the server is reset or whenever the server name changes. These names consist of the name of the server, with a port identifier appended to them (since the appended identifier is three characters long, and since print queue/service names cannot be more than 16 characters long, this is the real reason for the 13-character limit on server names, mentioned above). Basically, these names are bogus. So the plan used to set up the print queues/services is to define new ones with meaningful names and then delete the gratis Lantronix names.

Begin by selecting the Queues or Services item from the left-hand menu. This should get you a page that shows you the queues/services available. Fill in the meaningful name of your new queue/service (note that, under LPD, queue/service names are case sensitive) and then click on the "Create" button. Then, click the "Configure" link.

Once the configure page comes up, clear the "Access Password", "Start of Job String", and "End of Job String". Uncheck all of the "Characteristics" boxes, especially the "Postscript" and "Postscript Convert" boxes. One more guy in the chain monkeying with Postscript? Who needs that? Under "Protocols", uncheck everything except "RTEL". In Lantronix-speak, RTEL equals LPR/LPD. Fill in the physical port number of the print server port that the corresponding printer is actually connected to. Make sure the "Telnet" port is set to "None". If anyone will be sending raw data to the queue/service, you may need to set the "TCP Port" to something that the clients can use (e.g. 10001). Otherwise, it should be set to "None". We like to set the "Identification String" to the same name as the queue/service name. Don't forget to click the "Update Service Settings" or "Update Queue Settings" button, when you're done.

You should select the Queues or Services item from the left-hand menu again, whereupon you'll see your new queue/service. If it is there, you can safely delete the automatically-defined queue/service name (e.g. myserv_P1).

When it comes time to set up a client that uses the print server, you specify the queue/service name along with the print server's name. For example, when setting up a CUPS printer, specify the "Device URI" like this: lpd://myserv/Laser

There are complete instructions detailing exactly how to proceed under various OS scenarios, in the CUPS Networked Printer Setup notes found herein.

That's all there is to it. Once you've added all of the queues/services to the print server, you should be good to go. Happy printing.