User`s guide

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Section 3.1.8: NetWare File Servers in a WAN
How the NIC Searches for File Servers
When you turn on the printer, the NIC checks all file servers within a 4-hop area to
determine if the NIC is identified as the file server’s print server device. The file servers
must have an assigned print queue and printer identified.
If there are no file servers on which the NIC is listed as a print server device within a 4-
hop area, the NIC continues the search on the entire network.
As soon as the NIC reaches the 4-hop limit, it prints the NIC Status page (if this page is
enabled), regardless of whether it has completed its search for file servers. The NIC Status
page is a snapshot of the state of the NIC at the instant the NIC reaches the 4-hop limit.
For example, the NIC Status page says "Novell inactive" when the actual case is that the
NIC is still searching for the Novell file server. Use the NPmanage utility’s Show
Attached File Servers function to monitor the NIC’s progress in attaching to file servers
beyond the 4-hop limit.
One consequence of the 4-hop limit is that if a file server within the limit were off-line
when the NIC was searching for it, the NIC may have already started searching the entire
network when the file server comes back on line. The NIC may not find the file server
immediately because it completes the search of the network before returning to the 4-hop
locus. You may want to interrupt the search and begin again by turning the printer off and
on again.
If your network has a file server within the 4-hop limit but the NIC does not attach to it,
check that the file server is configured completely and running properly. Then power the
printer off and on again. The NIC begins the search again.
Using a Primary File Server
In a large or complex network, the NIC could search a long time for its file servers. To
search more efficiently, designate a “primary file server”. The primary file server contains
a list of all file servers that recognize the NIC as a print server device.
Using a primary file server changes the NIC’s search. Instead of logging into and
checking every file server it finds, the NIC searches in that manner until it finds the
primary file server and then uses primary file server’s list to find and attach to the other
file servers. As long as the primary file server is within 4 hops, the file servers on the list
can be anywhere else on the network.
The list is exclusive; if a file server is not on the list, the NIC can not attach to it. If the
NIC has already attached to a file server and it is not on the list, the NIC logs out of that
file server.