Printing from S/36 or AS/36 Fails when Using Host Print Server

• Microsoft SNA Server, versions 3.0, 3.0 Service Pack 1, 3.0 Service Pack 2, 3.0 Service Pack 3, 4.0, and 4.0 Service Pack 1

SYMPTOMS

The Host Print Server introduced with SNA Server 3.0 is unable to successfully print data from System/36 (S/36) or Advanced System/36 (AS/36) systems. If an Advanced Program-to-Program Communications (APPC) print session is defined for use with an S/36 or AS/36 system, the APPC print session will usually stay in an Inactive or Pending state in SNA Server Manager when it attempts to activate.

CAUSE

The Host Print Server was not originally designed to differentiate between AS/400 and S/36 (or AS/36) printing. Therefore, it does not send the correct Program Initialization Parameter (PIP) data to S/36 or AS/36 systems to allow for successful initialization of a print device on these systems.

SNA Server 3.0 Service Pack 2 added an update that allowed the System Type for APPC print sessions to be specified as either AS/400 or System/36. This option was exposed under the APPC tab for an APPC print session in SNA Server Manager. When this option is set to System/36, S/36- and AS/36- specific PIP data is set to the remote system.

In addition to this change, additional testing revealed that additional modifications were needed to allow for additional S/36- and AS/36-specific PIP data, and to allow the print sessions to be properly de-allocated and closed.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SNA Server version 4.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q215838 How to Obtain the Latest SNA Server Version 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server versions 3.0 and 4.0. This problem was first corrected in SNA Server version 4.0 Service Pack 3.

MORE INFORMATION

After applying the update, the APPC print session needs to be configured with the System Type set to System/36 in SNA Server Manager under the APPC tab of the Print Session Properties dialog box. This causes the Host Print Server to send the correct PIP data to the S/36 or AS/36 system to initiate the print session. In addition, the AS/400 Device Name parameter under the APPC tab of the Print Session Properties dialog box must be set to a two- digit value that specifies the Target-ID of the S/36 or AS/36 system.

Additional query words:

Keywords : sna4sp3fix
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.0SP1,3.0SP2,3.0SP3,4.0,4.0SP1
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug