HP JetAdmin 2.33 may cause ARP Storm on Network

• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.51, 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.51, 4.0
• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

SUMMARY

When you diagnose network traffic using a network analyzer, a large series of address resolution protocols (ARPs) in sequential order may be detected. This problem can cause network access and traffic to and from all hosts to become temporarily disrupted. One of the possible causes of this behavior is the result of Hewlett Packard's JetAdmin JetDirect discovery tool, which is silently installed when a Hewlett Packard published driver is installed in Windows from a disk. One of Hewlett Packard's JetAdmin 2.33 methods to discover all JetDirect devices (printers) running TCP/IP requires that a ping be sent to every address in the subnet. Although this may provide a very thorough list of devices, it can also generate a huge amount of network traffic. Take, for example, a Class A network address. If JetAdmin were to run, approximately 7 million packets, in succession, will be transmitted upon startup of this utility.

WORKAROUND

There are two possible resolutions to this issue:

• Download JetAdmin version 2.40 from Hewlett Packard's Web site. Hewlett Packard's JetAdmin version 2.40 also provides discovery of printers through broadcasts, as well as the ping method described above. Additionally, the ping method has been modified in version 2.40 so that it will, by default, not send pings to more than 2000 addresses without modifying the registry.

  -or-




• WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  
  For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
  
  Hewlett Packard's JetAdmin Tool version 2.33 is designed to work in the manner described. On the majority of networks where Class C subnets are used, this behavior will not be a problem because of the small number of broadcasts generated. However, if you have a subnetted class B or class A network, Microsoft recommends that you contact Hewlett Packard for further support. To disable this feature, a change in the Registry must be made. To make this change, perform the following steps:
  
  
  
  1. Start the Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe for Windows NT and Regedit.exe for Windows 95).
  
  
  
  2. Change the following key located under:

     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Hewlett-Packard\HPJetAdmin\TCPIP

     Change the Value for NoSubnetSearch to 1.
  
  
  
  3. In addition, if you run the JetAdmin application, the following option can be selected and disabled or enabled:

     Options\Preferences\TCPIP Discovery\Broadcast

  
  
  

Additional query words: crash hang storm

Keywords : kb3rdparty kbinterop kbnetwork kbusage nttcp NTSrvWkst
Version : WINDOWS:95; winnt:3.51,4.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type :