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HP Download Manager & JetDirect firmware upgrade

Robert Moore, DCC Psychology

What is Download Manager (DM)?

• The HP Download Manager allows the administrator to upgrade the network interface (the JetDirect card) in HP Printers. For the most part, these upgrades address security issues.
  • This should not be confused with updating the printer drivers. Drivers reside on the print server or more commonly on the clients (the user's computer.) Driver updates address functionality from the user's end.
  • Similarly, this should not be confused with the HP Firmware Upgrade which allows the user to upgrade the Printer Engine firmware in HP printers which address performance (rather than security) issues.

What is the Problem?

The firmware should be thought of as part of the HP JetDirect card fitted to networkable HP printers. The problem begins with the fact that these printers are just devices on a network with memory, programs, and (sometimes) hard drives.

Various problems can occur when the communications port in these printers is probed. In some cases, the printer may dump an error message and hang. In other cases, paper may spew out until the printer is powered down. Finally, an outside agent can use the hard drive in the printer for storage.

It does not matter whether the printer is configured as part of a Novell network or as part of a JetDirect printer network. Similarly, it does not matter if a Novell network is using Printer Objects or Queues. In any of these cases, the printer is vulnerable.

Who should be running Download Manager?

There are two types of networked printers on campus: (i) Those running on the Novell System and maintained by the Netware group in CIS, and (ii) all the others. If you fall in the first category, you need to do this until some group within CIS can assume that responsibility. If you fall in the second category, you need to do this. Period.

Where Do I get Download Manager?

Go to the HP JetDirect Download Manager software website and choose what to download by considering the operating system you are using and whether firmware upgrades are retrieved over the network or copied to a data base on your computer. Choose the bare "HP Download Manager" download and not any of the "firmware bundle" options or the "Current firmware readme" . . . (The "Current firmware readme" consists of tables of current firmware revision numbers for the various HP JetDirect cards. You do not need this, as the HP Download Manager is going to interrogate each printer, compare it to the current version, and retrieve the firmware as needed over the network.)

Download the appropriate version, watch where it is saved, click on that, and Download Manager will install. (As of 22 February, 2006, the current version is A.03.10)

I'm all set to try this . . . Is there anything else I need to know ??

When you run the Download Manager, you may see a padlock icon under the column labeled security. If so, whoever installed the printer will have identified it with an SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) Community String. This string functions as a password. You need to know this Community String to upgrade the firmware. If you are a DCC or System Administrator, and use Novell queues or printer objects, contact the Netware group in CIS for the community string.

Lets run the manager. Click on HP Download Manager under your Program menu.

• Select the gray box labeled Internet Mode
• WAIT while Searching for firmware catalog finishes
• Select the radio button labeled Automatic discovery (all networks known to this PC) and click on the box labeled Begin Discovery . . .

Which printers will be found using this method?

All HP printers which have a tcp/ip address associated with them that are on a network known to your PC. For example, all network devices in Psychology have addresses of the form 128.148.140.xxx since the PC in use has an address of that form, any printer whose address is of that form are found.