SAP BASIS SPOOLING : Printing problems and general issues

SAP BASIS Printing problems : General Issues

How to Resolve SAP Printing Problems

Print request from SAP R/3 is not printing.

1. Try to print something else from a different application (for instance an email message or a page from Netscape) via the network.

If you cannot print at all then the problem is not SAP printing, but the network.

If you can print a file from a different application but not from SAP, then the problem is SAP printing and probably not the network.

2. If you have a local IT support provider, report the problem to this person. Tell your IT support provider the four-character printer name, e.g. "wtpr".

Remember to give the

• four-character name of the printer and its location. You can find this information in SAP by looking at your User Profile or opening the Print Screen List screen.
• the SAP system from which you sent the print request
• the spool request number displayed at the bottom of the SAP window. (The existense of this number indicates that SAP recognized your print request.)

Process for fixing Large job problems

Check the list to determine the status of the job.

• Is it active?
  If the job is active.
• Can you see the job in the queue because the Total Size is so much greater than anything else in the queue?
• If the job is not yet "active" nor recognizably huge, ask the caller to wait until the job begins to print and
• pull out the paper tray to stop the printing
• let you know that the job is now active

Process for fixing CAN'T print problems

Check the queue to determine the following:

• If the queue is empty queue, ask the caller to reissue the print request in SAP.
• If there are jobs in the queue, but nothing is printing, try to remove the first print request.
• If removing the first job does not start the queue moving, purge all print requests and restart the queue.

Was the Output Request Printed?

In addition to checking physically whether output has appeared, you can use the spool output controller to check on the status of a job.

Do the following:

1. Call transaction SP01.
2. Enter all available information that you have on the spool request in the selection screen.
3. The most important status information about the spool requests means the following:

-- (no status): The spool request has not yet been sent to the output device. Print the spool request to see if it is output normally.

Being processed: The job is currently being formatted and/or transmitted to the host system spooler. You can wait to see if processing finishes normally. Or you can go to analysis procedure Determining Why Output Request Was Not Processed to check whether processing is proceeding normally.

Waiting or Complete and still has not appeared at the printer, you can go directly to the analysis procedure Determining Why Output Request Was Not Processed.

If the status is Complete, also check the request information. To do this, select the spool  request and choose . The Output Attributes tab page shows the status of completed output requests. If Processed… without printing is selected, the output request has not yet been printed. Go to the error analysis procedure shown above.

For information about the status in general, see the Displaying the Status of Spool and Output Requests.

Determining Why Output Request Was Not Processed

Troubleshooting when no output appears at the printer

Status of a Spool Request?

If the spool request was not printed at all, the first step in finding out what has happened is to check on the status of the spool request and any output requests associated with it.

To check the status of the spool request, SP01

You will see one of the following statuses for the spool request:

·        -- (no status): The spool request has not yet been sent to an output device. Use the Print function to print the spool request.

Spool requests are sent to a printer automatically only if a user has the Print immediately option marked when he or she requests a print. Otherwise, the spool request waits in the spool system until it is explicitly sent to the printer or deleted.

·        waiting: The spool request has been sent to a printer, but it has not yet been processed. Generally, an output request should be processed and sent on by the spool system within at most a couple of seconds.

When a spool request is sent to a printer, then the spool system formats the output data for the printer. This creates an output request. It then passes the resulting output request to a host spool system or print manager for output.

In this case, the output request is still waiting in the SAP R/3 spool system and has not yet been passed on to a host spool system and output device.

For more information, see Analyzing Delayed Processing of Output Requests.

·        complete or problem: The spool request has been sent to a printer and has been processed by the SAP spool system.

If no output appears at the printer, then see Problem Analysis: Print Out Missing or Incorrect.

·        <F5>: The spool request has been sent to a printer more than once, and the resulting output requests have different statuses.

Choose F5 or Output requests to display the statuses of the output requests. Use the statuses of the requests to decide how to analyze the error. For example: If you see the statuses Waiting and Problem, see Problem Analysis: Print Out Missing or Incorrect.

·        Time: The user who created the request specified a specific time when the request is to be output.

• Analyzing Delayed Processing of Output Requests
  Situation: A spool request has the status waiting and the status is not changing.
  • Check the status of the message server
  • Check the status of the spool work process
  • Is the SAPSYS user active?
  • Regular user active?
  • Recurring problem?
    >Detailed info at the end
• Analyzing "Missing Output" Problems

Printed with Minor or Severe Output Errors?

The output request has been printed, but it contains errors. Are these minor or severe printing problems?

It is important to distinguish between minor and major problems with the appearance of output that has actually been printed.

A minor problem has occurred when the print out is legible and generally correct. However, there are problems with individual characters, with alignment of text and graphic elements, and the like.

Minor output problems occur when a document generally has been correctly printed and is legible. However, problems have occurred such as the following:

·        Some characters are missing or are represented by the # character.

Reason: The characters do not exist in the character set of the output device.

·        Graphic elements are missing, have been incorrectly printed, or are present but unwanted. SAP R/3 graphic elements include color, background shading, symbols and lines, and frames.

A severe problem has occurred when a print request has been printed but is not readable. For example: the output is in the incorrect character set (such as Dingbats), or lines breaks and formatting are severely incorrect.

In a severe output problem, your printer or fax machine printed something, but the result is illegible. The wrong character set may have been used (for example, Dingbats was printed instead of alphanumeric characters). Line breaks, page breaks, or the text layout may be incorrect. Uninterpreted printer command language statements may have been printed. Or the printer may produce blank paper.

If a severe problem occurs, check for the following settings:

• Was the correct device type specified in the output device definition?
• Does the emulation specified at the printer match the emulation specified in the device definition?
  Many printers support several emulations. That is, the printers are able to understand multiple printer languages. The printer can be switched between emulations either by an incoming print job or by way of the printer control panel.

• Is the correct character set specified in the WIN.INI file (WinCharSet parameter) for the Windows printer with device type SWIN (SAPWIN)?

 

Was the Spool Request Generated?

If the output request has not yet been printed, you must first check whether the spool request was generated.

Do the following:

1. Call transaction SP01-Output Controller.
2. Enter all available information that you have on the spool request in the selection screen, in particular the name of the user who generated the spool request and the printer name (Output device).
3. If you find the spool request, then go to the analysis procedure Determining Why an Output Request Has Not Been Processed.
4. If you do not find a spool request, Analyze a Spool Dump. If the spool system is unable to generate a spool request when a user selects Print, then the spool program logic terminates the program. All the details about the abnormal termination are recorded in an ABAP short dump.

Note:

A spool request may already have been deleted. This can be the case if the processing of the spool request was completed and the user had the Delete after printing option set.

If you do not find an ABAP dump from the spool system, then this situation has probably occurred. You should then have the user print again with the Delete after printing option not set.

Displaying the Status of Spool and Output Requests 

The lists of spool and output requests (transaction SP01) display, among other things, the status of the requests. A request shows a status indicating whether data is stored in the SAP spool system, in the host spool system (operating system spooler), or at the printer.

The following statuses indicate the processing status of a request:

Indicator	Processing Status
-	Spool requests has not yet been sent to the host spool system (no output request exists).
+	Spool request is being generated (stored in the SAP spool system)
Waiting	The output request is awaiting processing by the SAP spool system and has not yet been sent to the host spool system.
Waiting in host spooler	The output request is intended for the spool work process or formatting in the host spool system, or this is currently being performed. If this status is displayed for a request for an extended period of time (more than one minute), then the spool work process that is responsible for the request may have terminated, or there may be a problem establishing a connection to a remote output device. The spool work process automatically reprints the output request affected by the problem.
In Processing	The spool work process is formatting the output request for printing.
Print.(printing)	The request has been passed to the host spooler or to an output device and a final status has not yet been returned to the SAP spool system.
Compl. (completed)	The output request has been successfully printed. In systems in which the SAP spool system cannot get information from the host spooler, the status becomes Complete as soon as the output request has been passed to the host spooler.
<F5>	More than one output request has been generated and the requests have different statuses. Some requests may not yet have a final processing status. To display the status of individual requests, choose Output requests or double-click the request status.
Problem	Indicates that there is a minor problem; the output request was printed, but probably contains errors. Example: If the printer character set is incomplete, a missing character is replaced with another (#).
Error	Indicates that there is a problem with severe consequences. The output request could not be printed. The spool system retains such requests until you delete them or they exceed a set retention period and are deleted by a reorganization. Example: The system cannot find the printer in the network. Use the error log to determine the cause of the error. For more information, see Output Log .
Archive	(For spool requests sent to an archiving device) The spool request was processed by the spool system and is waiting to be archived.
Time  or. Scheduled	The user who created the request specified a specific time when the request is to be output.

If you want to view a log of the events of an output request, double-click the status of a request.

For frontend printing output requests, the status of the output request is set to Completed as soon as the output request has been transmitted to the target PC. The system can only log error messages relating to communication with the PC in the log. Other error messages are lost.

Delayed Processing :

Check the status of the message server: If you find a lot of spool requests with the status Waiting in the output controller, then there may be a problem with the communication pathways within the R/3 System. You can eliminate this possibility by checking that the message server of your R/3 System is functioning correctly.

Use the Control Panel of the Computing Center Management Systems (Tools ® CCMS ® Control/Monitoring ® Control Panel) or transaction SM51 to check the message server. If the message server is working correctly, then:

·        The "Message Server" service should be listed for one of the application servers

·        You should be able to display detail information on any of the servers in your SAP system.

Check the status of the spool work process: Status Waiting may also indicate that there is a problem with the spool work process that is assigned to a printer.

Do the following:

       1.      Find out which printer an output request has been sent to.

To do this, select the relevant spool request in the Output Controller and choose . You can find the printer name in the Output device field.

       2.      Find out which spool work process is responsible for the printer.

Choose Tools ® CCMS ® Spool ® Spool administration. Enter the name of the printer to which the output request was sent in the Output Devicefield on the Devices /serverstab and choose enter. Display the definition and note the SAP application server name that appears in the Print serverfield.

If you have only a single spool server in your SAP system, then you can omit this step.

       3.      Use the CCMS System Monitor or in transaction SM51 to display the application servers in your SAP system.

Check that the application server that you noted from the Print serverfield is running and that the server offers the service Spool. If the server is not running or if the Spoolservice is not active, then you have found the source of the problem.

Restart the server if necessary. Use the CCMS functions for defining SAP servers (instances) and for setting up operation modes to ensure that the spool service is always active at this server.

       4.      If the print server is running and the spool service is active, then check the activity in the spool work process.

In transaction SM51, mark the print server in question and click on Processes. In the process display, look for the spool work process (Type SPO) and note the name of the active user.

–   User SAPSYS is active: This indicates that the spool work process is busy with internal spool activities or is requesting the status of a print request from a host spool system.

Choose CPU repeatedly to check the CPU time that the spool work process requires. If the same CPU time is always displayed, then it is likely that the spool work process is waiting for a status query to time out. It is likely that you have then found the reason for the delay in output request processing.

If the spool work process requests status and the target host system does not reply immediately, then the spool work process must wait for the query to time out. Depending upon the spool query settings in your R/3 system profile, the spool work process may wait 1 minute or more for the time-out error message from the network software. During this time, the spool work process cannot work on any other output requests.

If the spool work process waits more than 15 seconds for a reply, then it records the problem in the system log. You can therefore check in the system log for devices that have chronic communication problems.

If the spool work process must wait more than 30 seconds, then it locks the output device for five minutes and goes on to other output requests. At the end of this lock period, the spool work process attempts to establish communication again. The same rules are used to limit waiting.

If the print server is a UNIX system and the Access method to the printer is type L, then you can find out which printer is being queried. Log on to the UNIX system and check with the ps command to see whether the spool work process has forked an LPQ or LPSTAT for the query. The ps display for the daughter process will show you the target system and printer of the query. The system displays the PID (process ID) of the spool work process in the process overview. Call the process overview, by choosing transaction SM51 and then Choose Processes.

The spool work process also records long-running printer queries in the R/3 system log. If you are unable to determine the target system and printer of a query with host-system commands, then check in the R/3 system log for a time-out message. The message includes the target host and printer.

If you are able to determine which host and printer are causing the time-out problem, then you should check the status of the target host system and of the network link to the host system. The time-out wait suggests that either the host system is not active or the network link to the host system is not working.

If this problem occurs frequently, then you should turn off status querying for this output device. You can do this in the Printer names definition of the output device.

–   A "real user" (a normal user in your system) is active. This indicates that the spool work process is processing an output request for a user. Any of three scenarios could account for delayed processing of other output requests:

1.   The spool work process is processing a large output request and/or is sending the output to a slow communication partner. A slow communication partner could include, for example, a host system connected by a slow WAN link or a printer that has a network card to which the spool process is directly connected (not by way of an external print server).

You can check on these possibilities in the output controller. Select all jobs for today’s date and then choose Edit ® Sort ® Status. The spool system then sorts the spool requests by their status. If there are many spool requests with the status Waiting, then this may indicate that the spool work process currently has too much to do and has developed a backlog. You can also check for the output request that is currently running. If it is very large (many pages in the Pagescolumn of the output controller display), then this output request may have caused a temporary slowdown in printing.

2.   Multiple output requests are queued up for processing in the spool work process. If this situation occurs often and you have multiple R/3 application servers, then you should set up another spool work process at another server. Distribute the workload by printer between the two spool work processes.

3.   The spool work process is waiting for a time-out after trying to send an output request to a host system. For a detailed description of this problem, see the explanations above under "User SAPSYS is active".

–   The spool work process is idle (Status Waiting in the process overview). The spool work process may have completed the processing of the output request while you were starting transaction SM51..

In some cases, the spool work process working with the program RSPOWP00, that is, with internal spool processing. You should not interrupt processing of this program.

       5.      If you are having frequent problems with delayed processing of spool requests and/or spool work processes waiting for communications time-outs, then you may want to run your spool work processes with the R/3 developer trace switched on.

Activate the developer trace by setting the option rdisp/TRACE in the system profile or by adding the TRACE option to the command line with which an SAP application server is started. These command lines are defined in the SAP start profiles. For more details about this, see Trace Functions and the sections about profile maintenance in the documentation about the Computing Center Management System.

The information in the developer traces is highly technical. However, the trace information should let you or a consultant at least identify the host system and printer that are causing problems.