HP JetAdmin 2.33 may cause ARP Storm on Network (164609)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
- Microsoft Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q164609 IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you
modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore
the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
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.
- WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may
require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve
problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own
risk.
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:
- Start the Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe for Windows NT and
Regedit.exe for Windows 95).
- Change the following key located under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Hewlett-Packard\HPJetAdmin\TCPIP
- In addition, if you run the JetAdmin application, the following option
can be selected and disabled or enabled:
Options\Preferences\TCPIP Discovery\Broadcast
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products. NOTE: JetDirect is no longer supported by HP. SDI (Simple Device Installation) is now used to install network printers. For more information on this, see:
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 7/13/2006 |
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| Keywords: | kb3rdparty kbinterop kbnetwork kbusage KB164609 |
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