Print Server Uses 100% CPU If No Line Formatting Option Enabled (195771)

SYMPTOMS

CPU utilization for SNA Server's Host Print service (Snaprint.exe) may reach 100 percent when 3270 print sessions are configured to use the "No Line Formatting" option. When this problem occurs, all host print jobs appear to stop printing or print very slowly.

CAUSE

Print server fails to properly handle some print formatting data that it receives when the data is split across two RUs (Request Units) when the "No Line Formatting" option is configured on the 3270 print session receiving the data.

This does not occur if the "No Line Formatting" option is not enabled.

RESOLUTION

SNA Server 3.0

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for SNA Server version 3.0. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

184307 How to Obtain the Latest SNA Server Version 3.0 Service Pack

SNA Server 4.0

This problem was corrected in the latest SNA Server version 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining this Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SNA Server versions 3.0 Service Pack 2, 3.0 Service Pack 3, 4.0, and 4.0 Service Pack 1. This problem was first corrected in SNA Server 3.0 Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

The "No Line Formatting" option was added in SNA Server 3.0 Service Pack 2. The SNA Server 4.0 Online Help file describes this option as follows:

No Line Formatting:

Prevents the SNA Print Service from inserting its own Carriage Return/Line Feed (CR/LF) according to the dimensions specified in the Default Page Width field (also on this property page). As No Line Formatting is a special case, this box is usually not checked. It is a useful option when using physical printers that do their own wrapping or are told to do their own wrapping with an Esc sequence. The Esc sequence that causes a printer to do its own End-of-line wrap on PCL printers is <Esc>&s0C.