FM Audit White Paper

FMAuditTechnical White Paper

Technical White Paper

Toshiba America Business SolutionsFMAudit Technical White Paper Page 1

FMAudit Software

Welcome to FMAudit, the most complete tool set for growing a print management business.

With the requirement to reduce the cost of usage

based billing for both standard and managed printer

programs, automation is critical. The most accurate

way to collect the usage information is to request

information directly from the device that’s doing

the printing. FMAudit is one of the few tools that

accomplishes this in a reliable and efficient way.

The FMAudit product line is designed to accurately

collect device information including usage and status

information. The result is that it no longer takes a

skilled technician to install software and then spend

time on configuration and maintenance of the system.

The FMAudit utilities can be deployed by a technician

with minimal software and networking experience.


Four Components in FMAudit’s Suite of Tools: 1. Onsite – user installed software gathers device information

2. WebAudit – performs print assessments without installing software

3. Agent – assists in gathering information about local devices

4. Central – device management tool and customer portal

Scheduled Meter CollectionFMAudit Onsite is the core engine at the heart of every FMAudit solution, which correctly identifies all networked

printers, copiers, and MFP’s using the Simple Network

Management Protocol (SNMP). Once identified,

information is extracted using a mixture of multiple

protocols (SNMP, HTTP, etc.) depending on the device’s

architectural design.

How it works

Collect meters from both networked and locally connected

Determining Fleet Makeup and Usage for Encompass AssessmentsFMAudit WebAudit allows assessment data to be collected without the installation of any software. This is accomplished

once a Toshiba analyst sets up an account in FMAudit Central.

The customer will then follow a link to a preconfigured

webpage, where an ActiveX control can be downloaded and

the assessment scan is initiated. After the scan is complete,

the data will be sent to Toshiba via an SSL connection.

Gathering Meters on Locally Connected PrintersFMAudit Agent is used to extract information from local printers that are attached to any Windows port (USB, parallel,

Bluetooth, or infrared). It does this without interrupting or

processing the job stream to determine the number of pages

printed. During a scheduled meter collection (Onsite) or

Assessment scan (WebAudit), the Agent service wakes up

and communicates directly over the ports where printers are

attached and extracts any information that the attached

printer supports, which in many cases, includes the serial

number and lifetime meters.


How it works (Continued)

Management InterfaceFMAudit Central is the deployment, update and management interface that is used by the Toshiba analyst to configure and distribute the Onsite and WebAudit tools. Central also allows the customer to view the data that has been collected at their location and to run basic reports on the data.

Basic Assumptions & RequirementsMinimum requirements for proper function of FMAudit:

1. Target devices must reply to a ‘ping’.

2. SNMP (port 161) related a. Active on each device b. Read Community is consistent across all equipment. The default Read Community name is ‘public’. c. Allowed to pass through switches and routers

3. Onsite must communicate with the following external servers: a. https://*.gttechnologies.com b. http://gsp.toshiba.com & https://gsp.toshiba.com c. http://*.toshibameters.com & https://*.toshibameters.com

4. Onsite must be run from a computer or VM with Microsoft 2000/XP/Vista/2003 operating system. The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher. Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) must be installed.

5. Agent may be deployed to the workstations using a solution such as Microsoft SMS. Reconfiguration of antivirus or software firewalls may be required if blocking the SNMP port 161 or the alternative Agent fallback port 33333.

SecurityAlthough SNMP commands support both read and write operations, FMAudit applications only read networked devices and do not modify any default or custom device settings. FMAudit Onsite allows audit information to be sent from the target network to a remote destination via an XML stream (default port 80 and 443). By default, this information is encrypted, and requires a user and pass combination for authentication. Only the information that is extracted during an audit, may be saved or transferred to the FMAudit applications. The end-users’ confidential data files are not read, viewed, or saved by any FMAudit applications. The FMAudit Onsite pages display the main user interface in a web page fashion. It does not communicate over the internet except for obtaining a license, or during use of the included dynamic reports. For the action of performing audits on end-users’ networks, you do not require internet access.

JetDirect and CompatiblesFMAudit’s core engine supports HP JetDirect and compatible devices. During the query, FMAudit first identifies the attached device for the purpose of determining whether it supports the PJL or PML languages. The consequence of querying a printer not supporting one of these languages could mean printing numerous garbage pages and/or leaving the printer in a non-responsive error state. During an SNMP query on the network, the FMAudit core engine communicates with the JetDirect or compatible device and extracts the hardware reported lifetime meters, serial number, toner coverage’s, toner levels, service alerts, and more.

Best Managed Print CostRecovery Solution


What data will be returned to Toshiba’s server?The data is transferred from the local customer’s network to the external server via encrypted XML over an SSL (port 443) connection. The data contains:

1. Device identifiable fields such as Manufacturer, Model, Serial Number, and IP Address 2. Meters such as Total Pages, Mono Pages, Color Pages 3. Device consumable status, i.e. 10% remaining Black Toner 4. Customer identifiable information such as Account Name.

Does FMAudit Onsite require Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)?No. FMAudit Onsite includes its own server to display the web pages and is set up automatically during the installation.

Can you install FMAudit Onsite on a computer which already hosts another IIS website?Yes. FMAudit Onsite uses port 33330 by default, but this may also be configured to use a different port if required.

How much ongoing maintenance does FMAudit Onsite require?FMAudit Onsite is a service which runs in the background and performs audits and exports to configured destinations on predefined schedules. It’s recommended to use subnets (IP ranges) instead of fixed IP’s so that when adding new devices to the network, they will be discovered and included in the audit results, limiting manual intervention.

Can you access FMAudit Onsite remotely?Yes. From within the customer’s network; it is not accessible from outside the customer’s firewall. FMAudit Onsite may be accessed from another PC on your network using accessing that PC on port 33330 i.e. http://<IP>:33330

Will the scan increase network traffic?FMAudit Onsite and WebAudit are run locally and send the

collected data to the billing application. The billing application is not able to initiate communication with Onsite or WebAudit.

Do FMAudit products work with Internet proxies?Yes. FMAudit Onsite is a local application and uses the Internet Explorer (IE) settings. In Internet Explorer on the Tools menu -> Internet Options -> Connections TAB -> LAN Settings button -> place a check mark in the “Bypass proxy server for local addresses” box. “Secure” settings must also be configured to license FMAudit products. In Internet Explorer on the Tools menu -> Internet Options -> Connections TAB -> LAN Settings button -> Advanced button -> add the appropriate “Secure”- value for “Proxy address to use” and “Port”.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)


Are there any virus concerns?The FMAudit application files have been digitally signed to prevent execution if a virus has infected the file integrity. This method ensures the virus is not activated, and prevents spreading the virus from one network to another.

Will it slow down our server?FMAudit applications use default timeout settings of 1000ms. Using unicast settings, each IP within the configured ranges will be queried and if no response is received within 1 second, a timeout will occur. The audits use an intelligent system that extracts minimal information for each printer, copier, or MFP, usually just a few kilobytes per device. Unlike similar products that send a fixed set of queries (a superset of all possible queries) to every networked device, the FMAudit Onsite only sends the relevant queries based on the printer being queried. To further reduce the amount of network bandwidth used during a discovery, the FMAudit core engine communicates with no more than 20 devices at a single time. As a result, the amount of network traffic at any given time is minimal.

Do firewalls interfere with communication?FMAudit Onsite can use a mixture of algorithms to discover and communicate with the different network elements such as the current workstation or server, routers, hubs switches, and other network hardware to automatically determine the network topography; this option is disabled by default. Firewalls and other network hardware may prevent or limit the discovery of the network configuration. Networks with multiple physical locations typically have firewalls in between each Local Area Network (LAN) and the public internet that connects these locations via a Wide Area Network (WAN), in these cases the network IP ranges (segments) are manually added to the FMAudit products.

(FAQs) (Continued)

For more information, please go to: www.copiers.toshiba.com/tbs

© 2009 Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc., Electronic Imaging Division

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