Posted by: Brian R. Kneebone
Technology Consultant, Imaging and Printing Group  

A new version of HP Web Jetadmin has launched moving from the 10.0 platform to 10.1. 

I have been looking forward to this release for some time now as it focuses almost entirely on performance aspects and software usability.  Before I jump into the changes, I want to be sure people take the following precautions as they should with any software application (especially for those upgrading from previous versions):

• Read the HP Web Jetadmin 10.1 Installation and Setup Guide before proceeding. 
• I'm a big fan of using HP Web Jetadmin running in a virtual server environment (with the right memory allocated to it running on the right hardware of course).  If this is your environment, take a snap-shot before performing the upgrade.  For those not in a virtual server environment, be sure to test your upgrade in a development environment or at the very least, back-up your database.  There are instructions on how to do this in the installation and setup guide.
• This latest version uses new features in the .NET framework.  Therefor .NET 3.0 (SP1) is a new minimum requirement for WJA 10.1 (where .NET 2.0 was the previous minimum requirement on WJA 10.0).
• Note that there are some configuration templates which will not be able to be ported over from one version to another.  One more reason to test before deploying in production.  You may need to recreate a couple of configuration templates.  The Web Jetadmin installer will let you know which templates require attention.

So what are the new goodies?

• The installer experience has changed.  Updates from 10.0 and new installs are accomplished using a single installer (if upgrading from HP Web Jetadmin 7.8, 8.0 or 8.1 platforms to use the new migrator tool found here).
• The installer is now sensitive to English, French, Italian, German and Spanish locales.
• The IPSEC plugin is now included as part of the base install.
• The HP Universal Print Driver was bundled in previous versions of HP Web Jetadmin using all printer/page description languages including PCL5, PCL6 and PostScript.  The PostScript version is still available in the core product.  For those wishing to use the PCL5 and PCL6 versions, add the driver like any other print driver using the INF method for print management in WJA.
• The HP SNMP Proxy Agent has been updated to version 3.1.55.  I think this is worth further exploration in another blog post, but for now, take a look at the documentation and note that we can support discovery of multiple devices on the same workstation when using WJA 10.1 as well as support for a wider range of devices including some scanner models.

As always, if you need training on HP Web Jetadmin, it's available online through the HP Education website.  Click on "Imaging and Printing" then "Web Jetadmin".  Depending on timing, I may dive into the SNMP proxy agent in my next video tutorial or tie off on the UPD's printer list management in MPA.  If you have a preference either way, let me know.