We have a remote site with very limited resources and have the need to
configure a spooled device that will be connected to a remote printer via
modem. We do not want to have the communications bill grow unnecessarily.
 
The question is, is there a viable way of having the 3000 or any reasonably
priced device(s) do the modem connection only when there is something ready
in the spooler? We want the port to be shut while no activity on the spooler
is present within a configured amount of time.
 
Any software driven workaround that does not eat up much processing time
will be considered.
 
We have a 947 running MPE 4.0 with Security/3000 and NBSpool. NBSpool has a
way of routing to NRJE remote stations but I have not seen anything on
routing to a printer connecting via a dialed up line. We also have several
WindowsNT servers and many PCs connected to the same LAN. This makes me
wonder if I can set up a "printer" on the NT server, configure it on NBSPOOL
to handle the printouts, and trigger a batch process to initiate the
connect/print/disconnect process?
 
Or can I develop a process to issue the dial up sequence from the 3000? If
so, the batch job that generates the report can include the stream of
another to verify if there is an output file on the spooler and proceed. A
simple check can have it finish if no other spool file is generated within
the desired number of minutes.
 
Suggestions welcomed.
 
TIA
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