# OS Printer Monitoring Monitoring printers provides real-time visibility into printer status, errors, and alerts. It allows you to manage printing workloads and identify issues like paper jams and connectivity problems. Proactive monitoring helps minimize printer downtime and reduce IT support's burden. ### Prerequisites Configure a Linux system with connected printers for monitoring. See [Unix/Linux System Monitoring](https://docs.itconductor.com/user-guide/monitoring/infrastructure/os/unix-linux-system) for more details ### Configure OS Printer for Monitoring in IT-Conductor 1. Visit [service.itconductor.com](https://service.itconductor.com/) and enter your login credentials. 2. From the IT-Conductor Service Grid, click ▶ to expand “Linux Systems”.

Figure 1: Linux Systems in IT-Conductor Service Grid

2. Click the object menu of the Linux system to be configured and then click **Retrievers**.

Figure 2: Navigate to Retrievers Option

3. Click the object menu of retriever “Printers (lpstat -p)“ and then click **Activate**.

Figure 3: Activate Printer

4. The connected printers will be added to IT-Conductor for monitoring. ### Monitor OS Printer in IT-Conductor To view the printer statistics navigate to the **Linux Systems** > **SID > Printers** in the service grid. Here, you can see details of the following metrics: * **Status:** Current operational state of the printer or print queue (e.g., idle, printing, disabled). * **Request age:** Time elapsed since a print job was submitted to the queue. * **Request count:** Total number of print jobs currently in the queue or processed over a time period.

Figure 4: Printer Statistics in IT-Conductor

View each metric in more detail by clicking on the bar chart metric name. Adjust the chart depending on your preferred timescale.

Figure 5: Printer Status (Hourly)

{% hint style="info" %} **Note:** Printer status could be “Idle”, “Printing”, or “Disabled”. {% endhint %}

Figure 6: Job Count (Daily)

#### Alerting IT-Conductor generates alerts based on the values of collected stats.

Figure 7: Configure Alerts based on Job Count

In Figure 4, the warning alert is generated if the average request count is more than 1 in the last 15 minutes, and the alert is resent if, after 15 minutes, there are still jobs running.

Figure 8: Configure Alerts based on Request Age

Similarly, in Figure 5, the critical alarm alert is generated if the job has been running for more than 60 minutes (3600 seconds), and the alert is resent if, after 60 minutes, there are still jobs running. See [Configuring IT-Conductor Alerts](https://docs.itconductor.com/~/changes/j1RdUn49WBcajmJEmXUf/users-guide/notifications/configuring-itc-alerts#configuringitcalerts-howtoconfigureitcalerts) for further instructions. ### Related Information * [OS Printer Queue Restart Automation](https://docs.itconductor.com/user-guide/automation/os-printer-queue-restart)