1. ZPL II, ZBI 2, Set-Get-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide
  2. Mirror
  3. Mirror Overview
  4. Requirements
  5. Mirror Process Details
  • ZPL II, ZBI 2, Set-Get-Do, Mirror, WML Programming Guide
Mirror Process Details

Mirror Process Details

The following items are important to be aware of when configuring the FTP server to support Firmware updated via Mirror.
  • Firmware files must be named using the following format:
    <firmware version>.zpl
    , where <firmware version> is the exact Firmware revision contained in the file. For example, for Firmware version “V53.17.5Z”, the filename stored on the FTP server must be “V53.17.5Z.ZPL”. If the file name and Firmware version do not match, the update will not succeed.
  • The firmware filename stored on the FTP server is not case sensitive. This means that “V53.17.5Z.ZPL” and “v53.17.5Z.zpl” will be processed in the exact same way.
  • The
    /appl
     directory can contain only one (1) file at a time. If there is more than 1 file in this directory, the printer will not download anything and will skip the firmware update.
During a Mirror event, the printer will use
<firmware version>
 part of the filename contained in the
/appl
 directory on the FTP server to check if the Firmware stored on the FTP server is different than the firmware the printer is currently using. If the
<firmware version>
 part of the Firmware file name in the
/appl
 directory on the FTP server does not exactly match the printer's Firmware version, the file on the FTP server will be downloaded and used to update the printer. Once the printer is updated with the new Firmware, the printer will reset and being using the new Firmware.
Performing the Firmware update first is important because it is possible that the files or commands to be downloaded via Mirror will be dependent on the new firmware.
After the printer has completed the Firmware portion of an update operation, it will check the ''
<update-root>/files
'' directory and ''
<update-root>/commands
'' directory (in that order) for updated files that need to be retrieved. If a file exists on the FTP server and the server timestamp for the file does not match the printer's archived timestamp for the file, the printer will re-download the file and update its timestamp info. Files that are on the Mirror FTP server but not currently present on the printer will be sent to the printer. The supported file types are the standard files supported on ZPL printers.
If any files are downloaded during this portion of an update operation, the printer will reboot after the file downloads have completed. At this point, the update operation is complete.
  • Files in the
    <update-root>/files
     directory should not have download headers in them. They should be in the exact format they will be in when stored on the printer's file system. Examples of download headers are:
    ~DY, ~DG, ! CISDFCRC16
     or
    ~DF
    .
  • ZPL files in the
    <update-root>/files
     directory must use the printers internal characters for the Format Command Prefix (^), Delimiter Character (,) and Control Command Character (~). This means that the caret (^) should be replaced with a HEX 1E, the comma ( ,) should be replaced with a HEX 1F and the tilde (~) should be replaced with a HEX 10.
After an update operation is complete, a printer will perform a feedback operation, if configured to do so. During a feedback operation, the printer will open its feedback template file (named
feedback.get
), populate it based on its contents, and upload the resulting contents file to the FTP server, in the ''
<feedback-root>
'' directory.
"<feedback-root>"
 refers to the value of the
"ip.mirror.feedback.path"
 configuration parameter