Managing Network-Attached Printer Access

Each network-attached printer should have only one server that provides access to the printer. This restriction enables the server to manage access to the printer and keep jobs coherent.

The default device for the network-attached printer is /dev/null. This device is sufficient when the printer has only one queue. If more queues are required, set the device to a file. This setting enables the print system to restrict access to the printer across queues. The following commands create a device file and configure it as the network-attached printer device.

touch /path/filename
chmod 600 /path/filename
lpadmin -p printer-name -v /path/filename

The following is an example of how to create a device file called devtreedown.

# touch /var/tmp/devtreedown
# chmod 600 /var/tmp/devtreedown
# lpadmin -p treedown -v /var/tmp/devtreedown