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Netra j 3.0 Administrator's Guide

Chapter 6 Printer Administration

This chapter describes how to configure print services on a Netra server.

The print services available include:

Overview

Netra j print services are focused towards systems where no prior print services are configured.The Netra GUI provides a clear and simple interface to configure Netra print services.

Before You Begin

Supported Print Mechanisms

The print server is based on UNIX SVR4 LP print services, which ship with the Solaris 2.5.1 and 2.6 operating environments. The Netra server can print to SunOSTM 4.1.x (standard BSD printing), Solaris 2 and subsequent compatible releases (standard LP or SVR4 printing) remote print servers, and any network printer that conforms to these print models. It can also service requests sent from clients running SunOS 4.1.x, and Solaris 2 and subsequent compatible releases; since it also runs a BSD listener, it can receive jobs from remote hosts running Solaris 1, other types of UNIX, and any client capable of using the BSD print mechanism.

If You Have an Existing Setup...

When installing Netra j software onto a system that is already configured with a local printer, or is already configured as a print network spooler to a network printer, caution is advised. Print services available to the Solaris environment include many third-party software packages. Netra should not interfere with existing network printer spoolers configured on the system prior to the Netra j software installation. However, continue to administer these printers with the third- party administration tool, rather than through the Netra j interface.

When installing Netra j software onto a system that is already configured for access to remote printers, you can safely administer this printer access from the Netra j interface.

Solaris 2.6 and NIS Considerations

On Netra j servers that are running the Solaris 2.6 operating environment, printer administration behaves slightly differently, depending on whether the Netra j server is configured as a NIS client or as a NIS master server.

Local Printer Administration

To Add a Local Printer

  1. From the Main Administration page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Local Printer Administration," choose one of the following:

    • Add Printer to Serial Port a

    • Add Printer to Serial Port b

    • Add Printer to Parallel Port

  3. Complete the form using the information in the following tables.

    Table 6-1 Printer Characteristics

    Option 

    Description 

    Printer Name 

    Enter a printer name with up to 14 characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9,-,_). Do not start the printer name with "-" or "_". 

    Printer Type 

    Choose PostScript, ASCII, HP (PCL ASCII), HP(PCL), or Unknown for a printer that is not listed. See Table 6-2 for more detail.

    File Contents 

    Choose PostScript, ASCII, or Any. Use Any for a printer that is not PostScript or ASCII.  

    Fault Notification 

    Choose Console (print fault messages to console), Root Mail (email fault messages to root), or none (do not send fault notification messages).  

    Description 

    (optional) 

    Enter an optional description of the printer (up to 28 characters). 

    Enable BannerControl? 

    Specify whether banner page control is enabled. 

    Table 6-2 Printer and Content Type

    Printer Type  

    Content Type 

    PostScript 

    PostScript 

    ASCII  

    ASCII  

    HP Laserjet 

    (PCL ASCII)  

    ASCII 

    HP Laserjet  

    (PCL)  

    ASCII 

    Unknown  

    (All other printers) 

    Any 

  4. When adding a printer to a serial port, also specify the serial port baud rate, parity, and character size to match those of the printer.

    Table 6-3 Serial Port Attributes

    Option 

    Description 

    Baud Rate 

    Choose 9600, 19200, or 38400. 

    Parity 

    Choose none, even, or odd. 

    Character size 

    Choose 7 bits, or 8 bits. 

  5. Click OK.

To Modify or Delete a Local Printer

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Local Printer Administration," choose one of the following:

    • To modify a local printer, click Modify, and make the changes in the form use the information in Table 6-1, Table 6-2, and Table 6-3.

    • To delete a local printer, click Delete, and then confirm the operation.

Choose from the following options:

Network Printer Spooler

Note -

This option is only for servers that run on the Solaris 2.6 operating environment.

This option enables the Netra j server to be set up as a network printer spooler. This means that the Netra j server accepts, queues, and manages print jobs for a network printer (in other words, a printer with a built-in network adapter attached directly to the network with its own host name and IP address).

Configuration is compatible with new functionality added to the LP print model for Solaris 2.6, and uses the new "netstandard" interface script developed for Solaris 2.6 to manage Network Printers.

Note -

Netra j does not display third-party printer configurations. Any existing or subsequently configured third-party network spoolers on a Netra j server need to be managed through the supplied third-party software. Netra j Printer Administration does NOT interfere with third-party printer configurations.

Currently, the Network Spooler form prompts for Network Printer Access Name. There is no default format for this field; it is dependent on the printer model and network configuration. In most cases, and in the case of TCP/IP networks in particular, enter either the printer name, or IP address of the network printer in this field. This is most likely sufficient information to establish connectivity with the printer. Some printers can require specification of a TCP port number also. In this case, after the printer name or IP address, add a colon (:), followed by the port number. If difficulties remain, contact the printer manufacturer regarding the correct format of the Network Printer Access Name.

To Add a Network Printer Spooler

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Network Printer Spooler Administration," click Add Network Printer Spooler.

  3. Complete the form using the information in the following table.

    Table 6-4 Network Printer Spooler Attributes

    Option 

    Description 

    Printer Name 

    Enter a printer name with up to 14 characters in the range (A-Z, a-z, 0-9,-,_). Do not start the printer name with "-" or "_" 

    Network Printer Access Name 

    Enter the Network Printer Access Name. Usually this is the same  

    as the printer name, or the IP address of the printer. However, 

    there is no default format for this field. Contact the printer vendor  

    for the correct format of this field if difficulties arise. 

    Protocol 

    Set the over-the-wire protocol used to communicate with the printer. Both BSD and raw TCP are supported.  

    Retry timeout 

    Sets the retry timeout value that represents a number of seconds to wait between attempting connections to the printer.  

    Printer Type 

    Choose PostScript, ASCII, HP (PCL ASCII), HP (PCL), or Unknown for a printer that is not listed. 

    File Content type 

    Choose PostScript, ASCII, or Any for a printer that is not PostScript or ASCII. 

    Fault Notification 

    Specify how printer error messages are treated. Choose Console (print fault messages to console), Root Mail (email fault messages to root), or none (do not send fault notification messages).  

    Description (optional) 

    Enter a description of the printer (up to 28 characters).  

    Enable Banner Control 

    Enable/Disable the ability of the user print command to specify whether a banner page is printed.  

To Modify or Delete a Network Printer Spooler

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Network Printer Spooler Administration," choose one of the following:

    • To modify a network printer spooler, click Modify for the appropriate spooler, and make changes in the form using Table 6-4 as a reference.

    • To delete a network printer spooler, click Delete for the appropriate spooler, then confirm the operation.

Remote Printer Administration

Remote Printer Administration provides a way of adding access to remote printers on the Netra j server. Any remote printer configured through the Netra j administration interface is added to the local printer configuration files.

Note -

For a Netra j server installed on Solaris 2.6, and configured as a NIS client, a remote NIS server may be already broadcasting remote printer access for certain printers. In this case, Netra j detects the presence of such printers, and DOES NOT allow them to be configured again through the Netra j administration interface. This would lead to potential inconsistencies in information stored in the local printer configuration file with that being broadcast by the remote print server. Even though you cannot configure such printers through the Netra j administration interface, access to print to the remote printers is still available in the normal way and to all applications. To convince yourself that these printers are available, execute the command lpstat -v on a shell command line.

To Add Access to a Remote Printer

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Remote Printer Administration," click Add access to Remote Printer.

  3. Complete the Add Remote Printer form using the information in the following table.

    Table 6-5 Remote Printer Attributes

    Option 

    Description 

    Printer Name 

    Enter a printer name with up to 14 characters in the range (A-Z, a-z, 0-9,-,_). Do not start the printer name with "-" or "_". 

     

    The printer name must correspond to a known printer on the network, either a network printer (a printer attached directly to the network that knows its own host name and IP address), or a printer attached to another Solaris or BSD print server. 

    Print Server Name 

    The print server name must correspond to a known host on the network, and the host name must be resolvable to its IP address. To do this, add the hostname - IP address pair to the /etc/hosts file through the Local Name Services module.

     

    Alternatively, if the Netra j server is a NIS client in a NIS domain, confirm that the print server host name is registered with the NIS server for that domain. 

     

    The print server corresponds to one of three types of hosts: 

    • If the print server is a remote host with a printer attached locally to it, then the print server name is the name of the remote host.

    • If the print server is a network printer, the print server name is the same as the printer name.

    • If the print server is a network print spool server for a network printer, then the print server name entered is the name of the network print spool server.

    Description (optional) 

    Enter a description of the printer (up to 28 characters). 

  4. Click OK.

To Modify or Delete Access to a Remote Printer

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Remote Printer Administration," choose one of the following:

    • To modify a remote printer, click Modify for the appropriate printer, and make changes in the form using Table 6-5 as a reference.

    • To delete a remote printer, click Delete for the appropriate printer, and then confirm the operation.

Set Default Printer

When at least one local or remote printer has been configured on the system, the `Set Default Printer' option is available on the Printer Administration main page.

Netra printer administration sets a system-wide default printer.

However, there are a number of ways for individual users to override this value: by using a ~/.printers file; by setting the LPDEST environment variable; or by setting the PRINTERS environment variable. Once any of these are set, an lpstat -d reveals their value for the default printer, not the one quoted in /etc/printers.conf.

If the system contains a /etc/printers.conf file, and there is also a NIS printers.conf file available, the NIS default value may be the one used.

If the user unsets the LPDEST, PRINTERS variables and removes the ~/.printers file, then the Netra setting of default printer is the one quoted by lpstat -d.

To Set the Default Printer

  1. From the Main Administration Page, under "Network Service Administration," click Printer Administration.

  2. Under "Set Default Printer," click Set Default Printer.

  3. Select the printer you want to be the default printer from the list.

  4. Click OK.