Setting Printer Definitions by Using LP Print Commands

Setting definitions for the printers on your network is an ongoing task that lets you provide a more effective print environment for users. For example, you can assign printer descriptions for all your site's printers to help users find where a printer is located. Or, you can define a class of printers to provide the fastest turnaround for print requests. See Specifying a PPD File When Setting Up a Printer for more information about setting printer definitions by using LP print commands.

Many printer definitions can be set or reset by using Solaris Print Manager. For more information, see Setting Printer Definitions by Using Solaris Print Manager.

The following procedures provide step-by-step instructions on setting or resetting printer definitions by using LP Print Commands. These procedures show how to quickly set or reset printer definitions.

How to Add a Printer Description by Using LP Print Commands

1. Log in as superuser, lp, or assume an equivalent role on the print server.

2. Add a printer description.

   # lpadmin -p printer-name -D "comment"

   -p printer-name

   Specifies the name of the printer for which you are adding a description.

   -D "comment"

   Specifies the characteristics of the printer, such as the location or administrative contact. Enclose characters that the shell might interpret, such as *, ?, \, !, ^, in single quotation marks.

   For more information, see the lpadmin(1M) man page.

3. Verify that the Description information is correct.

   # lpstat -p printer-name -l

Example 6–1 Adding a Printer Description

The following example shows how to add a printer description for the printer luna.

# lpadmin -p luna -D "Nathans office"