Determining Which Tools to Use for Managing Printers (Solaris Easy Access Server 3.0 Print Manager Administration Guide)

Solaris Easy Access Server 3.0 Print Manager Administration Guide

Determining Which Tools to Use for Managing Printers

Adding printer information to a name service makes access to printers available to all systems on the network and generally makes printer administration easier because all the information about printers is centralized.

If You ...

To Centralize Printer Information, Then ...

Use a name service

Adding the printer to the NIS or NIS+ database makes the printer available to all systems on the network.

Don't use a name service

Adding the printer adds the printer information to the printer server's configuration files only. Print clients will not know about the printer automatically.

You will have to add the printer information to every print client that needs to use the printer.

The following table describes the major printer-related tasks and the tools available to perform the printing tasks.

Table 1-1 Solaris Printing Component Features


Component	Available ...	Graphical User Interface?	Configures Network Printers?	Manages Print Clients and Servers?	Uses NIS or NIS+?
Solaris Print Manager	Solaris Easy Access Server 3.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Admintool	Solaris 7 and compatible versions	Yes	No	Yes	No
lp commands	Solaris 7 and compatible versions	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

After using the table above to determine which printing tool is best for your network environment, use the following table to determine where to go to find information on setting up your printers.

Table 1-2 Where to Find Printer Setup Information


For Information on Setting Up Printers Using ...	See ...
Admintool	System Administration Guide, Volume II
Solaris Print Manager with or without using a name service	"Setting Up Printing Task Map"
lp commands	System Administration Guide, Volume II