Administering the LP Print Scheduler (Task Map)

Checking Printer Status

Many routine printer administration tasks require information about the status of the LP print service or a specific printer. For example, you can determine which printers are available for use. You can also examine the characteristics of those printers. You can use the lpstat command to find status information about the LP print service or a specific printer.

If a PPD file was used to create or modify a print queue, the specific PPD file is listed in the lpstat output. If a PPD file was not specified when the print queue was created, the PPD entry in the lpstat output is none.

How to Check the Status of Printers

1. Log in to any system on the network.
2. Check the status of printers.

   Only the most commonly used options are shown here. For other options, see thelpstat(1) man page.

   $ lpstat [-d] [-p] printer-name [-D] [-l] [-t]

   -d

   Shows the system's default printer.

   -p printer-name

   Shows if a printer is active or idle, when the printer was enabled or disabled, and whether the printer is accepting print requests.

   You can specify multiple printer names with this command. Use a space or a comma to separate printer names. If you use spaces, enclose the list of printer names in quotation marks. If you don't specify printer-name, the status of all printers is displayed.

   -D

   Shows the description of the specified printer-name.

   -l

   Shows the characteristics of the specified printer-name.

   -t

   Shows status information about the LP print service, including the status of all printers, such as whether they are active and whether they are accepting print requests.

Example 9-1 Checking the Status of Printers

The following example shows how to display the system's default printer.

$ lpstat -d
system default destination: luna

The following example shows how to display the status of the printer luna.

$ lpstat -p luna
printer luna is idle. enabled since Jul 12 11:17 2001. available.

The following example shows how to display the description of the printers asteroid and luna.

$ lpstat -p "asteroid luna" -D
printer asteroid faulted. enabled since Jan 5 11:35 2004. available.
unable to print: paper misfeed jam

Description: Printer by break room
printer luna is idle. enabled since Jan 5 11:36 2004. available.
Description: Printer by server room.

The following example shows how to display the characteristics of the printer luna.

$ lpstat -p luna -l
printer luna is idle. enabled since Thu Jul 12 15:02:32 PM PDT
        Form mounted: 
        Content types: postscript
        Printer types: PS
        Description:
        Connection: direct
        Interface: /usr/lib/lp/model/standard
                PPD: none
        After fault: continue
        Users allowed:
                (all)
        Forms allowed:
                (none)
        Banner not required
        Character sets:
                             (none)
                Default pitch:
        Default page size: 80 wide 66 long
        Default port settings:

Stopping and Restarting the Print Scheduler

The print scheduler, lpsched, handles print requests on print servers. However, the print scheduler might sometimes stop running on a system, so print requests stop being accepted or printed. The lpadmin command automatically enables the lpsched service when local printers are added to the system and disables it when the last local printer is removed. The following procedures describe how to stop and restart the print scheduler. If a print request was printing when the print scheduler stopped running, the print request will be printed in its entirety when you restart the print scheduler.

How to Stop the Print Scheduler

1. Become superuser.
2. Determine if the print scheduler is running.

   # svcs application/print/server

   You can also use the lpstat -r command to determine if the print scheduler is running.

   If the print scheduler is not running, the message scheduler is not running is displayed.

3. If the print scheduler is running, stop it.

   # svcadm disable application/print/server

   You can also use the lpshut command to stop the print scheduler.

How to Restart the Print Scheduler

1. Become superuser.
2. Determine if the print scheduler is running.

   # svcs application/print/server

   You can also use the lpstat -r command to determine if the print scheduler is running.

   If the print scheduler is not running, the message scheduler is not running is displayed.

3. If the print scheduler is not running, start it.

   # svcadm enable application/print/server

   You can also use the /usr/lib/lpsched command to start the print scheduler. For more information about the difference between starting the print scheduler by using the /usr/lib/lpsched command or by using the svcadm enable application/print server command, see Starting the Print Scheduler With Options.

Starting the Print Scheduler With Options

There are two ways to pass options to the print scheduler by using SMF:

• By modifying option values only for the duration of a call.

  Use the /usr/lib/lpsched command with the appropriate options when you only want to pass options to the print scheduler for the duration of a call. Before setting options, see the lpsched(1M) man page for more information about these default values and reasons for changing them.

• By maintaining option values over a system reboot, or if the print scheduler is restarted.

  The SMF manifest for the print server contains properties that are utilized by the print server start-up script. These property values are passed on to the print scheduler and represent the options, which are set by using the svccfg command.

  The properties are as follows:

  • lpsched/num_filters

  • lpsched/num_notifiers

  • lpsched/fd_limit

  • lpsched/reserved_fds

  Any options that are not set with the svccfg command will use the default values that are in the print scheduler. For more information about using the svccfg command, see the svccfg(1M) man page.

How to Set Print Option Values Only for the Duration of a Call

1. Become superuser.
2. Set option values.

   # /usr/lib/lpsched option value

   -f num_filters

   Specifies the number of concurrent slow filters that can be run on a print server.

   -n num_notifiers

   Specifies the number of concurrent notification processes that can run on a print server.

   -p fd_limit

   Specifies the file descriptor resource limit for the lpsched process.

   -r reserved_fds

   Specifies the number of file descriptors that the scheduler reserves for internal communications under heavy load.

Example 9-2 Setting Option Values Only for the Duration of a Call

This example shows how to set the number of filters to 2. The remaining options will use the defaults that are in the print scheduler.

# /usr/lib/lpsched -f 2

To use the default options that are in the print scheduler, run the /usr/lib/lpsched command without any options.

Note that starting the print scheduler by using the /usr/lib/lpsched command does not utilize the values that are set with the svccfg command.

How to Set Printer Option Values That Remain Over a System Reboot

1. Become superuser.
2. Set one or all options.

   # svccfg svc:> select svc:/application/print/server svc:/application/print/server> setprop property = value . . . svc:/application/print/server> quit

   For each option that you want to set, repeat the setprop property = value command on a separate line.

3. Verify that the option has been correctly set by displaying the current values of the print server properties.

   # svcprop svc:/application/print/server

4. Restart the print scheduler.

   • If the print scheduler is not running, use the following commands:

     # svcadm refresh svc:/application/print/server
     # svcadm enable svc:/application/print/server

   • If the print scheduler is running, use the following commands:

     # svcadm refresh svc:/application/print/server
     # svcadm restart svc:/application/print/server

   To determine if the print scheduler is running, run the svcs application/print/server command.

Example 9-3 Setting Printer Option Values That Remain Over a System Reboot

This example shows how to set the number of filters to 1. This option will remain set over a system reboot, or if you restart the print scheduler.

# svccfg svc:> select svc:/application/print/server svc:/application/print/server> setprop lpsched/num_filters = count: 1 svc:/application/print/server> quit

This example shows how to set all options.

# svccfg svc:> select svc:/application/print/server svc:/application/print/server> setprop lpsched/num_filters = count: 1 svc:/application/print/server> setprop lpsched/num_notifiers = count: 1 svc:/application/print/server> setprop lpsched/fd_limit = count: 4096 svc:/application/print/server> setprop lpsched/reserved_fds = count: 2 svc:/application/print/server> quit

The following is a sample script that sets all options.

#!/bin/ksh

svccfg <<-EOF
select svc:/application/print/server
setprop lpsched/num_filters = count: 1
setprop lpsched/num_notifiers = count: 1
setprop lpsched/fd_limit = count: 4096
setprop lpsched/reserved_fds = count: 2

EOF