There are many ways in which a printer might be configured; it depends on the type of printer, the capabilities of the printer, and how the printer is attached. This document discusses the most common methods of configuring a printer on IBM i and the general requirements for each method. For more specific information on requirements, see the documents listed under each method.
Pros and Cons of remote output queues, PJL, and SNMP Printer Configurations
This video shows the benefits and limitations of the three most popular printer configuration methods: Remote Output Queues (RMTOUTQs), *LAN 3812 PJL printer device descriptions, and *LAN 3812 SNMP printer device descriptions.
If Your Printer Is Attached to the Network Using TCP/IP
If your printer is attached to the network and is using TCP/IP to connect, the options for configuring the printer are:
o | A Remote Output Queue (RMTOUTQ) |
o | A *LAN 3812 PJL device description |
o | A *LAN 3812 SNMP device description |
o | A *LAN 3812 IPP device description |
o | A *LAN *IPDS device description |
For information on ASCII printers from various manufacturers, in particular on whether they can be configured using a *LAN 3812 PJL device description, *LAN 3812 SNMP device description, *LAN 3812 IPP device description, or Remote Output Queue (RMTOUTQ), refer to these documents:
Information on Printers from Various Manufacturers
Printer Model Settings for Host Print Transform (HPT)
The requirements for all network-attached printers using TCP/IP are that the network adapter is compatible with the printer and it has a static TCP/IP address. The sections on the various options will list some additional requirements for that type of configuration.
1 | Remote Output Queue or SNDTCPSPLF and LPR Commands |
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3 | *LAN 3812 SNMP Device Description The term SNMP refers to Simple Network Management Protocol. SNMP allows for two-way communication with the printer when attached to the LAN using a print server that also supports SNMP. |
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If Your Printer Is Attached to the Network and Using the Lexlink Protocol
The requirement for this configuration is that the printer is attached to a Lexmark network adapter that can use the Lexlink protocol, such as the Lexmark MarkNet XLE or the MarkNet Pro, or that it is a Lexmark printer with an internal Lexmark network card. The Lexlink protocol cannot be routed across networks, so the router would need to be configured to bridge the Lexlink protocol.
For information on configuring *LAN 3812 Lexlink device descriptions, refer to this document:
Configuring a *LAN 3812 LEXLINK Device Description
If Your Printer Is Attached to the Network and Using SNA
The requirements for printing using SNA are that a communications line, controller, and device description are configured for APPC or APPN support. Also, the IBM-supplied subsystems QSNADS and QSYSWRK, the Mail Server Framework job QMSF, and the Object Distribution job QNFTP all must be active. For additional assistance configuring or troubleshooting SNA, contact our communications team.
For information on configuration communicating over SNADS, refer to these documents:
Printer Passthrough or Remote Output Queues
Creating a Dummy Device Description to Use with a Remote Output Queue (RMTOUTQ)
Configuring SNADS and Setting Up SNA Distribution Services
Transform Services (5770TS1) can also be used to create a PDF file instead of a spooled file, or generate a PDF from an existing *SCS or *AFPDS spooled file. For more information on using Transform Services, refer to this document:
- Recommended PTF Levels
There are no required PTFs for most of the options to configure a printer on an IBM i system. However, getting the Recommended Fixes for Print will typically help avoid issues.
CUPS is a modular and open-source printing system that uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) as the basis for managing printers, print requests, and print queues. CUPS supports network printer browsing and PostScript Printer Description-based printing options. CUPS also provides a common printing interface across a local network.
IPP is the standard protocol for printing on a network. Similar to other IP-based protocols, IPP can be used locally or over the Internet to communicate with remote printers. Unlike other protocols, IPP also supports access control, authentication, and encryption, making it a much more capable and secure printing solution than other protocols. IPP is layered on top of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the basis for web servers that are on the Internet. When IPP is in use, you can verify printer or server status information and manage printers and print jobs through a browser. CUPS is a complete IPP/1.1 based printing system that provides basic, digest, and local certificate authentication and user, domain, or IP-based access control.
CUPS includes support for dynamic printer detection and grouping. CUPS replaces the lpr command with its own command and the LPD printer drivers with its own print drivers. CUPS is similar to the LP print service in that it uses PostScript format as its underlying language for page descriptions. Because CUPS provides both the System V and Berkeley print commands, users and applications can print to CUPS queues with little or no changes to the options that were previously used.
Lastly, CUPS includes application-level interfaces that are used by many open-source applications and toolkits. On the back end, CUPS includes the necessary interfaces for processing the annotated raster image format (RIP). Support for this format and these interfaces is integrated into other critical open-source print driver technologies.
CUPS is the default and the only print service in the Oracle Solaris release, replacing the LP print service. Printing in the Oracle Solaris operating system (OS) by using CUPS is managed by using the following:
CUPS command-line utilities – These commands include new CUPS print commands, as well as some print commands that were previously used by the LP print service.
CUPS web browser interface – Go to //localhost:631.
CUPS Print Manager GUI – You can access the GUI from the Oracle Solaris Desktop, which includes GNOME 2.30, or by typing the system-config-printer command in a terminal window.
CUPS Processes
For CUPS to manage your printing environment, you must first create a print queue under CUPS. The print queue might point to a printer that is connected directly to your system through a USB port or a parallel port. However, the queue can also point to a printer on the network, a printer on the Internet, or multiple printers, depending on how you have configured the application. Regardless of where the queue points, the print queue is treated like any other printer.
CUPS Services
CUPS services are provided through two new Service Management Facility (SMF) services:
svc:/application/cups/scheduler
This service manages the cupsd daemon. This daemon provides basic printing services that include queueing, filtering, spooling, notification, IPP support, device enumeration, and web management.
svc:/application/cups/in-lpd
This service runs the cups-lpd daemon. This daemon provides basic RFC-1179 (LPD protocol) support for the CUPS service.
The Printer Management profile and the solaris.smf.manage.cups authorization enable users who do not have a root account to manage these SMF services.
Setting Up Printers and Print Queues by Using CUPS
For CUPS to manage your printing environment, you must first create a print queue under CUPS.
You can create a new print queue in one of the following ways:
Use the lpadmin command to manually create the print queue. For more information, see the lpadmin(8) man page.
Use the Print Manager GUI, which can be accessed from the Oracle Solaris Desktop. For more information, see Setting Up Printers by Using CUPS Print Manager (Task Map).
Use the web browser interface. After you install CUPS, go to //localhost:631/admin.
Physically connect a USB printer to your local system.
If CUPS is enabled on your system, the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and the hal-cups-utils utility recognize the USB printer hot-plug events. They can recognize new printers that are connected to your local system. The hal-cups-utils utility automatically creates a print queue under CUPS for the new printer.
In addition, CUPS supports printer discovery by using the mDNS framework (Bonjour) and SNMP. CUPS can discover printers that are shared by other CUPS servers through the CUPS browsing feature. For more information, go to //www.cups.org/documentation.php/doc-1.5/options.html.
For network print queues, enable the CUPS “browse feature” (the default) on your system. If another system on the network advertises an available printer on the remote system, CUPS detects the printer, and a new print queue is created.
Managing Print Requests by Using CUPS
Every time you submit a print request, CUPS creates a print job that contains information about the print queue to which you are sending the request, the name of the document, and the page description. Print jobs are numbered, for example, queue-1, queue-2, so that you can monitor each print job as it is printed or cancel the print job, if necessary.
When a print request is submitted, CUPS does the following:
Determines which programs to use (filters, print drivers, port monitors, and back-end programs).
Runs these programs to complete the print job.
Removes the job from the print queue when the print job is complete, and then prints the next print job that is submitted. You can configure CUPS to notify you when a print job is complete or if any errors occur during printing.
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