1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> 2 3<html> 4 <head> 5 <meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org"> 6 <title>Network Print Server Boxes</title> 7 <meta name="GENERATOR" content= 8 "Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"> 9 <link rel="HOME" title=" LPRng Reference Manual" href= 10 "index.htm"> 11 <link rel="UP" title="Printer Communication and Protocols " 12 href="printercomm.htm"> 13 <link rel="PREVIOUS" title="AppSocket TCP/IP Protocol " href= 14 "appsocket.htm"> 15 <link rel="NEXT" title= 16 "Network Print Server Configuration Information" href= 17 "x4976.htm"> 18 </head> 19 20 <body class="SECT1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link= 21 "#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"> 22 <div class="NAVHEADER"> 23 <table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border= 24 "0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> 25 <tr> 26 <th colspan="3" align="center">LPRng Reference Manual: 5 27 Sep 2003 (For LPRng-3.8.22)</th> 28 </tr> 29 30 <tr> 31 <td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href= 32 "appsocket.htm" accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> 33 34 <td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom">Chapter 35 11. Printer Communication and Protocols</td> 36 37 <td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href= 38 "x4976.htm" accesskey="N">Next</a></td> 39 </tr> 40 </table> 41 <hr align="LEFT" width="100%"> 42 </div> 43 44 <div class="SECT1"> 45 <h1 class="SECT1"><a name="SECNETWORK">11.5. Network Print 46 Server Boxes</a></h1> 47 48 <p>A <span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">network print 49 server</i></span> is usually a box (external model) or card 50 in a printer (internal model) which has a network connection 51 to a TCP network and software to implement a LPD print 52 server. If it is an external model, The parallel or serial 53 port of the printer is connected to the box, and the print 54 server may support multiple printers. If it is an internal 55 model, the server is usually nothing more than a Network 56 Interface Controller and a ROM containing software that the 57 microprocessor in the printer uses.</p> 58 59 <p>The print server may support multiple printing protocols, 60 such as <a href="rfc1179.htm">RFC1179</a> (TCP/IP printing 61 using the LPD print protocol), Novell Printer Protocols, SMB 62 print protocols, and AppleTalk protocols. One of the observed 63 problems with Network Print servers is that while they can 64 usually support one protocol and one user at a time quite 65 well, when you try to use multiple protocols and/or multiple 66 users try to transfer print jobs to the printer, the printer 67 may behave in a very odd manner. Usually this results in a 68 printer failing to finish a job currently being printed, and 69 unable to accept new jobs.</p> 70 71 <p>Several of the newer models of print servers have Simple 72 Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agents built into them, 73 and can provide detailed information about their internal 74 functions. By using a SNMP manager such as SunNetmanage or 75 HP-Openview, you can monitor your network printers 76 activities.</p> 77 78 <p>I recommend that you use only a single protocol to send 79 jobs to the printer. If you can, I also recommend that you 80 use a print spooler and have only a single host system send a 81 job to the printer.</p> 82 83 <p>My best advice on connecting to network printers is not to 84 use the the built-in LPD server, but to use the direct TCP/IP 85 connection to the print engine. Usually this is done to 86 particular TCP/IP port on the printer. For the HP JetDirect 87 and other HP products, this is usually TCP port 9100.</p> 88 89 <p>Once you have the direct connection, you can now use 90 various filters to preprocess the print job, insert PJL and 91 PCL commands, or convert text to PostScript or PCL for better 92 print quality.</p> 93 </div> 94 95 <div class="NAVFOOTER"> 96 <hr align="LEFT" width="100%"> 97 98 <table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border= 99 "0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> 100 <tr> 101 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href= 102 "appsocket.htm" accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> 103 104 <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href= 105 "index.htm" accesskey="H">Home</a></td> 106 107 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href= 108 "x4976.htm" accesskey="N">Next</a></td> 109 </tr> 110 111 <tr> 112 <td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">AppSocket 113 TCP/IP Protocol</td> 114 115 <td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href= 116 "printercomm.htm" accesskey="U">Up</a></td> 117 118 <td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Network Print 119 Server Configuration Information</td> 120 </tr> 121 </table> 122 </div> 123 </body> 124</html> 125 126