HandsOn Novell Open Enterprise Server for NetWare and Linux

1
Hands-On Novell Open Enterprise Server for
NetWare and Linux

• Chapter 8
• Implementing and Maintaining Network Printing

2
Objectives

• After reading this chapter and completing the
  activities,
• you will be able to
• Describe the basic process and components of
  network printing
• Explain how Novell Distributed Print Services
  supports iPrint
• Configure printer clients
• Define a network printing environment
• Troubleshoot network printing

3
Introduction to Network Printing

• Network printings basic function
• Send output from a users computer to a shared
  printer attached to the network
• Printer can print from only one application at a
  time
• Queue-based printing
• Software running on the NetWare server
• Transfers print job to the physical printer
• Attached to the server or remotely to a client
  computer

4
Introduction to Network Printing (continued)
5
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System

• Available since NetWare 3
• Designed to support simple printers and DOS-based
  applications
• Queue-based system components
• Print queue
• Print server
• Printer

6
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)
7
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)

• Print queue
• Network object
• Holding area for storing output from computers
• In a form ready to send directly to a printer
• Print jobs
• Files containing output formatted for a printer
• Stored in print queue directories
• Print queue directories
• Subdirectories of the Queues directory
• Can be placed on any volume

8
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)
9
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)

• Print servers
• Send print jobs from print queues to the printer
• Send control commands to printers
• Report printer status to the print server
  operator
• By default, the print server operator is the
  Admin user
• Defined by eDirectory print server objects
• Can hold names of up to 255 printer objects
• Print server software
• Loaded and run by loading PSERVER.NLM program

10
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)
11
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)

• Printers
• Wide variety of makes, models, and capabilities
• Applications need to configure print drivers
• Remotely attached printers
• Attached to clients on the network
• Also called manual load printers
• Advantage
• You can select convenient location for the
  printer
• Disadvantage
• Lack of support for attaching printer to Windows
  2000 and XP

12
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)

• Printers (continued)
• Locally attached printers
• Attached directly to a printer port on NetWare
  server
• Also called automatic load printers
• Can be attached to
• Parallel port (LPTn)
• Serial port (COMn)
• Advantages
• Better printing performance
• Reduced network traffic

13
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)

• Printers (continued)
• Network attached printers
• Have their own built-in network card
• Communicate directly with computers on the
  network
• Becoming the most common type of network printer
• Print server software is not designed to
  communicate directly with network attached
  printers
• Printer must be configured to appear as a remote
  or manual load printer

14
Overview of the NetWare Queue-Based Printing
System (continued)
15
Setting Up a Queue-Based Printing System

• Basic steps
• Create a print queue for each printer
• Create eDirectory printer object to represent
  each printer
• Create print server object to send output from
  print queues to corresponding printer
• Load print server and any remote printer software
• Use NetWare Administrator

16
Setting Up a Queue-Based Printing System
(continued)
17
Setting Up a Queue-Based Printing System
(continued)
18
Setting Up a Queue-Based Printing System
(continued)
19
Troubleshooting Queue-Based Printing

• Novell-recommended quick-fix techniques
• Check if printer status is offline or out of
  paper
• Check if printer output is garbled
• Check if print jobs arent going to the print
  queue
• Check if problem occurs before or after print job
  reaches print queue
• Stop print jobs from leaving the print queue
• Check printer redirection for the computer
• Enable service and monitor printer status
• Check if print job is printed but theres no
  output from the printer

20
Using the Open Enterprise iPrint System

• Open Enterprise Server (OES) iPrint
• Combines
• Novell Distributed Printing Service (NDPS)
  components
• Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) standard
• Makes it possible to use printers across the
  Internet
• As easily as printers attached to the local
  network
• iPrint benefits include
• Broad vendor support
• Encrypted print services
• Capability to print from any client platform
• Global control of printing with eDirectory
  security

21
Setting Up iPrint Components

• iPrint is based on Novell Distributed Print
  Services (NDPS)
• Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS)
• Distributed network printing system
• Based on the International Standards Organization
  (ISO) 10175 Document Printing Application (DPA)
  standard

22
Setting Up iPrint Components (continued)

• Components
• Printer agent
• Acts as a print server for its associated
  physical printer
• Print Manager
• Software to run printer agents on NetWare 6.5
  server
• Enables printers without embedded printer agents
  to be attached to the network
• Printer gateway
• Used to transfer data from the computer to the
  printer
• NDPS Broker
• Makes installing printers on computers easier
• Downloads necessary printer driver automatically

23
Setting Up iPrint Components (continued)
24
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers

• NDPS Broker services
• Resource Management Service (RMS)
• Event Notification Service (ENS)
• Service Registry Services (SRS)
• NDPS Broker must be running on the local network
• Before creating and running printer agents
• NDPS Broker consists of
• eDirectory object and software loaded on the
  server
• Use iManager to create an NDPS Broker object
• Load from server console or in Remote Manager

25
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)

• Loading the NDPS Broker
• Broker software needs to be loaded on the server
• Using the eDirectory configuration specified in
  the Broker object
• Broker can be loaded directly from the NetWare
  server console
• Or from a computer using Remote Manager

26
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)
27
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)

• Configuring the NDPS Broker
• Download driver software for printer agents
• Steps
• Expand the iPrint heading
• And click the Manage Broker link
• Select your broker and click the correct driver
  link
• In the Resource Management Service tab
• Click Add From File button to add a new driver
  file from a CD or disk
• Or Add From System button to add a printer driver
  from your desktop OS

28
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)
29
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)
30
Creating and Working with NDPS Brokers (continued)
31
Creating the Print Manager

• Print Manager
• Print Manager software and an eDirectory object
• Used to create, manage, and run printer agents
• For printers without embedded printer agents
• Enables administrators to manage and configure
  printer agents from the NetWare server console
• No limit on number of printer agents
• That can be controlled from one Print Manager
• NetWare Administrator or iManager can be used to
  create NDPS objects

32
Creating the Print Manager (continued)
33
Creating the Print Manager (continued)
34
Loading Print Manager Software

• NDPS Broker and Print Manager components need to
  be loaded on the NetWare server
• Before creating the other NDPS objects
• Use Remote Manager
• To load the UAS_BROKER software on the NetWare
  6.5 server

35
Creating Printer Agents

• Printer agents basic functions
• Receive spooled output and store as a print job
• Act as a print server
• Provide printer status and control information to
  network clients through the Broker
• Contained in the Print Manager on the server
• For non-NDPS printers
• Printer agent needs to be configured with basic
  printer information

36
Creating Printer Agents (continued)
37
Creating Printer Agents (continued)

• Printer agents classification
• Public access printers
• Available to anyone with an attachment to the
  network
• Controlled access printers
• Offer more security and administrative control

38
Setting Up Gateways

• Gateways
• Used to connect physical printers to their
  associated printer agents running on Print
  Manager
• Ensure printer agents can communicate with
  physical printers
• Novell LPR gateway supports direct printer
  attachment
• Handles most printers using IP
• To send output from printer agent to printer
• Configure gateway with the connection information

39
Setting Up Gateways (continued)
40
Setting Up Gateways (continued)
41
Setting Up Gateways (continued)
42
Printer Pooling

• Printer pool
• Helps selecting available printers
• Users submit jobs to the pool
• Printer agents print the jobs when a printer
  becomes available

43
Configuring Printer Clients

• Basic methods for installing printers on user
  computers
• Manual printer installation performed by a user
• Automatic printer installation
• Printer installation from a facility map

44
Installing Printers Manually

• Users can install printers manually
• By conducting a search
• Based on printer name and specifications
• Selecting the printer from a list

45
Installing Printers Automatically

• Remote Printer Management (RPM)
• Automatic installation option in iPrint
• Specifies which printers should be installed on
  client computers
• Based on the users context
• Automatically applies the printer specifications
• When a user logs in from the scope specified in
  the RPM configuration

46
Installing Printers Automatically (continued)
47
Installing Printers Automatically (continued)
48
Installing Printers Automatically (continued)
49
Using the iPrint Map Utility

• Occasionally users need to send output to
  printers
• To locations that are not included in the
  automatic printer setup
• Map utility
• Makes selecting a printer easier
• Enables network administrators to place printer
  icons on a map of the facility
• Map can be displayed in a Web browser

50
Using the iPrint Map Utility (continued)

• Steps
• Create a Web directory for the IPP map documents
• Scan in a map of the facility and save it as a
  JPG file
• Use iPrint Map utility to add existing printers
  to the facility map
• Save facility map in a directory accessible to
  users

51
Using the iPrint Map Utility (continued)
52
Establishing a Printing Environment

• Steps
• Define printing requirements
• Determine printer locations and attachment
  methods
• Define names for all printers and identify any
  required print queues
• Plan the eDirectory context for each printer
  object

53
Step 1 Defining Printing Requirements

• Identify the number and types of network printers
  the organization needs
• Analyze requirements of all users applications
  and their printing needs
• Identify each network printer agent
• And the gateway for attaching it to the Print
  Manager
• One Print Manager is usually enough for most
  organizations
• Except when the organizations network is
  connected over a WAN

54
Step 1 Defining Printing Requirements (continued)
55
Step 1 Defining Printing Requirements (continued)
56
Step 2 Determining Printer Location and
Attachment Method

• Guidelines for determining this information
• Place printer near user who is most responsible
  for it
• Determine attachment method
• Identify printer port and interrupt each printer
  is going to use
• Avoid attaching remote printers to clients that
  arent running 32-bit OSs
• Use direct (network) attachment for printers that
  multiple users access

57
Step 3 Defining Printer and Print Queue Names

• Select printer and print queue names
• That enable you to find these objects quickly
• Use one- to six-character codes that specify
• Printers location, model, and number
• Separated by hyphens or underscores
• Print queue name should be the same as the
  printer agent name
• Followed by an underscore and the letter Q

58
Step 4 Planning the eDirectory Context

• Define printers, print queues, and print servers
  in the eDirectory tree
• Place printers and print queues in the same
  container as users
• Gives you convenient access
• Place printer agents in same container
• Container storing the printer agent becomes a
  user of that printer agent
• Print Manager object accessed from NetWare server
  
• Can service printers and users in any container

59
Troubleshooting Network Printing

• Similar to troubleshooting queue-based printing
  problems
• Quick fixes
• Attempt to resolve any error messages received
  for the server, printer agent, or client computer
• Check if a network printing problem is limited to
  a single computer
• Check if a network printing problem affects
  several computers

60
Troubleshooting Network Printing (continued)
61
Troubleshooting Network Printing (continued)
62
Troubleshooting Network Printing (continued)
63
Summary

• NetWare queue-based printing system
• Uses print queues to store output from client
  computers
• Until the network printer becomes available
• Queue-based printing troubleshooting techniques
• Printer attachment methods
• Local, remote, or network attachment
• iPrint is the latest Novell network printing
  technology
• Novell Distributed Printing Services (NDPS)

64
Summary (continued)

• NDPS components
• Print Manager
• Printer agents
• Gateways
• NDPS Brokers
• iPrint uses Internet Printing Protocol (IPP)
• To enable printers to be installed, accessed, and
  managed anywhere via a Web browser
• Print Manager
• Used to create and run printer agents

65
Summary (continued)

• Not all clients are compatible with NDPS
• Novell offers backward compatibility via print
  queues
• Establish the printing environment
• Determine the number and types of printers needed
• Define the printing requirements for users
  applications
• Determine printers locations and attachment
  methods
• Define printer and print queue names
• Plan the eDirectory context
• Common iPrint troubleshooting techniques