Re: [TCLUG:9256] print server concepts

["Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom" <carls@agritech.com>]

>1. Does 'workstation' have to run lpd, or just 'printserver'?
        only 'printserver' needs lpd. if 'workstation' is a windoze box, you
would (AFAIK) send print jobs to it via SAMBA, just as if it were a NT or
Netware print server (I've actually never touched an NT print server; i'm
guessing it looks to the network like the netware one I'm replacing).
        OTOH, if 'workstation' is a *nix box of some sort (or at least has
lpd of some form) you can in theory print directly to the JetDirect card in
the printer. however, it is recommended that you send all files to one print
server (not sure exactly why; may be to avoid possible confusions/collisions
on the JetDirect card).

>2. Does having one print server for multiple printers mean simply that
>there are multiple print queues on that machine or is it more complicated
>than that?
        just that there are multiple print queues.
        the suck of it is that lpd is really *stupid*; and if one of your
print queues jams up for some reason, they *all* jam up. 
        RH 5.1's print filters will crap out if you send them a file without
an EOF marker, and this caused me no end of headaches until i got it figured
out. (the line of sed code that does the CR->CR/LF translation needs to be
changed to a line of awk). dunno if 6.1 has improved this.

>3. How would a print server print to multiple printers if the printers
>don't have JetDirect cards (or the equivalent)? Would you have multiple,
>physical parallel connections to the printers? If so, wouldn't that mean
>that all of the printers would have to be physically close to one another?
        if they are not on the network, they have to be connected by
parallel cable. yes, this means they have to be physically close.
        you can get network 'print server' little black boxes from any
number of companies; they will do the same thing as a jetdirect card, only
externally. they connect to the network on one port, and have other ports
for parallel or serial printer cables. you send jobs to their IP address (or
IPX, or NetBIOS), and specify the print queue, and they send it on via the
appropriate connection.

>4. To configure printing to 'printer', would I set up printing to
>'printserver' and have that redirect printing to 'printer'?
        that's it. :)

>For whatever reason, I haven't got the hang of this network printing stuff
>yet. What I've got running works, but I feel like I don't understand it,
>and I'd like to add another printer and make everything work well
>together. Any other hints?
        distrust the doco. Intel's docs on their EtherExpress print servers
are wrong on the queue names. :)
        Linux is still not the best print server in the world. I think
Netware 5 is a more robust solution. on the other hand, it costs a lot more.
:) once you have your linux box up & running, it's not bad, tho. 

Carl Soderstrom
System Administrator	307 Brighton Ave. 
Minnesota DHIA		Buffalo, MN	
carls@agritech.com	(612) 682-1091