Transferring Print Jobs Between NetWare Servers

One use for SDLPD is in systems that distribute servers at multiple offices on a wide area TCP/IP network, such as the Internet. SDLPD can be configured to transfer print jobs to and from NetWare servers on each site.

In such a setup, users at each site can print to printers at remote sites without having to login or attach to file servers across a potentially slow link. Print jobs could be queued on local servers even when the wide area network is not functioning. Transfers to remote sites would begin as soon as the wide area network becomes operational again.

Below is an illustration of this setup:

In this example, a NetWare server in New York and a NetWare server in Los Angeles are using SDLPD to transfer print jobs to each other. Each server has a local print queue and printer. In addition, each server has a local print queue that is serviced by SDLPD. On the file server LA_SERVER, the NY_QUEUE is serviced by SDLPD and the print jobs are transferred to the server in New York. SDLPD on the server NY_SERVER is configured to receive jobs and place them in the queue NY_QUEUE. In the same manner, the file server in New York transfers print jobs from one of its' print queues to the LA_SERVER. SDLPD is configured on each server to receive print jobs for the local print queues that are attached to local printers.

This configuration allows a user attached only to the server in Los Angeles to print to a local printer, or print to the queue NY_QUEUE and have the print job transferred to New York for printing there.