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Receiving Print Jobs From UNIX Systems

SDLPD can receive print jobs from remote hosts. Incoming jobs are received on TCP socket 515, and a NetWare thread is created to handle the connection. Data is queued into a temporary file in the NetWare queue's directory, and placed into a NetWare print job when the transfer is complete.

Use PCONSOLE.EXE from a DOS workstation. Create any print queues that you may need if you are not using existing print queues.

Edit the file SYS:ETC\HOSTS. You will need to add the host name of each host that you wish to receive jobs from. For further assistance, read Novell's "TCP/IP Transport Supervisor Guide" for details on the format of the file.

From the server console, load the SDLPDCON.NLM if it is not currently loaded. Select the menu option for Incoming Queues. A list will be shown. To configure a previously installed queue, select the queue name and press enter. To configure a new queue, press INS, and a list of queues will be displayed. Select one and press enter. The dialog shown below will be displayed. 

Incoming Queue Options
 
Data Translation:             Automatic

Suppress Form Feed:           YES

Suppress Banners:             YES

Host Access Control:          NO

Host Access List:             < Edit List >

PostScript Job Form Number:   0

PostScript Job Prefix File:   PS-HEAD.DAT

PostScript Job Suffix File:   HP-RESET.DAT

Binary Job Form Number:       0

Binary Job Prefix File:       PCL-HEAD.DAT

Binary Job Suffix File:       HP-RESET.DAT

Text Job Form Number:         0

Text Job Prefix File:         PCL-HEAD.DAT

Text Job Suffix File:         HP-RESET.DAT

Other Job Form Number:        0

Other Job Prefix File:

Other Job Suffix File:

Data Translation: This option controls any text translations needed between DOS and UNIX systems. Options are 

     Binary: No translations

     LF->CR/LF: Always translate all jobs.

     Automatic: Uses LF to CR/LF only when job type is TEXT

Suppress Form Feed: This option sets or disables the print job flag to suppress from feeds after the print job has finished printing.

Suppress Banners: If this option is set to YES, no banner pages will be printed. If set to NO, banner pages will be printed if requested by the incoming print job. UNIX print jobs usually request banners unless lpr is used with the -h option. A job submitted as PostScript will have the banner suppressed regardless of the Suppress Banners option setting.

Host Access Control: If set to NO, all hosts will be allowed to print to configured print queues. If set to YES, the host name will be checked with the list configured in the Host Access List option. If the host does not exist in the list, the connection will be closed and the job will be rejected. To add hosts to the list, select the Host Access List and press <Enter>. A list will be displayed. Press <Ins> to add a host name, or <DEL> to remove a host name.

Form Numbers: Four options for controlling the NetWare print job form types are provided for different types of print jobs. Most UNIX implementations will send jobs in text format by default. UNIX users can use the lpr option -l to print binary. Care should be taken when changing the form number from the default. Print servers can be configured to service only one form type, and will prompt a system administrator for form changes when the print server encounters a different form type. The default is to set all form types to 0.

Prefix and Suffix files: Four options for adding data to the beginning or the end of an incoming print job are provided. This is useful for queues serviced by language switching printers. With this option, you can specify a file name, or leave the option blank. All files used for this option must be placed in the SYS:SYSTEM\SDLPDFLT\ directory. Several sample files are provided for your reference. The file LINEPRT.PS can be added as a prefix to text files when the queue is serviced by a PostScript printer. Please read the LINEPRT.PS file for further details. The sample file PS-HEAD.DAT will switch a HP3si into PostScript mode, PCL-HEAD.DAT will switch a HP3si printer to PCL mode. HP-RESET.DAT will switch a HP3si printer back to the default printer mode.

In the Miscellaneous Options in the main menu, a setting for Max Concurrent Incoming Jobs can be set. This sets a limit to the number of print jobs SDLPD will accept at once. Each incoming print job will create a process (and consume processor time) on the NetWare file server. System Administrators may wish to limit the number of processes that SDLPD can create with this option on slower systems.

Options for /etc/printcap on UNIX systems:

The following list is a partial listing of options for the UNIX lpd software. You should consult your documentation for a complete listing of features. Note that the \ character is used to note that the printcap entry continues on the next line. Each option is separated by a : character.

An example entry on a UNIX system might resemble the following:

  lp|printq_0:\

     :sd=/usr/spool/lp:\

     :sh:\

     :mx#0:\

     :lp=:\

     :rm=odell.sdesign.com:\

     :rp=printq_0:\

     :lf=/var/adm/lp.log:
lp (or printq_0) Identifies the print queue to the lpd software. Multiple names for the queue may be listed, each separated by a | character. The : character ends the print queue name field. The remaining fields are options for the print queue
sd Directory where the UNIX system stores the queue files.
sh Suppress printing of banner page.
mx Maximum file size (in blocks) zero=unlimited.
rm Host name for remote printer. (For use with SDLPD, this should be the host name of your NetWare server)
lp Device to send print output. For remote hosts, this should be left blank or omitted.
rp Print queue name on remote host. (For use with SDLPD, this should be the print queue name on the NetWare file server)
lf Log file name.

Most LPD software packages will only transfer jobs to remote hosts when configured with a remote printer. This will cause options such as input and output filters to be ignored for remote printers. For more information, consult the documentation on your LPR/LPD software for your UNIX host.

LPD control codes supported by SDLPD for incoming jobs:

The following is a list of printer command codes supported by SDLPD. This is provided as a reference to system programmers.

H Host name where the job was printed.
L User name of the job. This specifies the job requests a banner page.
N Full path name of the source file.
P Login name of the job owner. The "banner name" field will reflect this if the L option was not used.
J Job description for the print job.

File control codes supported by SDLPD:

f Print file as TEXT
l Print file including control characters. (BINARY)
o Print file as PostScript (Banner page is always suppressed)
c Print CIF file, submitted as Other job type.
d Print DVI file, submitted as Other job type.
g PLOT file, submitted as Other job type.
n Print ditrof file, submitted as Other job type.
p Print PR format file, submitted as Other job type.
r Print Fortran file, submitted as Other job type.
t Print troff file, submitted as Other job type.
v Print raster file, submitted as Other job type.

UNIX host functions

Support for remote queue inquiries is supported by SDLPD. From a UNIX host, you may use the lpq program to check the status and contents of a queue.

Support for lprm is not provided.

For specific lpr options, consult your UNIX system software documentation. Some lpr options that may be useful include:

-h Suppress banner pages
-l Print with control characters. (Send job as binary)
-J Add job description. Example: lpr -J"My Print File" /tmp/text.file
This option is usually suppressed by the -h option.
-P Specify the UNIX print queue. lpr -Pprintq_0 /tmp/text.file