Printer Connections on a LAN

Ethernet adapters for network printers are becoming a necessity on the LAN. With many manufactures of hardware print server devices, a wide selection of products is available to the NetWare Administrator.

Print server hardware types:

Ethernet ready printers, and hardware print server adapters come in several forms however the function is basically the same. The device accepts or requests a print job from a NetWare print queue, and sends the data to the printer. Below are some strengths and weaknesses of each type:

External: Limited to parallel or serial port connections. Typically slower, but can handle more than one printer. Devices are generic and most manufacturer's print servers will work with any printer.

Some devices are available for Macintosh printers, however the function of the device is more akin to an AppleTalk bridge than a print server.

Internal: Faster data throughput is seen however cards are usually specific for the printer. Additional features are available in internal devices that allow an administrator to manipulate the printer's settings, check the printer status, and even receive messages when the printer is low on paper or toner.

Modes of operation:

Both types of print servers come with several different modes of operation. The feature list of this discussion will be limited to NetWare nprinter mode, NetWare pserver mode, and TCP/IP. Each mode has advantages and disadvantages as listed below.

NetWare pserver mode: This is the most common configuration option for network administrators. In this configuration, the print server device is set to log into the file server as a print server object (NDS or Bindery) this takes up a NetWare Connection License on the server. The print server then polls one or more queues and services jobs as they become available. This configuration is typically the fastest method of servicing print queues. Printers, when reset or power-cycled, will reconnect to the server and begin servicing print jobs without the need for further assistance from an administrator.

NetWare nprinter mode: Previously called "rprinter mode" (or remote printer), NetWare's nprinter mode requires a NetWare printer server to operate. In this set up, pserver logs in to the file server, and polls the print queues for jobs. When a job is found, it is sent (via SPX) hardware 'nprinter' device (i.e. HP Jet Direct). This configuration is typically slower than a hardware print server in pserver mode. Pserver.exe (NetWare 3.xx) running on a dedicated PC will use a NetWare Connection License. Pserver.NLM does not use a connection license. An added advantage to this setup is the NetWare Admin and Pconsole utilities (4.x) can display the print job progress, and printer status.

TCP/IP Printers: The defacto standard for printing with TCP/IP is the LPR/LPD specification as listed in RFC1179. Hardware print servers typically act as an LPD daemon and receive print data on TCP socket 515. Unix hosts are configured (with the /etc/printcap file) to send jobs to a remote host, and specify the printer's domain name. NetWare servers can also print to these LPD devices using LPR software such as Novell's Flex IP package, or Secure Design's SDLPD software. By using an NLM based LPR package, you can send print jobs to your LPD printers as quickly as if you were using the card in Pserver mode, however you do not take up a connection license on your server. LPD printing was designed to allow.

Solutions to printer connection license usage:

The best solutions we have seen typically involve an LPR/LPD product solution such as SDLPD or FlexIP. Many printers that are Ethernet ready, and external print server boxes support LPR/LPD (via TCP/IP) and are able to work in your environment with little effort.

Alternate solutions include using pserver.nlm. Pserver.nlm does not use up a connection license even though it will show up in the file server's connection list with the monitor.nlm. This connection is considered to be part of the OS for the server and it is not counted on the server license count. With pserver.nlm, you will need to configure the printer in Nprinter mode and set pserver to send print jobs to that remote printer. You can also use pserver to send print jobs to AppleTalk printers with pserver.nlm (via PAP) on NetWare 4.x servers.

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