Setting Up Directly Attached Printers by Using Solaris Print Manager

The following table describes each printer definition to help you determine the information that is needed to set up a directly attached printer by using Solaris Print Manager. All of these attributes can also be set by using LP print commands. For more information about the printer definitions that you can set by using Solaris Print Manager and LP print commands, see Setting Printer Definitions.

Printer Definition	Description	Example	Default Setting	Required or Optional?
Printer Name	Name of printer	laser1	N/A	Required to install an attached or network printer and to add access to a printer
Print server	Name of print server	venus	Use localhost for Printer Server attribute check box selected by default	Required to install an attached or network printer and to add access to a printer — This field is filled in by the tool
Description	User defined string	laser printer near breakroom	N/A	Optional
Printer Port	Device that the printer is attached to	/dev/term/a	/dev/term/a	Required to install an attached printer
Printer Type	Type of printer	unknown	PostScript	Required to install an attached printer or a network printer without PPD files
File Content Type	Content to be printed	any	PostScript	Required to install an attached printer or a network printer without PPD files
Printer Make	Make of printer	Lexmark	N/A	Required to install an attached printer or a network printer with PPD files
Printer Model	Model of printer	Lexmark Optra E312	N/A	Required to install an attached printer or a network printer with PPD files
Printer Driver	Driver that is used by specifying PPD file	Foomatic/PostScript	N/A	Required to install an attached printer or a network printer with PPD files
Fault Notification	Specifies how to notify user of errors	Mail to superuser	Write to superuser	Optional
Default Printer	Identifies the default printer	N/A	N/A	Optional
Banner Page Drop-Down Menu:	Specifies to print a banner page.	N/A	Banner is printed unless turned off by using lp command with appropriate option	Optional
User Access List	List of users allowed to print on the print server	rimmer,lister	All users can print	Optional

Setting Printer Definitions by Using Solaris Print Manager

Solaris Print Manager contains the following drop-down menus:

• Print Manager

• Printer

• Tools

The Print Manager menu contains the following selectable options and attributes:

• Select Naming Service

  When you select this option, the Solaris Print Manager: Select Naming Service window is displayed.

  Options that might be available from this drop-down menu include:

  • files

  • LDAP

  • NIS

  • NIS+

  To close the Select Naming Service window, click OK, Reset, Cancel, or Help.

• Show Command-Line Console

• Confirm All Actions

• Use PPD files

• Use localhost for Printer Server

  A new tool attribute check box, Use localhost for Printer Server, is now available. This attribute is selected by default. When creating a local print queue, use this option to specify localhost as the host name in the print system's databases. This modification was made to enable print servers to maintain the same print host name, localhost, independent of the machine host name. To revert to earlier behavior for this option, deselect the check box.

The Printer menu contains the following selectable options:

• Add Access to Printer

• Add Attached Printer

• Add Network Printer

• Modify Printer Properties – This option is not available until you select a printer from the list of available printers to modify.

• Delete Printer – This option is not available out until you select a printer from the list of available printers to delete.

The Tools menu contains the following selectable options:

• Find Printer

How to Add a New Directly Attached Printer by Using Solaris Print Manager

When adding a directly attached printer by using Solaris Print Manager, the default is to use PPD files. The Use PPD files attribute is located in the Print Manager drop-down menu in Solaris Print Manager. This default attribute enables you to select the printer make, model, and driver when adding new printer. You can deselect this attribute if you are adding a printer that does not use a PPD file.

This procedure shows you how to add a new attached printer by using Solaris Print Manager with the Use PPD files default attribute is selected. To add a new attached printer without PPD files, deselect this attribute by removing the checkmark from the check box.

1. Select the system to be the print server.
2. Connect the printer to the print server. Turn on the power to the printer.

   Consult the printer vendor's installation documentation for information about the hardware switches and cabling requirements.

3. Start Solaris Print Manager on the print server where you connected the printer.

   For instructions, see How to Start Solaris Print Manager.

   You can specify localhost as the host name in the print system's databases. This modification was made to enable print servers to maintain the same print host name, localhost, independent of the machine host name. This option is the default in Solaris Print Manager. You can deselect this check box to revert to earlier behavior for this option. Note that this option applies exclusively to the set up of local print queues. For more information, see Using PPD Files When Setting Up a Printer in Solaris Print Manager.

   To set up a local print queue specifying localhost as the host name by using the lpadmin command with the -s option, see How to Use LP Print Commands to Add a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name.

4. Select New Attached Printer from the Printer menu.

   The New Attached Printer window is displayed.

5. Fill in the required fields with the appropriate information.

   If you need information to complete a field, click the Help button.

   For example, to add a new attached printer with PPD files, provide the appropriate information in the following fields:

   Printer Name:
   Description:
   Printer Port:
   Printer Make:
   Printer Model:
   Printer Driver:
   Fault Notification:
   Options:
   Default Printer
   Always Print Banner
   User Access List:

   The Printer Server field is filled in by Solaris Print Manager.

   To add a new attached printer without PPD files, provide the appropriate information in the following fields:

   Printer Name:
   Description:
   Printer Port:
   Printer Type:
   File Contents:
   Fault Notification:
   Options:
   Default Printer
   Always Print Banner
   User Access List:

   The Printer Server field is filled in by Solaris Print Manager.

6. Click OK.
7. Verify that the printer has been installed. Check for the new printer entry in the Solaris Print Manager main window.
8. Verify that the printer can print requests.

   $ lp -d printer-name filename

9. Exit Solaris Print Manager.

   Choose Exit from the Print Manager Menu.

10. Verify that the new Solaris Print Manager feature is working.

    When you are using Solaris Print Manager to create or modify a print queue, choose the files option as the naming service. Select the New Attached Printer option from the menu. If the drop-down menu displays the printer make and printer model, the new feature is working.

More Information
Verifying That the RIP Feature Is Working

The RIP enables you to print to printers that do not have resident PostScript processing capabilities.

To ensure that the RIP feature is working you need to create a new print queue by selecting one of the make/model combinations that is available in the New Attached Printer and New Network Printer screens used by Solaris Print Manager. Then, try printing to the new printer. If the output of the print job is recognizable, the RIP feature is working. If the output of the print job is unrecognizable, then the RIP feature is not working.

How to Use Solaris Print Manager to Add a Print Queue With the Local Host Specified as the Host Name

This procedure shows how to use Solaris Print Manager to add a local print queue with localhost specified as the host name in the print system databases. This modification was added to enable print servers to maintain the same print host name, independent of the machine host name. Note that you can also modify a print queue by using these commands.

1. Become superuser or assume an equivalent role.

   Roles contain authorizations and privileged commands. For more information about roles, see Configuring RBAC (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.

2. Start Solaris Print Manager as described in the procedure, How to Start Solaris Print Manager.
3. Set the print host name to localhost in Solaris Print Manager.

   For instructions, see Setting Printer Definitions by Using Solaris Print Manager.

4. Check the entry in the /etc/printers.conf file.

   % lpget new-print-queue
   new-print-queue:
           bsdaddr=abc,new-print-queue,Solaris

   If the print queue was created or modified successfully, the output of the lpget command returns the name of the new or modified print queue.

See Also

For information about specifying localhost as the print server's host name when adding or modifying a print queue with the lpadmin command, see How to Use LP Print Commands to Add a Print Queue With localhost Specified as the Host Name.