Managing Printers

Although the default settings allow your users to print without further configuration being necessary, you will probably want to modify some of those settings so that you can manage your printing resources most effectively. Although most tasks can be done in Novell iManager, some tasks will require you to use NetWare^® Administrator.

This section discusses the following:

• Creating Additional Printers
• Managing Printers
• Managing Print Jobs
• Modifying the Printer's Gateway Load Commands

Creating Additional Printers

Prerequisites

• Have the Supervisor right for the destination container where its associated Printer object will reside
• Be designated as a manager of the iPrint Manager that will control this printer
• Have an iPrint Driver Store running
• Have an iPrint Manager running

Procedure

1. In Novell iManager, click iPrint > Create Printer.

2. Fill in the fields.

   Click Help for explanations about the fields.

3. Click OK.

4. Click Next, then select the Drivers for this printer.

   If the printer drivers for this printer are not listed, you can still create the printer. After the printer is created, you can add the printer drivers to the iPrint Driver Store and then associate the drivers to the printer by clicking Manage Printer > Drivers.

   These drivers will be automatically downloaded to users' workstations when they install the printer in the future.

   If you choose a Windows 3.x driver but not a Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000 driver, a 16-bit driver will be selected.

   Because the list of printer drivers shipped with this product is limited, you can add drivers to the iPrint Driver Store. See Updating Printer Drivers for more information.

   If you do not select a driver, users are prompted to provide a disk with the appropriate driver the first time they install this printer on their workstations.

5. Click Next to create the printer.

Managing Printers

Using iManager, you can manage Printer Agents. You can start up and shut down a Printer Agent, pause and resume input and output, view printer information, set configuration settings, and change the printer drivers.

1. In Novell iManager click iPrint > Manage Printer.

2. Browse to and select the printer you want to manage.

3. Use the tabbed property pages to complete the task you want.

Managing Print Jobs

The following sections provide specific information about the print job management features. Users designated as managers or operators for a printer can perform these tasks for all jobs routed to that printer; individual job owners can perform these tasks only for their own print jobs.

Viewing Print Job Information

You can view information about individual print jobs waiting to be processed by a specific printer.

1. In Novell iManager, click iPrint > Manage Printer.

2. Browse to and select the printer the job was sent to.

3. Click Printer Control > Jobs.

   Information about print jobs for this printer are displayed.

Deleting Print Jobs

Administrators can delete any print job after it has been submitted if the job has not yet started printing. Users can delete only their own print jobs.

1. In Novell iManager, click iPrint > Manage Printer.

2. Browse to and select the printer the job was sent to.

3. Click Printer Control > Jobs.

4. Check the check box next to the job you want to delete.

5. Click Delete.

Changing the Order of Print Jobs

Occasionally, you might need to print a job sooner than other jobs that have already been submitted to a printer but have not yet started printing. Administrators, managers, and operators can move any job up or down the list. Users can move only their own jobs, and can move them only down the list.

1. In Novell iManager, click iPrint > Manage Printer.

2. Browse to and select the printer the job was sent to.

3. Click Printer Control > Jobs.

4. Check the check box next to the job you want to modify.

5. Click Promote to move a print job up the list.

Modifying the Printer's Gateway Load Commands

You can modify the Printer's gateway load commands by using iManager.

1. In Novell iManager, click iPrint > Manage Printer.

2. Browse to and select the printer you want to modify.

3. Click Configuration > Gateway.

4. Edit the gateway autoload command.

   
   Table 1. Gateway Load Parameters in Order

   Parameter	Description
   iprintgw	The gateway executable that is loaded for this Printer Agent.
   PA=	The name of the printer that is to be loaded.
   PORT=LPR port_specific_parameters	The type of port to be used. Supported values are LPR and NULL. The port value is followed by port-specific parameters. See Table 2.
   HOSTNAME or HOSTADDRESS=	The hostname (DNS Name) or IP address of the printer.
   PRINTERNAME=	Passthrough is used for most printers. If you are printing to a UNIX printer, use a UNIX-type printer or queue name.
   GETCOMMUNITYSTRING=	Specifies the community string to be used for SNMP Get and GetNext requests.
   NOQUERY	Prevents initialization queries on the server. This parameter is optional.
   SETCOMMUNITYSTRING=	Sets the community string to be used for SNMP Get and GetNext requests.

   
   Table 2. Port-Specific Parameters

   Parameter	Description
   JPOLL=	Sets the job polling interval (in seconds).
   SPOLL=	The base SNMP polling interval (in seconds). Only select SMNP information, like the printer's alert table and display console, is gathered at this polling interval. Other information that changes less frequently, like the level of paper in a paper tray or the amount of toner, is gathered about every four polling intervals. Additional printer information, like printer memory, is gathered every 10 polling intervals.
   VENDOR=	Indicates the printer vendor and is reserved for the vendor's use only.

5. Click OK to save the changes.