The Solaris printing software provides an environment for setting up and managing client access to printers on a network.
The Solaris printing software contains these tools:
Solaris Print Manager – A graphical user interface (GUI) that provides the ability to manage printing configuration on a local system or in a name service.
The LP print service commands – A command-line interface (CLI) that is used to set up and manage printers on a local system or in a name service. These commands also provide functionality that extend beyond the other print management tools.
Even if you do use Solaris Print Manager to set up printing, you will have to use some of the lp print service commands to completely manage printing on the Solaris Operating System. For more information, see Chapter 4, Administering Printers (Tasks).
The limitations of Solaris print software include the following:
No support for print servers defined as s5 (the
System V print protocol) in previous Solaris releases
No print filtering on print clients
Solaris Print Manager is a Java technology-based GUI that enables you to manage local and remote printer configuration. This tool can be used in the following name service environments: LDAP, NIS, NIS+, and files. You must be logged in as superuser or assume an equivalent role to use this tool.
Solaris Printer Manager centralizes printer information when used in conjunction with a name service. Using a name service for storing printer configuration information is desirable because a name service makes printer information available to all systems on the network. This method provides easier printing administration.
Solaris Print Manager recognizes existing printer information on the printer servers, print clients, and in the name service databases. No conversion tasks are required to use Solaris Print Manager as long as the print clients are running either the Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or Solaris Express releases.
The Solaris Print Manager package is SUNWppm.
For step-by-step instructions on setting up new printers with Solaris Print Manager, see Chapter 3, Setting Up Printers (Tasks).
The printers database in /etc/nsswitch.conf,
the name service switch file, provides centralized printer configuration information
to print clients on the network.
By including the printers database and corresponding
sources of information in the name service switch file, print clients automatically
have access to printer configuration information without having to add it
to their own systems.
The default printers entry in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file
for files, LDAP, NIS, and NIS+ environments are described in the following
table. The nisplus keyword represents the printers.org_dir table.
|
Name Service Type |
Default |
|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For example, if your name service is NIS, printer configuration information on print clients is searched for in the following sources in this order:
user – Represents the user's $HOME/.printers file
files – Represents the /etc/printers.conf file
nis – Represents the printers.conf.byname table
For more information, see the nsswitch.conf ( 4 ) man page and System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) .
Keep the following in mind when you manage printer information in the LDAP name service:
Solaris Print Manager uses the ldapclient command to determine the default LDAP server name. If more than one server is specified, the first server is automatically selected. For more information, see ldapclient ( 1M ) .
Solaris Print Manager always displays printer entries from the current LDAP server. If the current LDAP server is not the domain's LDAP master server, the list of printers displayed might not be the current list of printers. The LDAP replica server might not have been updated by the master server, and as a result, is out of sync with the master. Replica servers can have various update replication agreements. For example, a change is made on the master, and the replica servers can be updated immediately or once a day.
If the selected LDAP server is an LDAP replica server, any updates are referred to the master server and are done there. This situation again means that the printer list could be out of sync with the master server. For example, a deleted printer might still appear in the displayed printer list until the replica is updated from the master server.
Users can use the LDAP command-line utilities, ldapadd and ldapmodify, to update printer entries in the directory. However,
this method is not recommended. If these utilities are used, the user must
ensure that the printer-name attribute value is
unique within the ou=printers container. If the printer-name attribute value is not unique, the result of modifications
done by Solaris Print Manager, or by the lpset command,
might not be predictable.
Adding printer information to a name service makes access to printers available to all systems on the network. Generally, doing so makes printer administration easier because all the information about printers is centralized.
|
Name Service Configuration |
Actions to Centralize Printer Information |
|---|---|
|
Use a name service | |
|
Do not use a name service |
Adding the printer adds the printer information to the printer server's configuration files only. Print clients will not automatically know about the printer. You will have to add the printer information to every print client that needs to use the printer. |
The following table describes the major printer-related tasks and the tools available to perform the printing tasks.
Table 1.1. Solaris Printing Tools and Their Features
|
Printing Tool |
Availability |
Graphical User Interface? |
Configures Network Printers? |
Manages Print Clients and Servers? |
Uses LDAP, NIS, or NIS+? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Solaris Print Manager |
Solaris Express, Solaris 10, and compatible versions and Solaris Easy Access Server 3.0 |
Available |
Available |
Available |
Available |
|
lp commands |
Solaris Express, Solaris 10, and compatible versions |
Not available |
Available |
Available |
Available |
After using the preceding table to determine which printing tool is best for your network environment, see Chapter 3, Setting Up Printers (Tasks) for printer setup information.
Most printing configuration tasks can be accomplished with Solaris Print Manager. However, if you need to write interface scripts or add your own filters, you need to use the LP print service commands. These commands underlie Solaris Print Manager. Performing printing administration tasks with LP print service commands is described in Chapter 4, Administering Printers (Tasks).