Network Printing Over TCP/IP

With today's network printers, you no longer have to connect the printer directly to the print server--all you need is a power outlet and a network port. Add a network printer and cables, and you have a remote printer. Well, almost.

Network printers are a shared resource that network workstations can access as if the printer were directly connected to the print server. This sharing has several benefits over direct network printer access by all users. First, Windows NT's security can control access to the printer because the print queue is an NT service. Second, the printer location is independent of the NT server. In the case of a network print pool, users can access several printers from one convenient location. Third, printer redirection is a snap. The NT server routes the printer requests, so using a different printer means making a change on the server, not the clients. However, you still have to make a change on the clients if you change the type of printer (e.g., changing a PostScript printer to a non-PostScript printer). Finally, network printers can support multiple servers, thereby providing a redundant path to a printer from a workstation through each server. After you configure the print server and network printer, printer management is minimal.

Although NT supports several protocols for connecting network printers, TCP/IP is almost universally available and lets other servers on the network (such as UNIX machines) access the network printer. However, to provide network printing support using NT Server or NT Workstation with TCP/IP, you have to complete the few extra steps that this article outlines.

Two network printers that use TCP/IP are Lexmark's Optra S 1250 and Xerox's DocuPrint 4512. Both printers support IP connections and other connection protocols such as NetWare printer support. NT's printer architecture can use print monitors to manage individual printers. The Lexmark printer uses a custom print monitor that ships with NT 4.0, and the Xerox printer uses NT's generic TCP/IP print monitor.

Both installations are similar but not identical to one another. Most network printers use NT's generic approach, although the custom print monitor can provide a more sophisticated remote network printer configuration.

Lexmark Optra S 1250
The Lexmark Optra S is a 12-page-per-minute, 1200dpi printer and comes with an Ethernet network adapter. Options include multiple 500-sheet drawer paper feeders and a duplex printing unit. Faster printing versions are also available. The Optra S comes with MarkVision printer management application software that lets you view printer status and change printer settings from within NT.

Like many other manufacturers that are Web-enabling their network devices, Lexmark has Web-enabled its Optra S 1250 network printer. The printer has a fixed number of customizable HTML pages that the mini-Web server generates on the fly (Screen 1 shows an example). You can use any Web browser to check the status of the printer and create a link from any Web site to the mini-Web server. This remote monitoring is great for the network administrator who needs to monitor several available printers. One click, and you can see the status of each printer.

To set up this network printer, you need to follow 15 steps (even if you use NT's generic TCP/IP printer support, you need to follow steps 1 through 9 in this section of the article):

STEP 1: Click the Start button in NT 4.0, and select Settings and Printers. Double-click Add Printer to start NT's Printer Wizard. The first dialog box in the Printer Wizard lets you install a local or network printer. Select My Computer, as you see in Screen 2, to install the network printer as a local printer on the print server. Later you will link the print driver to the network printer so that the workstations on your network can access this resource. Click the Next button to move to the next Printer Wizard dialog box.

STEP 2: The next step is to select the port for the network printer. For the time being, select any port in the list (such as LPT1) and click Next. You will add a specific port for this printer later.

STEP 3: The next Printer Wizard dialog box provides a list of printers. Select the appropriate entry for the Lexmark Optra S 1250. If this printer is not listed, click Have Disk. You will probably have to tell NT where to find the drivers for this printer because the default list is for direct-connect printers. If you click Have Disk, select the location of the printer drivers and click OK to move to the next step.

STEP 4: The new list of printers will include the network printer, as you see in Screen 3. Select the proper driver, and click Next (some printers support more than one printer emulation mode, in which case you will see multiple drivers in the list for that printer). You can set up additional printers by repeating these steps; however, check the printer's documentation to see whether it can support multiple emulation modes at the same time.