NetWare 5.1 Administration

Chapter 9: Implementing Novell Distributed Print Services

 

Objectives:

This chapter concerns Novell's NDPS. The objectives important to this chapter are:

  1. Describe the Purpose and Function of NDPS
  2. Describe the Differences Between Queue-Based Printing and NDPS
  3. Explain the Four NDPS Components and Their Functions
  4. Explain the Difference Between Controlled Access Printers and Public Access Printers
  5. Configure the Network for NDPS
  6. Configure Workstations to Print to NDPS Printers
Key Concepts:
Describe the Purpose and Function of NDPS

The chapter begins with a discussion of the benefits of Novell Distributed Print Services. NDPS provides the following benefits:

  • It improves overall network performance.
  • It reduces network printing problems.
  • It reduces administration costs and management time.
  • Printer drivers can be pushed to workstations as needed.
  • Network traffic is reduced because SAP is not needed to communicate with printers.
  • IP based printing is enabled.
Describe the Differences Between Queue-Based Printing and NDPS

Page 9-4 summarizes the differences between printing in systems that use queues and in NDPS, which does not use queues. In network printing, as Novell has done it in the past, there was a print queue, which was a holding area for print jobs. A print server monitored the network printer, and pulled the print job from the queue, sending it to the printer when the printer was ready for a job. Each of these entities had to have a Novell Directory Services object to keep track of the relationships between them and users. This changed in NetWare 5. With NDPS, administrators create fewer NDS objects, printers may be added more dynamically, and communication with printers is enhanced.

Explain the Four NDPS Components and Their Functions

Using Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS), we have a new set of printing components:

  • Printer Agent - this is assigned to a particular printer; it performs the functions previously done by the Queue, Print Server, and Printer objects in NDS. Each printer on the network will have its own Printer Agent. Oddly enough, this component is not an NDS object.
  • NDPS Manager - a Manager must exist on the system in order to create a Printer Agent. A Manager can control any number of Printer Agents. An NDPS Manager is both an NDS object and a program on a server. Although there may be multiple NDPS Managers on a server, each server can only have one Manager running at any given time.
  • Gateway - Gateways provide backward compatibility, supporting printers and other printing systems that are not directly compatible with NDPS. (If a printer has a printer agent embedded in its hardware, it does not need a Gateway.) The following Gateways are provided with NetWare 5.1:
    • Hewlett Packard Gateway - to support non-NDPS HP printers, and any printer connected to the network by an HP JetDirect card
    • IBM
    • Ricoh
    • OKIDATA®
    • Cannon
    • Kyocera
    • EPSON®
    • Tektronix®
    • Xerox
    • Lexmark TM
    • Novell Gateway - to support all other non-NDPS printers
      You will want to memorize this list for the certification test. I suggest a mnemonic device:
      Hi, Rocket XL -- Novell
  • NDPS Broker - the Broker provides three services to integrate NDPS with the rest of NetWare. You get one Broker for each network, automatically installed on the first server on which you install NDPS. However, an additional Broker is installed when a server has NDPS installed on it and the server is over three hops from any existing Broker. So, what's a hop? Every time a signal has to pass across a router, that counts as a hop. The Broker's services are:
    • Service Registry Services - while this sounds redundant, it is actually important. It allows certain types of printers to advertise (or register) their services (availability) to the network.
    • Event Notification Services - this service provides notification to users when printers finish tasks or have problems.
    • Resource Management Services - this service sends drivers to users from a central location (a NetWare server) when the user logs in. This allows the administrator to change or update drivers centrally instead of having to touch each workstation.
Explain the Difference Between Controlled Access Printers and Public Access Printers

Back to printers: there are two basic types of printers, described on page 9-10. Any printer on the network can be converted to either type:

  • Public Access Printer - Features:
    • available to anyone on the network
    • plug-and-print, which means the network will use it easily
    • no NDS object exists for these, so you create them in a Manager
    • low security because of the unlimited access
  • Controlled Access Printer - Features:
    • does have an NDS object, and is controlled through it
    • many security options
    • many printer configurations are possible
    • access is automatic for users in the same container as the printer object, others can be granted access

Note that you can convert a Public Access Printer into a Controlled Access Printer by creating an NDS object for it. If you do so, you will need to configure that object.

Configure the Network for NDPS

The text begins a discussion of installing NDPS. A NetWare server that will provide NDPS services must have some resources available to dedicate to the service:

  • 140 MB of free hard drive space for the service
  • 4 MB of RAM for the service

The process to install NDPS involves four steps:

  1. Make sure the server meets minimum system requirements. (See above.)
  2. Install the NDPS software. You can do this when you install a server, or you can do it from the NetWare GUI by clicking the Novell button and choosing Install.
  3. Create and load an NDPS manager.
    1. While the Broker is installed automatically, you must manually create an NDPS Manager object in NDS. A procedure is given for doing so in NetWare Administrator. You begin by creating the object as you do any other object in NDS. Note that you must specify a server that is running NDPS on which you will pick a volume. In that volume, NDS will create a database for the NDPS manager.
    2. To load the NDPS manager, load NDPSM.NLM on the server that you picked in NDS. When you load this NLM, you should supply it with the distinguished name of the manager object you made in NDS.
  4. Create printer agents. Printer agents may be created inside the NDPS manager object. If you do so, the printers that they server can be Public Access printers. If you create printer agents in an NDS context (outside a manager object), they will stand for Controlled Access printers. (You will still have to associate them with an NDPS manager object.)
Configure Workstations to Print to NDPS Printers

Workstations can be assigned a printer automatically when a user logs in, or you can configure the workstation manually with Novell Print Manager.

Page 9-26 has instructions for the automatic configuration, assigning a printer to all users in a container using the properties of the container. Note that several printer can be assigned, and you have the option of making one of them the default printer for these users.

A method for manually setting a printer for a workstation is described on page 9-28. Note that this is time consuming, since it is done on each workstation. Be aware of the program used, Novell Printer Manager, and the location and name of the executable file: SYS:PUBLIC\WIN32\NWPMW32.