[alansc9]

All,

We need to be able to print from an AIX print queue to local printers attached to Windows PC's (W2K and XP Professional).

If I define an AIX print queue AND change the local printer name (on the PC)to the same network name as the PC then I can print successfully. Without changing the local printer name to print job does not print.

Is there a way in SMIT or command line to define the local printer without having to change the name?

Thanks,

Alan Nichols

[dmoore]

Alan,
I can think of a couple of ways that you might approach this.

Do you know what the printer name is on the windows PC?
Is it shared?
Are you using DHCP for the PCs in your network?
Are the PCs registered in DNS?

These are a few of the questions you want to know answers to. For the moment, let us assume that the printers are configured to be shared, that you know the shared name of the printer, and that the PCs are in DNS. Let's also keep it straightforward and assume lpr to the printer.

Smit | printers (fastpath)
Print Spooling
Add a print queue
remote (for a remote host)
Standard Processing
- Name of Queue to add (Any name you want, I suggest using the printer name with a designator that you are using the local printer such as PCNAME_LOCAL)
- Hostname of remote server (FQDN if mixing domains - If PC is in DNS)
- Name of Queue on remote server (Add in the printer share name)
- Type of print spooler on remote server (For a windows system, I have better success with BSD.)
- Backend Timeout (I would bump this to 3+ minutes so you have fewer downed queues waiting for the PC to respond if you are using slow WAN connections.)

When spooling several jobs to windows servers, you may need to drop some windows registry entries in place as well.

I suspect your issues with needing to change the printer name stem from not having the printer set to be shared. Or, the shared name is a long name with spaces and is not parsed correctly. To be honest, I have never tried that. If I am sending output to a windows printer, I always make sure the printer names don't have any spaces.

Is that a sufficient answer or did I misunderstand the question?

[b00tsie]

And a service in Windows should be running, something called lpr printspooler or printservice.

I guess it is running by default...

[yogeeraj]

the service is called "Print services for Unix"

[buaa_kyle]

Hi, I too am trying to set printing from AIX5.3 box to windows 2000 box, after I searched the comp.unix.aix I found lots of similar cases and useful directions but still there's no luck for me. Here's the descriptions:

I have one hp LaserJet 1000 printer which is attached to a windows 2000 server, everything must be done had been done on the windows box side:

1) lpd service is running on;
2) the printer is shared, and the queue name is 'hpLaserJ'

Also neccessary things had been checked out on the AIX box side:

1) I'v added the queue, with right configurations(see /etc/qconfig below)
2) the network connectivity is confirmed, with the right host name appended in /etc/hosts
3) the lpd service on win2k box is checked with the command ' telnet win2kserver 515' and I get what's supposed to get: ' ..connected....'

************** /etc/qconfig ********************
/etc/qconfig:
rmtq:
device = @win2kserver
up = TRUE
host = win2kserver
s_statfilter = /usr/lib/lpd/bsdshort
l_statfilter = /usr/lib/lpd/bsdlong
rq = hpLaserJ
@win2kserver:
backend = /usr/lib/lpd/rembak -D /tmp/rmtq.log
************** /etc/qconfig ********************

when I tried to print from AIX, it seems that the file had been sent to windows succesfully, but there's nothing happend on the printer side! I tried to monitor the queue on windows 2000, found that the queue did receive the print job but take it as a 'local downlevel document' and processed it silently. Finally the file to print went nowhere and nothing is printed, and there's no job record in the queue monitor window too.

Then I tried to change the queue configuration on the windows box, I opened the 'properties-->advanced--->printing processor' panel, found that the defaut set is 'IMFPrinter' and 'IMF'. After I changed it to 'WinPrint' and 'Raw', I tested again from AIX box with the command '#lp -drmtq /etc/hosts', then the job was recorded in the queue monitor window on win2k box, showing how the job was processed, but still nothing get printed on the printer side.

After an exhausted test, an conclusion could be formulated:

1. if the queue configuration is 'IMFPrinter', then the windows queue takes any job from AIX box as the 'local downlevel document' and keeps no record in the queue monitor window, nothing gets printed

2. if the queue configuration is 'WinPrinter', then the windows queue keeps a process record of any job from AIX box, still nothing gets printed

could anyone kindly give me any clue? anything would be appreciated

[rzs0502]

I've done this a few months ago. here's a doc I wrote explaining the process. Hope it works for you...

Steps to install.

On Windows :
1. Install Unix Print Services on Windows Server (eg. cibjnbprn101).
2. On the Windows shared printer (eg. \\cibjnbprn101\cibprnfaso40) create an LPD device (eg. faso40)
3. Allow 'Everyone' print access on the printer permissions

On AIX:

1. smitty mkpq
2. Select [ remote Printer Attached to Remote Host ] from the attachment type
3. Select [ Local filtering before sending to print server ] from the printing type
4. Select [ Other ] from the printer type
5. Select [ generic Generic Printer ]
6. Enter AIX local queue name in the [ ASCII ] field ( eg. faso40 )
7. Enter the Windows hostname in the HOSTNAME field
8. Enter the Windows queue name ( here is the trick with AIX - do not use the LPD device name. Enter the Windows share name eg. cibprnfaso40 ) * Using the LPD device name will crash the queue when you attempt to print.
9. Choose BSD as the 'Type of print spooler on remote server'
10. Enter 120 for 'Backend TIME OUT period (minutes)' - The default of 90 seconds may cause queue crashes as well.

'enq -e' should produce an output similar to the following

/> enq -e
Queue Dev Status Job Files User PP % Blks Cp Rnk
------- ----- --------- --- ------------------ ---------- ---- -- ----- --- ---
cibprnf @cibj READY cibprnfaso40:
cibprnfaso40: Windows LPD Server
cibprnfaso40: Printer \\x.x.x.x\cibprnfaso40
cibprnfaso40:
cibprnfaso40: Owner Status Jobname Job-Id Size Pages Priority
cibprnfaso40: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[buaa_kyle]

hi rzs0502, thanks for your kindly help, I think the difference between your steps and mine is that you chose to filter the file on the AIX box before senting it to win2k box and I keep it as standard process, and I follow your steps, but still nothing works...anyway thanks again

[rzs0502]

There were 3 issues when I tried this.
The 1st time the NT admins did not allow group Everyone to print to the printer. They had Domain Users instead.
Another was I did not initially use BSD as the print spooler.
And on AIX I was using the Windows LPD sharename instead of the normal windows sharename.
If you're using Linux, try to set it up using CUPS. At least you'll be able to determine if it's Windows that's blocking you...

[buaa_kyle]

Originally Posted by rzs0502

There were 3 issues when I tried this.
The 1st time the NT admins did not allow group Everyone to print to the printer. They had Domain Users instead.
Another was I did not initially use BSD as the print spooler.
And on AIX I was using the Windows LPD sharename instead of the normal windows sharename.
If you're using Linux, try to set it up using CUPS. At least you'll be able to determine if it's Windows that's blocking you...

hi rzs050, I want to thank you for your nice help, after long exhausted boring test, it turns out that the old printer(HP Laster Jet 1000) is all the evil. A week ago the HP printer's down forever(finally), and we replace it with a whole new one(also HP...), and with no extra intervention the tricky printing from AIX to win2k thing is done!... Could I be any more lucky?...

[rzs0502]

Good stuff!
Luckily they didn't give you an Epson dot matrix :-)