Network Printing Over TCP/IP

Setting up the Lexmark Optra S 1250 and Xerox DocuPrint 4512

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 networkprinting support using NT Server or NT Workstation with TCP/IP, you have tocomplete the few extra steps that this article outlines.

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

Both installations are similar but not identical to one another. Mostnetwork printers use NT's generic approach, although the custom print monitorcan 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 withan Ethernet network adapter. Options include multiple 500-sheet drawer paperfeeders and a duplex printing unit. Faster printing versions are also available.The Optra S comes with MarkVision printer management application software thatlets 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 afixed number of customizable HTML pages that the mini-Web server generates onthe fly (Screen 1 shows an example). You can use any Web browser to check thestatus of the printer and create a link from any Web site to the mini-Webserver. This remote monitoring is great for the network administrator who needsto monitor several available printers. One click, and you can see the status ofeach printer.

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

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

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

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

STEP 4: The new list of printers will includethe network printer, as you see in Screen 3. Select the proper driver, and clickNext (some printers support more than one printer emulation mode, in which caseyou will see multiple drivers in the list for that printer). You can set upadditional printers by repeating these steps; however, check the printer'sdocumentation to see whether it can support multiple emulation modes at the sametime.

STEP 5: The Printer Wizard will ask you toenter a name for the printer. The default name reflects the type of printer, but you can change the printer name to be anything. I suggest that you make the name representative of the type of printer you are installing or its location, especially if you connect multiple network printers to your network. Enter a name, and click Next.

STEP 6: At this point, you can access thenetwork printer only from the computer where you added the printer driver. To share this printer with other users on the network, enter a share name in the Printer Wizard dialog box and click Next. The share name can be different from the printer name you selected in the previous step. The share name must be eight characters or fewer if you plan to use DOS or Windows 3.x workstations with this printer.

STEP 7: You have reached the last PrinterWizard dialog box. Deselect the option to print a test page if it is selected, and click Finish.

STEP 8: You have now finished installing the printer driver. The name of the printer you entered in Step 5 will appear in the printer list, as you see in Screen 4. But before users on the network can printto this printer, you need to set up the printer port that NT uses to communicate with the network printer. You set the printer port from the printer's Properties dialog box. Select the printer from the list of available printers, and right-click the printer to open the Properties dialog box.

STEP 9: Select the Ports tab from theProperties dialog box to display the Ports page, as you see in Screen 5. Youwill see a check mark next to the port that you selected in Step 2 (i.e., LPT1).You need to add a new port so that you can share the network printer. To do so,click Add Port.

STEP 10: The Printer Ports dialog box shows alist of print monitors. By default, NT installs with a set of monitors,including one for Lexmark. Select the Lexmark Network Port, and click the NewPort button to open the Configure TCP/IP adapter list.

STEP 11: Unless you have configured othernetwork printers for use with this computer, the Configure TCP/IP adapter listwill be empty . Click the Add Adapter button to set up a connection to thenetwork printer.

STEP 12: The Add New Adapter dialog box hastwo fields, as shown in Screen 6, page 179. The first is the TCP/IP Address orName of Adapter. You can use a name instead of an IP address in this field ifyou have a Domain Name System (DNS) server on your network that can resolve thename into an IP address. A name is better than a fixed IP address because youcan change the IP address and adjust the DNS server without having to change theprinter configuration. The second field is the Community Name. The default entryfor this field is public. Do not change the name in this field unlessthe printer's documentation instructs you to enter a different name. Click OKafter you fill in both fields.

STEP 13: The Configure TCP/IP dialog box listwill now include the newly added TCP/IP adapter. If not, you did not enter thevalues correctly in step 12 and you will have to repeat step 11; otherwise,click Done.

STEP 14: After you set up the TCP/IP adapter,you will see the Add Lexmark Network Port dialog box, as shown in Screen 7. Thisdialog box is specific to Lexmark printers (it is a part of the Lexmark portmonitor you selected in step 10). You need to provide a name, such asOptraS1250, for the logical port in the Logical Port Name field. The name is notcrucial, but I suggest you use one related to the printer, its location, or itsgeneral use. You can ignore the other tabs. Click OK after you enter the network(logical) port name.

STEP 15: The last step is to verify that theport selection on the Port page of the printer's Properties dialog box haschanged from LPT1 to the network (logical) port name, such as OptraS1250, youentered in step 14.

You can now test the printer by printing a test page from the General tabof the network printer's Properties dialog box. If the document fails to print,check the printer, the network connection, and the printer's queue status.

You can ping the network printer from the command prompt to test theconnection to the printer. In this case, ping 123.123.123.25 will show whetherthe IP settings are correct. If you can successfully ping the printer, you canrun the LPQ command from the command prompt to display the network printer'sstatus. You can also run the LPR command from the command prompt to print aspecified file.

To adjust the network printer's settings, open the printer's Propertiesdialog box. The Device Settings tab provides access to printer-specificsettings, as you see in Screen 8. After you confirm that the printer isconnected and functioning, you can configure the clients on your network to usethe printer: Run the Printer Wizard, and select the network printer from theworkstation.

Xerox DocuPrint 4512
The Xerox DocuPrint 4512 is a 600dpi, workgroup printer that generatesdocuments comparable to output from 1200dpi printers. Duplex printing and two250-sheet paper drawers come standard, and an envelope drawer is optional. Alarge toner cartridge and a separate drum cut the consumables cost to almosthalf that of comparable printers.

This network printer uses the generic Windows NT TCP/IP print monitor thatships with NT 4.0. The generic support works with any TCP/IP network printer.First you add the Microsoft TCP/IP Printing support. The second step is toperform steps 1 through 9 in the previous section to set up the printer driver.Finally, you combine the Microsoft TCP/IP Printing support with the printerdriver. Use the following five steps to set up the 4512.

STEP 1: Open the Network applet in the NTControl Panel, and select the Services tab. Typically, the list of installedservices will not include the Microsoft TCP/IP Printing support. If MicrosoftTCP/IP Printing is not listed, click Add; otherwise, skip to step 3.

STEP 2: Locate Microsoft TCP/IP Printing onthe list of network services, as you see in Screen 9, and click OK. Next, clickOK to close the Network applet. NT will prompt you for the location of the NTCD-ROM or floppies if it cannot find the files it needs to in-
stall theMicrosoft TCP/IP Printing support.

STEP 3: Perform steps 1 through 9 from theprevious section, but select the driver for the Xerox DocuPrint 4512 instead ofthe Lexmark printer. After you step through this process, you will end up in thePrinter Ports dialog box for the Xerox printer. An LPR Port monitor is availablein this screen that was not available during the Lexmark installation. Screen 10shows this port monitor. Select it, and click New Port.

STEP 4: You will see the Add LPR compatibleprinter dialog box, which lets you enter the printer name and the printer portname. You will see an IP address or DNS name that NT assigned to the printer,using the printer's configuration process. The port name for this networkprinter might be a fixed name, such as PORT1, or any name that you give to theport. Check the printer's documentation to be sure, and click OK when you'refinished.

STEP 5: If you share the Xerox DocuPrint 4512network printer as you shared the Lexmark printer in step 6 of the previoussection, the printer will now be accessible to users across the NT network. Thetroubleshooting comments from the previous section also apply to thisconfiguration.

Installing a network printer doesn't have to be difficult. Most problemsoccur from mismatched IP addresses, DNS names, or printer names, so check these areas first. Also, disable non-TCP/IP support on the printer if you don't use other protocols on the network.