Chapter 10 Chapter 10: Printer Management

Chapter 10 Learning Objectives n Describe the printing process used by Windows NT n Install a local printer in Windows NT Server n Explain and install printer pooling n Mange printer services and configure print devices continued

Chapter 10 Learning Objectives n Control print jobs and printing status n Install and manage a nonlocal printer n Solve a common Windows NT Spooler service printing problems

Chapter 10 Windows NT Printing n Print client: Client computer that generates a print job n Print server: Network computer/server device that connects printers to network for sharing and receives/processes print requests from print clients n Print device: Device (printer or fax) that uses Spooler services in Windows NT

Chapter 10 Windows NT Printing n Network-interface printer: A printer with its own “print server” card, which enables it to be connected directly to a network n Spooling: A process working in the background to enable several print files to go to a single printer

Chapter 10 Windows NT Printing n Printer driver: Holds configuration information for a printer u lives in kernel mode u allows applications to be written to one interface F formerly, application had to “know about” each type of supported printer

Chapter 10 Printing Stages n Print file is generated at user’s workstation n User’s print file is sent to network printer share n Print file is spooled at the printer share n When its turn comes, print file is sent to the printer along with configuration information from print driver continued

Chapter 10 Printing Stages n File is printed after first page is received or after all of file is received F affects wait times

Chapter 10 The Technical Printing Process n Graphics Device Interface (GDI) u An interface on a Windows network print client u Works with a local software application and a local printer driver to format a file to be sent to a local printer or network print server continued

Chapter 10 The Technical Printing Process n Rendering: Graphically creating a print job n Spool file: A print file written to disk until it can be transmitted to a printer

Chapter 10 Print Job Data Types n Data type: Means by which information is formatted in a print file u RAW u RAW with FF appended u RAW with FF auto u TEXT u Enhanced metafile (EMF) u PSCRIPT1

Chapter 10 Installing a Local Printer in Windows NT Server Printers used on a network Workstation Laser printer connected by a print server card Windows NT server WorkstationColor ink-jet printer Ethernet

Chapter 10 Installing a Local Printer Entering the type of printer

Chapter 10 Installing a Local Printer n Guidelines for printer and a printer share name: u Compose names easily understood and spelled by those who will use the printer u Include a room number, floor, workstation name to help identify printer location u Include descriptive information about the printer (type, manufacturer, model)

Chapter 10 Installing a Local Printer Creating a printer share

Chapter 10 Allocating Virtual Memory for PostScript Printers n PostScript printer u Has special firmware or cartridges to print using page-description language u Sometimes slows down when printing files containing several fonts and font sizes n Windows NT Server includes an option to make virtual memory available to PostScript printer to circumvent purchase of extra RAM for that printer

Chapter 10 Setting Printer Share Permissions n Permissions: Sets printer share permissions only n Auditing: Used to record printer events n Ownership: Used to take ownership of the printer share

Chapter 10 Printer Share Permissions

Chapter 10 Printer Pooling n Involves configuring two or more identical printers with one printer setup or printer share F “identical” as in use same print driver e.g. many HP printers can use same driver, potentially by omitting some featurese.g. many HP printers can use same driver, potentially by omitting some features

Chapter 10 Printer Scheduling

Chapter 10 Sharing Printers

Chapter 10 Security n Auditing tracks successful or failed attempts at: u Printing jobs u Using Full Control permissions u Deleting jobs u Changing permissions on the printer share u Taking ownership of the printer continued

Chapter 10 Security n Ownership of a printer is usually held by administrators; enables anyone with Full Control permissions to take ownership

Chapter 10 Managing Print Jobs n Users with Print permission can: u Send print jobs to the printer u Pause, resume, restart their own print jobs u Delete their own print jobs n Printer Operators and Server Operators having Manage Documents permission can: u Send print jobs to the printer u Pause, resume, restart any user’s print jobs u Delete any user’s print jobs

Chapter 10 Connecting to a Nonlocal Printer n Very useful when you manage a large network with network printers located in distant buildings n You can change the properties of the shared printer you just installed, even though you are not logged on to its host computer

Chapter 10 Solving Common Printing Problems n When the Windows NT Spooler service experiences a temporary problem, gets out of synchronization, or hangs, print jobs are not processed until the problem is solved n Stop and restart the Spooler service (warn users first; queued print jobs will be deleted)

Chapter 10 Chapter Summary n Network printing is as important as file access and file management for many users. u Complex area involving clients, print servers, and printers n Printing involves particular data types used to enable a document formatted by a software application to print. continued

Chapter 10 Chapter Summary n Installing a local or nonlocal printer is handled by the Add Printer Wizard. n Printers and print jobs can be managed according to your needs.