Re: Is lpr outdated, unsupported?, ie. lpr or lp?

From: Jon (jon_at_nytimes.com)
Date: 05/13/03 

Date: 13 May 2003 14:57:12 -0700

gerg@panix.com (Greg Andrews) wrote in message news:<b9orfi$nel$1@reader1.panix.com>...
> jon@nytimes.com (Jon) writes:
> >
> >Occasionally, an lpr process hangs on our Solaris 8 system. I've
> >asked Sun Support about this and they seemed to indicate that lpr is
> >just included for backward-compatibility, and that I should really be
> >using "lp -d" to send a job to another Solaris box. Or set the system
> >up as a print server (here too lpr would NOT be used). They said that
> >printing mechanisms like queue management, retries, etc. are not
> >available when using lpr.
> >
> >Can I conclude from this that lpr is basically outdated and
> >unsupported, and that lpr is not really part of "Solaris printing"?
> >
>
> You've been told the wrong thing, or misunderstood what you were told.
>
> Do an ls -l of /usr/ucb/lpr. That's right, it's a symbolic link to
> /usr/bin/lp. The same program is invoked when you run /usr/bin/lp
> or /usr/ucb/lp. The program was written to see which name it was
> invoked as, and behave appropriately.
>
> The real clue to your problem is in the recommendation you received:
>
> >Or set the system up as a print server (here too lpr would NOT be used).
>
> In other words, you're using a remote printer configuration, but you're
> not feeding the print jobs to a real print server. Instead, you're
> feeding them to the network printer. This is not recommended because
> there is no true print queue, nor sophisticated TCP timeouts and
> re-tries. If the printer's network card (or print server box) decides
> to never respond, the print job stays in the Solaris holding directory.
>
> And this is the other reason to not use remote printer configs directly
> to network printers. Some printer network cards (or print server boxes)
> have bugs. The HP Jetdirect ones can sometimes lose track of one of
> the network connections and never respond. When that connection is
> from a Solaris machine's lp/lpr/printd process, trying to deliver a
> print job, the job doesn't get delivered.
>
> The solution is to switch to the Solaris network printer config,
> which uses the netstandard interface. It holds the print jobs in
> a real FIFO queue, makes just one connection to the printer at a
> time (rather than several simultaneous ones - one for each print
> job), and has an adjustable timeout to handle the times when the
> printer's network card stops talking.
>
> If your printer is an HP, then using HP's Jetdirect software for
> Solaris will accomplish the same things with respect to queueing
> and timeouts, plus give you control over the printer's extra
> features, like landscape, double-sided printing, selecting paper
> trays, etc.
>
> If you post the make/model printer, and the output from the command
> Lpstat -v printer-name", then I can suggest the equivalent config
> that uses the netstandard interface.
>
> -Greg

I have two requirements: 1.) send printouts to another system, where
additional processing takes place, and 2.) to send to network printers

For the former, we may just use ftp instead, not sure yet. But this
is NOT so important now.
The main issue right now is whether to use a Solaris print server OR
an HP print server for sending to the HP network printers.
 
It's a Solaris 8 box.
The network printers are HP 5000's.

I don't quite understand the HP JetDirect print server. Does it work
totally independent of any Solaris print server, of does it work with
a Solaris print server?

Also, I don't see any administration manuals on the hp.com web site
for JetDirect print servers. I see the software download area, but
without docs it's a bit difficult to learn. If anyone knows where
they are located I'd appreciate it. Also, I'm concerned about
support. Sun Support would help with Solaris print server, but
probably not if I run into problems with an HP print server.

I haven't really setup any network printers yet, but here's the output
from the lpstat -v command for a test printer:

lpstat -v labprinter
system for labprinter: labprinter

I think I now understand that this is the wrong way to do it, so back
to the issues mentioned above.

Thanks,
Jon

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