Pharos Products: UPD Print Driver Configuration Notes

Question:

Are there good practices on using Universal Print Drivers?

Information:

First, we should point out that the various manufacturers who supply a "universal" driver expect that they will be used in either one of the following configurations:

• Deployed directly to the client workstation, with the client workstation printing directly to printers in a 1:many queue:printer relationship. In the HP world, the most common installation type is "Dynamic Mode" in this deployment model.

• Deployed directly to the client workstation, with the queue(s) already defined in a 1:1 relationship. In the HP world, this is a "Traditional Mode" installation type.

• Deployed directly to the client workstation, with the client workstation printing to queues on remote print servers, with the server queues locally configured to point to real printers in a 1:1 relationship. In the HP world, the most common installation type is "Dynamic Mode" in this deployment model. The server's queues do not necessarily have to be using a "universal driver" locally.

• Deployed to print servers, with the server queues being set up to print directly to printer in a 1:1 relationship. In this model, the only installation type that can be used is "Traditional Mode".

Regardless of the deployment model or installation type, however, the end node is always a physical printer. And that's where the saga begins with Uniprint.

In the Uniprint environment, it is possible to create one print queue in a given Print Group, and then add multiple Devices to the same Print Group. It is usually likely that the various Devices do not share the same configurations or capabilities (multi-function versus single-function; finisher versus no finisher; monochrome versus full-color; 5 trays versus 3 trays; etc.), and may even be different models...but they need to be the same manufacturer (in other words, one queue shouldn't be expected to service both HP and Xerox devices). It is also possible to establish a "one queue per device" in a Print Group configuration, which is how most schools do it. Which works better for Uniprint?

Next, you are not going to make people happy if you choose to reduce your administrative tasks and just offer one queue to manage a bunch of different devices, because manufacturers have always, are, and most probably will for a while yet, release printer-specific printer drivers, even in their "universal" printer drivers. So that's where I'm going to start this discussion: properly configuring a "universal" driver in a 1:1 setting.

Prerequisites

• Architecture of the universal driver appropriate for your CPU/OS types. In other words, 64- and/or 32-bit printer drivers.

• Version of the universal driver that is appropriate for both the server and client operating systems. You have to check the manufacturer's website or technical support team to determine that.

• Printer language (PCL 5, PCL 6, PostScript 3) appropriate for the target printers. I really have no personal druthers for PCL vice PostScript in terms of fitness for specific printing tasks, but I do abhor PCL 6. Mostly because it is a compiled language based on specific printer inputs. Which doesn't always work well in Uniprint (more to the point, it is a more risky choice than are PCL 5 or PostScript 3).

• Known IP address or host names of target printers.

Procedure

1. Install the architecture-appropriate driver on the print server using either Setup.exe (if provided) or via the .INF file. When installing via .INF, I prefer to use the Print Management MMC console if available, but doing so through "Print Server Properties" in the "Devices and Printers" control panel is also fine. Whatever you do, don't install a new driver by using Add Printer and creating a print object.

   1.   If you are installing the Hewlett-Packard universal driver via Setup.exe, install a Traditional Mode driver and cancel out when the time comes to define a print queue. Even with the HP driver, I opt to use the .INF method.

2. If needed, install the alternate-architecture version of the driver as well.

3. Once installed, use Add Printer to create your first print queue. In the wizard, specify to create a local port (or use an existing one, if available), and connect to the first print device using the Standard TCP/IP port monitor.

4. Finish the installation. Do NOT share the queue.

This process installs the print queue with the configuration of the print device. Most universal drivers supply Job Monitors to manage other functions. These are incompatible with Uniprint, and so must be disabled. To disabled:

1. Go into Properties for the queue and visit the Ports tab.

2. Disable, by unchecking, Bidirectional Support (this option is found under the list of ports). If this option is unavailable (grayed out), the box will already be unchecked, and the driver does not include a Job Monitor. If no Job Monitor is present, simply exit the Properties dialog box.

3. Go to the Advanced tab and click the Print Processor button.

4. Change the print processor to WinPrint.

5. Click OK out of all dialog boxes to set the configuration and close the dialog box.

Also, ensure that the configuration (Properties > Configuration or however the driver details that tab) and printer defaults (Properties > Advanced > Printing Defaults). Once complete, continue the configuration process in Uniprint Administrator so that it can be secured, shared, and set up for the desired printing model (direct or held printing). Repeat as needed for the remainder of the queues needed for the print server.

Post-creation, you may wish to try the HP Driver Configuration Utility (DCU). Its use is included in the "HP Driver Configuration Support Guide" available at http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=emr_na-c03633712 . Chapter 2 begins the discussion of the DCU.

This is, unfortunately, an HP application and not one from Pharos, so we can only recommend its use and not how to use it. For details on how to use it you will have to contact HP Support.