Uniprint 8.3/8.4: How to send print jobs to a printer that doesn't support LPD

Environment

• Pharos Uniprint v8.3

• Pharos Uniprint v8.4

Symptoms

• Jobs are not successfully sent to printer.

• Job titles at terminal do not match job name.

Cause

In Pharos Uniprint 8.3 and 8.4, print jobs are sent to devices via the Secure Release Service (SRS) whether the queue is Direct or Held. The SRS uses the defined IP address of the Device as an LPR (Line Printer Request) target. Unfortunately, many printers do not support the needed LPD (Line Printer Daemon) service, or handle it poorly. This results in print jobs that are not printed but are billed. The same applies to many devices that are serviced by a front-end Raster Image Processor (RIP), like wide-format printers, that require a specialized port monitor for job transport.

Resolution

NOTE: Uniprint 8.4 Build 94 for Print Services and Administrator now support a "raw" print option over TCP port 9100 for those printers that do not support LPD. This remains true in Uniprint 9.0. For all updates to Uniprint 8.4, please go to http://community.pharos.com/docs/DOC-1632.

To effectively resolve a printer's inability to support an LPRed job, create and share, a printer object that is then used by the SRS as a "pass through" queue:

1. Create a shared printer on the Uniprint machine, and configure it with a port pointing to the RIP server (such ports probably still exist if this machine was upgraded). Keep the share name simple, and do not include any spaces or special characters.

2. Modify the Security properties to only allow Administrators (the local group; this will also include, in most cases, Domain Administrators if the server is on a domain) and the special SYSTEM user full control (check all boxes). This prevents a normal user from bypassing Uniprint and printing directly to the device.

3. Send a job to this queue and ensure the job prints correctly on the printer or RIP.

4. In Pharos Administrator, create a new Device, using 127.0.0.1 as the device IP address, and set the queue name to the shared name of the printer you just added in step 1. Disable the Online State Check.