TCP/IP connection
Basic concepts of TCP/IP printing
In Windows NT, printing via TCP/IP is accomplished using the LPR (Line Printer
Request) protocol. Because LPR was developed for UNIX systems, comparing
Windows NT and UNIX implementations may be helpful.
The LPR protocol is a host-to-host protocol, rather than a host-to-printer
protocol. When printing via LPR, the computer sending the print job assumes
that it is sending the job to another computer, or print
server, which sends the job to the printer. In UNIX terminology, the
print server is called a remote host. The print
server can have several printers connected to it. The way to differentiate
between different printers when spooling to the print server is to print
to a specific remote queue.
The following table summarizes these concepts of TCP/IP printing and
the terminology used in UNIX and Windows NT environments.
| Concept
|
Description
|
UNIX
term
|
NT
term
|
|
Print server
|
An IP address or a DNS name that is mapped to this address. This
is how your computer knows where to send the print job.
|
Remote host
|
Name or address of host providing LPD
|
|
Print queue
|
For Xerox Office printers, this is PS
(PostScript) or AUTO (AutoSelect).
|
Remote printer queue name
|
Name of printer on that machine
|
Your Xerox Office printer emulates a print server. Xerox Office printers
are accessed by giving an NT host a remote host name that will point to
the printer. This is true only if the print job is spooled directly to the
printer via its internal network interface, and not through an external
third-party print server. If the print job is spooled through an external
third-party print server, the remote host name is the TCP/IP address of
the print server and the remote queue name is the name of the queue for
that print server.
