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 printers, this is
PS
(PostScript) or
AUTO
(AutoSelect).
|
Remote printer queue name
|
Name of printer on that machine
|
Your Xerox printer emulates a print server. Xerox 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.
