Knowledgebase

Issue:

Why do I not get printer output when I send a job to a remote printer ?

Solution:

LPD printing is supported in both the WINDOWS and UNIX environments.

The client pc must support LPD before this facility can be implemented.

All LPD printing uses tcp port 515

. Printers can be configured for either software or hardware flow control.

All terminal servers will listen to incomming LPD connections on the LAN port.

The tcp port 515 identifies the service request. The physical port that the connection is intended for is determined by the queue-name info that is contained within the lpd header. The queue-name is defined when the printer is defined on the LPD client. In UNIX systems this info is contained in the "/etc/printcap file" as the "rp" value. The printjob is spooled to the location specified as the "sd" parameter in the "/etc/printcap" file.

The status of the printer can be checked on UNIX by using "lpstat" the queue status can be checked by using "lpq".
WINDOWS printer status can be checked by clicking START , SETTINGS , PRINTERS then selecting the subject printer. The spooled jobs will be displayed in the next window.

Formatting options can be assigned in UNIX by using the " -o " run time parameter see the man page for further details.

Trouble shooting printing problems requires problem determination.Try these suggestions.

-Define the symptom.
-Determine whether the program output was created by viewing the contents of the hosts spool directory (on a Unix system use 'lpstat').
-Ensure that the printer specified is in a ready state.
-confirm the cabling by using a Break-out Box
-confirm that the printer flow-control settings match the terminal server port settings for flow control and that your cable supports the signalling requirements.
-re-set the port by killing the port via the admin menu
-ensure that the print queue name and the port name defined in the terminal server match. Here is a typical port configuration example:

                              PORT SETUP MENU                      REMOTE-ADMIN
 Hardware                   Flow ctrl                  Keys
   Speed          [9600  ]    Flow ctrl    [XON/XOFF]    Hot   [^]]   Intr  [^C]
   Parity          [None ]    Input Flow   [Enabled ]    Quit  [^@]   Kill  [^U]
   Bit                 [8]    Output Flow  [Enabled ]    Del   [^@]   Sess  [^@]
   Stop              [1  ]                               Echo  [^@]
   Break        [Disabled]  IP Addresses
   Monitor DSR       [No ]    Src   [               ]    Mask  [               ]
   Monitor DCD       [No ]    Dst   [               ]

 User                       Options                    Access
   Name   [printer1      ]    Keepalive        [No  ]    Access        [Remote ]
   Terminal type [undef  ]    Rlogin/Telnet  [Telnet]    Authentication  [None ]
   TERM  [               ]    Debug options    [No  ]    Mode           [Raw   ]
   Video pages         [0]    Map CR to CR LF  [No  ]    Connection  [None     ]
   CLI/Menu         [Menu]    Hex data         [No  ]    Host  [               ]
   Reset Term       [No  ]    Secure           [No  ]    Remote Port     [0    ]
                              MOTD             [No  ]    Local Port      [515  ]

You can verify the status of the local print queue through the Statistics-> LPD Status option from the Administration Menu. This will show all the active print ques configured and the current job status: 

                             SERVER STATISTICS                     REMOTE-ADMIN
QUEUE      BLCK PORT HOST     OWNER     JOB      FILE    %DONE    STATUS
printer1    0    4    -         -        -        -        0       idle
Total number of LPD connections = 0