HP-UX 11i v3 International Printing Features

Configuring Network and Remote Printers

Either the HP System Management Homepage (SMH) or the lpadmin command can be used for

configuring printers that connect to the host system directly via a serial or parallel interface. For

configuring network printers, you can use either the setnetlp configuration command or the hppi

command in the optional HP JetDirect

Printer Installer for UNIX

software. The network printer setup

capability of SMH depends on the presence of the JetDirect software.

JetDirect software is an HP technology that allows printers to be directly attached to a local area

network. It is an application layer protocol that governs how the printer and computer interact. It is

built on top of many lower-level protocols, such as SNMP, TCP/IP, and so on.

Because it is included with the HP-UX operating system, the setnetlp command is recommended for

configuring network printers. This command sets up a network printer using one of the following two

protocols:

• The LPD printing protocol (RFC 1179)

• The JetDirect protocol

You can use either the setnetlp or the hppi command to configure JetDirect printers. The

setnetlp command uses the system model files in the /usr/lib/lp/model directories. The hppi

command uses its own set of model files for HP printers. Use the setnetlp command for setting up a

JetDirect printer if:

• The printer must print Asian and other non-Latin 1 characters

• The printer is a non-HP printer.

Use the hppi command if:

• The printer needs to print only Latin 1 characters.

• The printer is an HP printer.

For printers that support both JetDirect and LPD printing protocols, the choice depends on whether or

not JetDirect is the preferred communication protocol for your organization. Note, however, that

JetDirect does not support control and viewing of printer status using the lpstat command.

The following discussion focuses on how to use the setnetlp command to configure a network

printer. For information about how to use the hppi command, see the HP JetDirect Printer Installer for

UNIX software documentation.

To set up a network printer using the LPD printing protocol, you must provide the following

information:

• The LP destination name

• The remote host or printer name or the IP address

• The remote print queue name

For HP printers, the print queue name is usually AUTO. To find out what print queue names to use for

other printers, you might need to consult the documentation or the configuration web page.

To configure a JetDirect printer, only the LP destination name and the remote host name are needed.

The setnetlp command has both an interactive and a non-interactive mode for setting up printers.

The interactive mode is preferred because it allows the users to configure options defined in the

respective model files. It also fills in some of available options automatically if it can extract

information from the printer being configured.

Requires the presence of the optional HP JetDirect Printer Installer for UNIX software, which also gives the setnetlp command the ability to

detect the printing capability of the configured printer.