HP-UX System Administrator's Guide: Overview

A remote printer may be physically connected or simply configured to a computer and
accessed over a network. To access the remote printer, your system sends requests over
the network to another system. To configure a remote printer into your local spooler,
you must be able to access the remote system via the network. To configure a remote
printer, see HP-UX System Administrator’s Guide: Configuration Management (Chapter 6:
Configuring Printers).
A network-based printer differs from a remote printer in that it is connected directly to
the network rather than to a server. Network printers do not use device special files,
but have their own IP address and LANIC identification. To configure a network-based
printer, see HP-UX System Administrator’s Guide: Configuration Management (Chapter 6:
Configuring Printers).
Printer Name
When you configure a printer into the spooler, you assign it a printer name, to which
you direct print requests. A printer name may have up to 256 alphanumeric characters,
however for maximum compatibility with other subsystems that interact with the
spooler try to keep the names to 14 characters. Printer names may include underscores.
The following are sample valid printer names: laser1, letterhead, invoices,
check_printer. The printer names you assign are listed in the directory /usr/
spool/lp/interface. Each file in that directory is a copy of the model file (printer
interface script) that enables you to print to the named printer.
Printer Class
You can make efficient use of multiple printers by grouping them as though logically
they were a single printer. To do this, you create a printer class. A printer class is a
collective name for a group of printers. The printer class is retained in the
directory/usr/spool/lp/class. For example, the sample printers named laser1
and letterhead might be assigned a printer class called “VIP”, while the printers
named invoices and check_printer might be assigned a printer class called
“accounts”. A printer can belong to more than one class, however remote printers
cannot belong to a printer class. It is not necessary to have every printer be part of a
class; you can have some of your printers grouped in classes while others remain
independent.
To use a printer class you direct print requests to the class, name rather than to a specific
printer. The print request is spooled to a single print queue and printed by the first
available printer in the class. Thus, printer usage can be balanced and reliance on a
particular printer can be minimized.
To create a printer class, see the procedure “Creating a Printer Class” in the HP-UX
System Administrator’s Guide: Configuration Management (Chapter 6: Configuring Printers).
Also see the procedures “Removing a Printer from a Printer Class” and “Removing a
Printer Class” in the same chapter.
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