17.4 Print Services Implementation Suggestions

Create a Driver Store to store the print drivers.

This eDirectory object stores the drivers for your network printers. Each Printer object you create for your network needs to reference a printer driver in Driver Store. When users subsequently install printers, the correct drivers for the platform running on their workstation are downloaded from the Driver Store and installed.

You create the Driver Store through iManager. For specific instructions, see Creating a Driver Store in the OES 2023: iPrint Administration Guide

Add a printer driver to the Driver Store for each printer/platform combination needed.

For example, If you have Windows XP, Windows 7, and Novell Linux Desktop (NLD) workstations on your network and you have four different printer types, you need to add four printer drivers for each platform (a total of 12 printer drivers) to the Driver Store.

You add printer drivers to the store through iManager. For specific instructions, see Updating Printer Drivers in the OES 2023: iPrint Administration Guide

Create a Print Manager object.

The Print Manager receives print jobs from users and forwards them to the target printer when it is ready. The Print Manager must be running for you to create Printer objects.

The Print Manager is an object you create in eDirectory and is usually started and stopped through iManager.

You create the Print Manager object through iManager. For specific instructions, see Creating a Print Manager in the OES 2023: iPrint Administration Guide

Create Printer objects.

You must create a Printer object for each printer you want users to access through iPrint. These objects store information about the printer that is used each time the printer is installed on a workstation.

You create Printer objects through iManager. For specific instructions, see Creating a Printer in the OES 2023: iPrint Administration Guide

(Optional) Create location-based, customized printing Web pages.

By default, each iPrint installation includes the creation of a Default Printer List Web page that users can access to install iPrint printers.

You have the option of enhancing the browsing experience by creating location-based printing Web pages that feature either lists of printers by location, maps of the buildings showing each printer, or a combination of both.

If your organization is located in a building with multiple floors or even at multiple sites, providing location-based print Web pages can greatly simplify printing for your users.

Your iPrint installation contains the iPrint Map Designer to help you easily create location maps with clickable printer icons. For more information, see Setting Up Location-Based Printing in the OES 2023: iPrint Administration Guide

Provide instructions to users for accessing iPrint printers.

After performing the steps above, your network is ready for iPrint functionality. You need only tell users how to access your printing Web pages; iPrint does the rest.