5.2 Creating Printers

Before configuring the printer, you must create the printer object on the iPrint Appliance. You can use any one of the following methods to add printers to iPrint Appliance.

5.2.1 Creating Printers Using iManager

By default, iPrint Appliance supports only PostScript printers. For non-PostScript printers like PCL, or for printers that do not work with the default PostScript driver, you must associate appropriate drivers to the printers.

  1. On the iPrint Appliance Management Console page, select the Manage Printers (iManager) tool to connect to iManager.

  2. Log in to iManager using the eDirectory admin credentials of iPrint Appliance.

    Ignore the security certificate warning, and continue to the iPrint Appliance Management Console. If you add the certificate to the trusted certificates list, the security warning is not displayed.

  3. Click iPrint > Create Printer.

  4. Specify the Target printer details.

    Printer Name: Defines the label by which the new printer is identified. You can include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, spaces, and underscore in the label. Do not use any other characters.

    Container Name: The eDirectory container where the printer reference resides. By default, the value is “iPrintAppliance”. We do not recommend changing the default value.

    Print Manager name: The name of the Print Manager that handles the incoming print jobs.

    DNS name or IP address: The IP address of a printer uniquely identifies it on the network and allows other networked machines to communicate with it. A DNS name can also be applied to the printer, which can be translated into the printer's IP address.

    Specify the IP address (v4) or the DNS name of the target printer.

    Location: Indicates the printer's location. The value of this field is displayed when selecting a printer.

    Description: Describes the printer. The value of this field is displayed when selecting a printer.

    LPR Printer Name: Specify an LPR printer name. If the LPR protocol is selected, other optional parameters can also be specified. With most modern printers, the name can be set to PASSTHROUGH. With some older printers (1990's & prior), there might be a different printer name.

    RAW Port Number: If the RAW protocol is selected, a port number is required. Most printers are configured, by default, to use port 9100 for RAW protocol communications.

    iPrint Appliance supports printer communications using either the Line Printer Remote (LPR) or RAW protocols.

    The LPR protocol is the most common printing protocol and is generally more flexible than the RAW protocol. A printer that supports the LPR protocol is sometimes referred to as a TCP/IP printer. The LPR protocol has limited error reporting capabilities, which is often limited to “Printer Error” with no details.

    The RAW protocol is often the default protocol on non-Windows systems. Most printers that support the RAW protocol use port 9100. The LPR protocol can generally be substituted for the RAW protocol if the RAW protocol does not respond to a print job.

  5. Click Next.

  6. Specify the drivers for the printer.

    iPrint Appliance supports both driver and driverless printing. For mobile device printing, drivers are not required. The selectable drivers for each operating system are available in the Micro Focus iPrint Appliance Driver Store.

  7. To reedit the printer-specific options after the new printer has been created, click Modify. To create another printer, click Repeat Task. To continue, click OK.

    In iManager, you might see a Partition and Replicas option. This feature is not supported on iPrint Appliance.

5.2.2 Bulk Printer Import Using a CSV File

You can import printers into iPrint Appliance through a csv file. On successful import the printers resides in the container O=iPrintAppliance.

You must create a csv file, then import the csv file into iPrint Appliance. The csv file must contain the following fields in the same order:

PrinterName,PrinterIP,Location,Description,Win95_98_Driver,Winnt_Driver,Win2k_Driver,Winxp_Driver,Linux_Driver,Mac_Driver,Vista32_Driver,Vista64_Driver,Win732_Driver,Win764_Driver,Win832_Driver,Win864_Driver,Win1032_Driver,Win1064_Driver,Enable DirectPrinting,Secure Printing,Enable Auditing,LPR/RAW,Raw Port

NOTE:

  • Ensure to have a blank line at the end of the CSV file. If no blank line is added, then the last printer is missed and bulk printer import fails.

  • You cannot enable both direct printing and auditing. If enabled, both options are disabled when creating the printers.

Table 5-1 Parameter Description of CSV File

Parameter

Description

Value

(Mandatory/Optional)

PrinterName

Name of the printer that you want to import

Mandatory

PrinterIP

IP Address assigned to this printer

NOTE:Specify only the IP address. Printer creation fails if host name is specified.

Mandatory

Location

Location of the printer

Optional

Description

Details of the printers like make, model, and so forth.

Optional

Win95_98_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 95 and Windows 98 platform.

Optional

Winnt_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows NT platform.

Optional

Win2k_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 2000 platform.

Optional

Winxp_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows XP platform.

Optional

Linux_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Linux platform.

Optional

Mac_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Mac devices.

Optional

Vista32_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows Vista 32-bit platform.

Optional

Vista64_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows Vista 64-bit platform.

Optional

Win732_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 7 32-bit platform.

Optional

Win764_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 7 64-bit platform.

Optional

Win832_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 8.x (32-bit) platform.

Optional

Win864_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 8.x (64-bit) platform.

Optional

Win1032_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 10 32-bit platform. Windows 10 uses the same driver as Windows 8.x.

Optional

Win1064_Driver

Driver associated with this printer for Windows 10 64-bit platform. Windows 10 uses the same driver as Windows 8.x.

Optional

DirectPrinting

Enable direct printing for this printer. Value is yes or no. By default, this option is disabled. You cannot enable both direct printing and auditing.

Optional

Secure Printing

Enable secure printing for this printer. Value is yes or no. By default, this option is disabled.

Optional

Enable Auditing

Enable auditing of this printer. Value is yes or no. By default, this option is disabled.

Optional

LPR/RAW

Protocol to be used by this printer. Value is LPR or RAW. By default, the value is LPR.

Optional

Raw Port

If you have selected RAW protocol, specify the port number.

Optional

IMPORTANT:In the csv file, you must specify at least one driver for each printer. For all optional parameters, you must include a empty string.

Example of a CSV file

To migrate 2 printers (printer1 and printer2) for a Windows 8.1 platform. The csv file includes:

printer1,10.0.0.1,1st_floor,HP LaserJet 4100,,,,,,,,,,,HP LaserJet 4100 PCL 5,,,,no,yes,yes,LPR,9100
printer2,10.0.0.2,2st_floor,HP LaserJet 4100,,,,,,,,,,,HP LaserJet 4100 PCL 5,,,,no,yes,yes,RAW,9100

After you create the csv file, upload the file to iPrint Appliance.

Uploading the CSV File

  1. On a Web browser, specify either the host name or the IP address. For example, https://10.0.0.1:9443 or https://iprint.example.com:9443.

  2. Specify the Username and Password, then click Log in.

  3. Click Manage iPrint Appliance.

  4. Click Printers.

  5. Click the Bulk Printer Creation button in the upper-right corner of the window.

    1. To download the sample csv file, click Download Sample CSV.

  6. Navigate to the .csv file, select it, then click OK to begin the printer import process.

To enable printing from mobile devices, proceed to Configuring Printing Through Mobile Devices.