The following scenarios will help you better understand the process for making the transition to a NDPS environment that will best meet your printing needs.
Most queue-based printing in NetWare networks is currently realized through one of the following configurations:
When migrating to NDPS from any of these configurations, you should first consider the protocols, connection methods used, and potential need to configure the printer in determining which gateway to use. If a third-party gateway is used, the resulting configuration would look as follows:
The Novell gateway provides a straightforward migration path. The NDPS configurations corresponding to the queue-based printing configurations illustrated earlier, as well as an additional configuration for Pure IP support, are shown in the following illustration:
The first NDPS configuration above is not recommended because a back-end queue is still required, increasing network traffic and delaying job completion. In addition, while transitioning to NDPS, there would be two queues in the print path as shown in the following illustration:
If you are migrating a QServer-mode printer, we recommend that you reconfigure it for LPR as in configuration #5 or RP as in configuration #2 if possible. Choose configuration #5 if the network supports IP and the printer supports LPR/LPD. Choose configuration #2 if the network supports IPX and the printer supports RP. Configurations #3 and #4 are available if the printer does not support LPR or RP, but you still want to benefit from many NDPS features without the need for a queue. Notice that configurations #2 through #5 require you to configure the print device to enable a new protocol.
Notice that if the NPRINTER.EXE in configuration #3 is running on a NetWare client, it is possible to realize IP-only printing to a remote printer, though not Pure IP. However, if IP is desired, configuration #5 is preferable and is Pure IP.