Using Solaris Print Manager

Solaris Print Manager is a Java-based graphical user interface that enables you to manage local and remote printer configuration. This tool can be used in the following naming service environments: LDAP, NIS, NIS+, and files. You must be logged in as superuser to use this tool.

Use Solaris Print Manager to set up print servers (Add New Attached Printer or Add a Network Printer) and print clients (Add Access to Printer). An attached printer is a printer that is physically cabled to the print server. A network printer is physically attached to the network. Adding access to a printer, or adding remote access to a printer, is the process of giving print clients (all those machines that are not the server) access to the printer. For more information about printing terms, see Glossary.

Solaris Express 5/06: Starting with this release, the Solaris print system can use and recognize localhost as the host name in the print system databases. Previously, /bin/hostname was used to generate the print host name. These improvements were made to enable print servers to maintain the same print host name, independent of the machine host name. For more information, see How to Use Solaris Print Manager to Add a Print Queue With the Local Host Specified as the Host Name.

Solaris Print Manager Options and Selectable Attributes

You can add, modify, or delete a print queue and add printer access by using the Solaris Print Manager GUI tool. Most of the options that can be used with the lpadmin command are also available in Solaris Print Manager.

Note - You must superuser equivalent privileges to gain access to some of the options in Solaris Print Manager. Options and selectable attributes within the tool can vary, depending on the user's role.

For a detailed description of all the printer definitions that you can set or reset by using Solaris Print Manager, see Setting Printer Definitions by Using Solaris Print Manager.

For step-by-step instructions on setting up new printers with Solaris Print Manager, see Chapter 3, Setting Up Printing Services (Tasks).

Solaris Print Manager and Special Characters

Solaris Print Manager checks user input for the various text fields in the input screens. There are two types of checking: general illegal input and input that is illegal for specific fields.

Solaris Print Manager does not accept the following characters as input, except for the help screens:

Shell metacharacters, such as “\$^&*(){}`'|;:?<>, except for the destination field on the network printer screen, which accepts colons (:)
Multibyte characters
Pound signs (#), spaces, or tabs, except the description field, which accepts tabs

Starting Solaris Print Manager

To start Solaris Print Manager, use either of the following methods:

Select the Solaris LP Print Manager application in the GNOME Desktop.
Type the appropriate command from the command line.

How to Start Solaris Print Manager

Verify that the following prerequisites are met. To use Solaris Print Manager, you must meet the following requirements:
- Have a bitmapped display monitor, such as the standard display monitor that comes with a Sun workstation. Solaris Print Manager can be used only on a system with a console that is a bitmapped screen.
- Be running an X Window System, such as the GNOME Desktop Environment, or be using the remote display feature on a system running an xhost environment.
- Be logged in as superuser or an equivalent role on the print server to install an attached or network printer, or on the print client to add access to a printer.
- Have the required access privileges for managing the LDAP, NIS, or NIS+ database.
  - If your naming service is LDAP, you must have the following items.
    - The distinguished name (DN) of a printer administrator and password in the directory.
    - The name or IP address of an LDAP server hosting the administered domain. This information is usually displayed and selected automatically.
  - If your naming service is NIS, you must have the root password for the NIS master.
  - If you naming service is NIS+, you might need to complete the following steps.
    1. Log in to the NIS+ master as superuser.
    2. Identify the group that owns the printers table.
```
# niscat -o printers.org_dir.domain-name.com
            .
            .
            .
         Group        : "admin.domain-name.com"
```
    3. If necessary, add the system that runs Solaris Print Manager to the NIS+ admin group authorized to update the printers.org_dir.<domain> file.
```
# nisgrpadm -a admin.domain-name.com hostname
```
    4. As superuser, log in to the system that runs Solaris Print Manager. Your NIS+ configuration might make it necessary to run the /usr/bin/keylogin command. For more information, see the keylogin(1) man page.
- Have the SUNWppm package installed.
```
# pkginfo | grep SUNWppm
system      SUNWppm        Solaris Print Manager
```
Start Solaris Print Manager by using one of the following methods:
- Select the Solaris LP Print Manager in the GNOME Desktop.
  System → Administration → Solaris LP Print Manager
- Type the following command:
```
# /usr/sbin/printmgr &
```
  Note - You can also start Solaris Print Manager by using the original path of the printmgr command:
```
# /usr/sadm/admin/bin/printgr &
```
  The Select Naming Service window overlays the Solaris Print Manager main window.
If Solaris Print Manager fails to start from the GNOME Desktop menu or from the command line, check the following:
- Superuser (root) might not have permission to connect to the X-server process on the local system or the remote system. In this case, type the following:
```
$ ssh -Xhostname
$ su
(Enter root's password)
# /usr/sbin/printmgr &
```
  Replace hostname with either the local system name or the remote system name before restarting Solaris Print Manager.
- Verify that the SUNWppm package is installed on the local system or the remote system.
```
$ pkginfo | grep SUNWppm
```
Select the naming service that is used in your network from the Select Naming Service window. The choices are: LDAP, NIS, NIS+, or files.
Check that the domain name is correct.
The Solaris Print Manager main menu is displayed after the naming service is loaded successfully.