Printer AIX

Commands to give print to a job:

# lp

# lpr: for eg: # lpr –p <printername> <filename> : will print the file to a specific printer.

# qprt

# enq

Each job sent for print has a print job number associated with it.

Commands to check the status of print jobs:

# lpq

# lpstat

# qchk

# enq –A

Commands to cancel the print jobs:

# cancel

# lprm

# qcan

#enq –X

Summary:

PRINT	STATUS	CANCEL
Lp	lpq	cancel
Lpr	lpstat	lprm
Qprt	qchk	qcan
Enq	enq -A	enq -X

Advanced Concepts:

Print Subsystem:

There are 5 different types of print subsystem available:

1.       AIX Print Subsystem

2.       Print directly to local printer

3.       System V Print Subsystem

4.       Print directly to remote printer

5.       Info print manager

To show current print subsystem:

# switch.prt –d

To change current print subsystem:

# switch.prt –s AIX

# switch.prt –d AIX

# switch.prt –s System V

# switch.prt –d System V

Printer Workflow:

End user sends a request to print a file using any of the print commands (lp,lpr,qprt,enq) to the print queue.

The request goes to /var/spool/lpd/qdir

A copy of the request goes to the spool directory /var/spool/qdaemon

/qdaemon gets notified of the request in /qdir

/qdaemon checks for availability of the queue in /etc/qconfig

Once queue is ready, /qdaemon updates /var/spool/lpd/stat to start processing the request in the queue

Printer Interface:

There are 3 types of printer interface available:

Parallel

RS232

RS422

To enable a queue whose status is Down (only user with admin privileges can run this command):

# enable queuename

To disable a queue whose status is Ready (only user with admin privileges can run this command):

# disable queuename

To move jobs between queues in AIX:

# qmov –m <queuename> -# <jobnumber>