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

Using Solaris Printer Manager is the preferred method for managing printer access instead of admintool:printers because Solaris Print Manager centralizes printer information when it is used in a name service environment.

Adding printer information to a name service makes access to printers available to all systems on the network and generally makes printer administration easier because all the information about printers is centralized.

Solaris Print Manager may be run on a remote system with the display sent to the local system. See theSystem Administration Guide: Advanced Administration for instructions on setting the DISPLAY environment variable.

Using Solaris Print Manager to perform printer-related tasks automatically updates the appropriate printer databases. Solaris Print Manager also includes a command-line console that displays the lp command line for the add, modify, and delete printer operations. Errors and warnings may also be displayed when Printer Manager operations are performed.

Help is available by clicking the Help button.

Solaris Print Manager enables you to do the following tasks:

Select a Name Service

Select a name service for retrieving or changing printer information.

Add Access to a Printer

Add printer access on a printer client using Solaris Print Manager.

Add an Attached Printer

After physically attaching the printer to a system, use Solaris Print Manager to install a local printer and make it available for printing.

Add a Network Printer

After physically attaching the printer to a system, use Solaris Print Manager to install a local printer and make it available for printing.

Modify Printer Properties

After adding access to a printer or adding an attached or network printer, you can modify certain printer attributes.

Delete a Printer

Delete access to a printer from the print client or delete a printer from the print server or from the name service environment.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ldap(1), lpget(1M), lpset(1M), attributes(5)

System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration

Be mindful of the following if the LDAP database is used as the name service.

1. Because the domain information for the printer being updated is extracted from the ldapclient(1M) configuration, the LDAP server being updated must host the same domain that is used by the current ldapclient(1M) server.
2. If the LDAP server being updated is a replica LDAP server, the updates will be referred to the master LDAP server and completed there. The updates might be out of sync and not appear immediatedly, as the replica server may not have been updated by the master server. For example, a printer that you deleted by using lpset may still appear in the printer list you display with lpget until the replica is updated from the master. Replica servers vary as to how often they are updated from the master. See System Administration Guide: Advanced Administration for information on LDAP server replication.
3. Although users can use the LDAP command line utilities ldapadd(1) and ldapmodify(1)to update printer entries in the directory, the preferred method is to use lpset. Otherwise, if the lpadd and lpmodify utilities are used, the administrator must ensure that the printer-name attribute value is unique within the ou=printers container on the LDAP server. If the value is not unique, the result of modifications done using lpset or the Solaris Print Manager, printmgr(1M) may be unpredictable.