Advanced Printing Topics

Whether printing devices are attached to the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server or are located elsewhere on the AppleTalk network, the Printers folder displays a list of print jobs for the printers you created to represent the devices. Each list, by default, presents jobs on a first-come, first-serve basis. You can change the priority of jobs, however, and specify permissions for the printer and times for print jobs to run. For example:

• Set up multiple printers that all send print jobs to a single printing device. You might want to assign the printers a priority number or assign times for the printer to spool its jobs. Figure 13.7 illustrates this approach.
• Set up a single printer that sends print jobs to a pool of printing devices. Doing this can make printing more efficient because print jobs are sent to the first available printing device in the pool.

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Figure 13.7 Multiple Printers with a Single Printing Device

Creating Multiple Printers for a Single Printing Device

You might want to create multiple printers, all of which send print jobs to a single printing device. Each printer has a print-priority level associated with it. If you create two printers and associate them with a single printing device, jobs routed to the printer with the highest priority print first.

For Windows 2000 users, it is a good idea to create a group that corresponds to each printer. For example, users in Group 1 might have access rights to a priority 1 printer, users in Group 2 might have access rights to a priority 2 printer, and so on. This allows you to prioritize print jobs according to the users who are submitting them.

For Macintosh users, however, one user account must be created for all incoming print jobs to the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server. Consequently, all Macintosh users who are sending print jobs through the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server have the same access rights.

To specify priorities for printers sending jobs to a single printing device

1. If necessary, create two or more printers and share them.
2. Open Printers.
3. Right-click a printer, and click Properties.
4. In the Advanced tab, select a priority.

Creating Printing Pools

When you create a printer, you can associate it with more than one printing device in order to form a printing pool. A printing pool consists of two or more similar printing devices associated with one printer name. To set up a pool, you create a printer and assign it as many output ports as you have identical printing devices. Printing pools have the following characteristics:

• All devices in the pool share the same print property settings and act as a single unit. For example, stopping one device stops them all.
• Print destinations can be of the same type, or they can be mixed (serial, parallel, and network).
• When a job arrives for the printing pool, the spooler on the computer that is running Windows 2000 Server checks the destinations to see which device is idle. The first port that is selected gets checked first, the second port second, and so on. If your pool consists of a different type of port, make sure you select the fastest port first (network, then parallel, then serial).
• A printing pool can contain a mixture of printer interface types, but the printing devices must all use the same printer driver.

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