Summary
Now that you have completed this chapter, you should have a firm understanding of the following:

Printing to local and remote printers is an essential function in a work environment. There are three main components in the UNIX printing environment: The printer (physical device), the printer name (print queue) and the print server (computer that managers the print queue). The system administrator sets up the printing environment by installing printers and defining print queues and servers to support them. Printers can be attached to workstations, servers, or directly to a network hub or switch. The administrator sets up and manages the printing environment.

When a user prints a document, a print request is generated. This request passes through the network to the print server that manages the print queue for the printer name the user selected. The print server stores the documents on its hard drive temporarily and then forwards them to the physical printer when it becomes available.

Files can be printed using the lp command from the command line or with the CDE File Manager. There are a number of options available including printer selection, banner output, and number of copies. With File Manager, documents can be dragged with the mouse to the printer icon or print manager window to print them.

Print requests residing in print queues can be viewed and managed using the lpstat command or with CDE Print Manager. Users can see their outstanding requests in the queue and remove them from using the cancel command or with the graphical Print Manager utility. A user can only cancel their print jobs.