User Guide

Planning the Migration to Novell Distributed Print Services 45
Novell Distributed Print Services Administration Guide
103-000137-001
August 31, 2001
Novell Confidential
Manual 99a38 July 17, 2001
Printing through Third-party Gateways
A third-party gateway is designed specifically for a printer or printer family.
This scenario requires two components running on a NetWare server: the
NDPS Manager and the third-party gateway. The NDPS Manager is an
integral part of NDPS and implements a platform on which to run Printer
Agents. The third-party gateway is provided by the printer manufacturer for a
specific printer or class of printers.
Printer Agents (unless embedded in the printer itself) are created to run on the
NDPS Manager to front-end printers which do not contain NDPS capabilities
and make them appear to users and administrators as full NDPS printers. The
NDPS Manager uses NDPS to communicate with users and administrators on
one end, but requires a gateway to communicate with the printer on the other.
Some printer manufacturers have developed proprietary mechanisms for
dynamically discovering their printers and for providing comprehensive
access to their printers' capabilities. Gateways developed by these printer
manufacturers can be snapped in to the NDPS Manager to give NDPS
administrators and users enhanced access to the printers.
Different levels of NDPS functionality are available depending on the actual
implementation of a specific gateway and the capabilities of the protocols
used by the gateway.
Advantages of Printing through a Third-
Party Gateway
Disadvantages of Printing through a
Third-Party Gateway
Might support Pure IP Currently not all existing printers have
third-party gateways
Might provide pseudo plug-and-print
capabilities
Some manual configuration might be
required
Novell
client
Printer
NDPS Manager
3rd-
party
gateway
PA
Printer
Agent