Scenario and technical restrictions

Tips

Basic installation

Application server

ThinPrint server

Workstation

License Server

Basic configuration

Workstation

Creating printers

ThinPrint Client Service Windows

Central print server under Windows

Creating printer ports (ThinPrint Engine)

Windows server with Connection Service

Creating printers on the central print server

Application server / host system

Example

Print test

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Scenario and technical restrictions

This example shows how to configure an application server and a central print server for printing with Connection Service in Windows.

On the client side, the example describes a workstation running Windows (a local print server could be used instead); information for other operating systems and devices is found in the online documentation of ThinPrint Hub, ThinPrint Client Linux and ThinPrint Client Mac.

The components required for this example are:

• 1 application server (e. g. a Citrix XenApp server in the domain)
• 1 central Windows print server (in the domain) with ThinPrint Engine installed
• 1 Windows server with Connection Service installed
• 1 ThinPrint License Server (can be installed on any server of the domain)
• 1 NAT router
• 1 Windows workstation with ThinPrint Client Windows installed
• 1 network printer with an internal or external print server (without embedded ThinPrint Client)

Tips

• The ThinPrint Connection Service only works with TCP/IP.
• Installation of the ThinPrint Engine on a central print server is not described in depth here. For the installation procedure, see Installing ThinPrint Engine on the print server.

Basic installation

Application server

Provide an application server; e. g., a Citrix XenApp server or a Microsoft Remote Desktop Session host (or terminal server).

ThinPrint server (central print server)

Install ThinPrint Engine on a central print server. Please see ThinPrint Engine on print servers.

Workstation

Install a ThinPrint Client on a Windows workstation (or on a local Windows print server). See ThinPrint Client Windows.

License Server

Install ThinPrint License Server on any Windows server. Enable at least one user for ThinPrint. See License Server.

Basic configuration

Assign all computers and devices involved IP addresses in the headquarters’ subnet (192.168.149.0 / 24) and in the local, masked subnet (192.168.1.0 / 24); for example:

• For the application server: 192.168.149.200
• For the central print server: 192.168.149.114
• For the server with Connection Service: 192.168.149.23
• For the local print server: 192.168.1.150
• For the network printer: 192.168.1.50

If you are running non-Windows servers as host systems (application servers) but the central print server is nevertheless a Windows server, please activate the server role LPD Service on the central print server (Server Roles→ Print and Document Services→ LPD Service) or else install alternative software such as SAPSprint.

Workstation

On the workstations¹ you can use Windows or a non-Windows operation system. The only requirement is that the ThinPrint Client to be installed supports the Connection Service; the following are appropriate:

• ThinPrint Client Windows
• ThinPrint Client Service Windows
• ThinPrint Client Linux
• ThinPrint Client Mac
• ThinPrint Hub

If you want to use Driver Free Printing to send print data from the central print server to the workstations, you must use Windows machines for all participating computers – application servers, ThinPrint Servers, workstations. If only the application servers and the central print server have a Windows operating system, then you can use V-Layer (see V-Layer).

The following shows an example of how a Windows computer can be configured with the ThinPrint Client Service Windows as local print server.

Creating printers

Create two printers (printer objects) on the workstation for:

• the network printer HP Color LaserJet 3600
• the network printer Lexmark T644

For this create new Standard TCP/IP ports.

ThinPrint Client Service Windows

Install ThinPrint Client as described in ThinPrint Client Windows.

• Start the ThinPrint Client Manager (via Start menu).
• Find the printer IDs for the HP Color LaserJet 3600 and the Lexmark T644 under Assignment – here, 1 and 2, respectively.

• Enable Use Connection Service on the Advanced tab.

• In the Connection Service tab, enter the following:
  • Connection server address: 192.168.149.23
  • TCP port: 4001
  • Client ID: 99 (here as example)
  • Authentication key: 111 (here as example)
  • Connection retry interval (s) : 300 (here as example)
  • Keep alive interval: 60 (if displayed)
• Close ThinPrint Client Manager with OK.
• Restart the ThinPrint Client Service in the Windows Services folder.

Central print server under Windows

Creating printer ports (ThinPrint Engine)

• Open the ThinPrint Engine port configuration.
• Create a new printer port of the type ThinPrint Connection Service Port.

• In the next window, enter a port name.

• Open the properties (in context menu) of the new printer port and enter the following:

Connection Server address: tp-proxy-04

Or:

Connection Server address: 192.168.149.23

For print jobs to travel from the Connection Service to the workstation and from there to the correct printer, the address information needs to be entered into the printer names. This can be done manually or with Management Ser­vices.

The resulting printers then have the following syntax:

printer_name#client_ID:printer_ID

with hash mark (#) between the printer name and client ID
and with a colon (:) between client ID and printer ID.

• Select the appropriate naming convention in the properties of the new ThinPrint port. Confirm with OK.

Windows server with Connection Service

1. Start the Connection Service configuration.

2. To set up the server, select Edit Settings (lower arrow). 

3. Select Add to specify the addresses of the print servers that can communicate with the Connection Service (right arrow in following Illus.), or disable the Limit access to the following print servers option (left arrow). Here, as an exam­ple, the address 192.168.149.114 is specified. Click on OK and conclude by restarting TP Connection Service, or select the option Restart Service. 

Note! If this option is enabled and other ThinPrint components such as Management Services Agent are being used, then their addresses must be specified here.

4. Under TCP Ports, you can configure over which ports ThinPrint Clients and ThinPrint Engines (or Management Services Agent) should connect with Connection Service. The port numbers must match those of the connection partners.

5. To set up the clients, select Configure Connections.

6. Enter the client ID and the authentication key for ThinPrint Client. You get this from the ThinPrint Client Manager. Connection Service enters the client address automatically, as soon as ThinPrint Client has con­nected. If the connection is not made automatically, then restart ThinPrint Cli­ent; with ThinPrint Client as a Windows service, restart the TP Client Service Windows.

7. The console then displays the established and, where applicable, connected ThinPrint Clients. 

Creating printers on the central print server

You can use Management Services for automatic printer creation. It simplifies the cre­ation of printers and allows the transfer of finishing options to the created printers.

If Management Services are not available create the printers as follows:

1. Create printers with the following syntax:

   HP Color LaserJet 3600#99:1
   Lexmark T 644#99:2

   where, 99 represents the client ID and 1 (or2) is the printer ID in ThinPrint Client Manager. Note the syntax, using the hash key (#) and colon (:).
2. Connect the printers that use a type 3 or v3 driver (including TP Output Gateway) to the classic ThinPrint Connection Service port (here: CS_1:) that you created earlier; see section Creating printer ports (ThinPrint Engine) above. If, on the other hand, you are dealing with a type 4 driver, then connect the printer in question to the corresponding v4 port (here: \\.\pipe\TPv4_CS_1:). For more information see the section Connecting printers to ThinPrint Ports.

The result is shown here:

Application server/host system

The application servers send their print jobs to printers installed on a central print server. To print to these shares in a pure Windows environment, the remote desktops only need to establish a connection to these shares. In contrast, for all constellations using non-Windows servers, you use the LPR / LPD print protocol.

Example

AutoConnect can automate the process whereby of printers are created when a ses­sion is open on a Windows machine. In doing so, AutoConnect automatically creates printer connections to the printers on the central print server for the duration of the session.

To achieve this, AutoConnect must be installed on each participating machine, such as terminal servers, for example. Use ThinPrint Engine for the installation of AutoConnect on Remote Desktops. This extension is an option in the Engine installation wizard.

Then enter the shares from the central print server (in this example: HP Color LaserJet 3600 and Lexmark T644) into the AutoConnect configuration on the remote desktop under Map Additional Printers.

ThinPrint AutoConnect: entering shares from the central print server

Printers on a Windows terminal server connected by AutoConnect – printing to a Windows workstation (TP Output Gateway used as driver)

The two printers can now be used for the duration of a remote desktop session.

Print test

Now test the Connection Service installation. Print using the newly created printers on both network printers. The user who is printing must be enabled for ThinPrint on the license server (see Accessing user configuration).