Q: Will RPM Remote Print Manager® ("RPM") support network printers?
A: RPM version 6 and beyond have IP Print and LPR Print actions which support network printers directly.
What is IP Print?
IP Print sends jobs directly to a printer using the "raw" method, or telnet. It uses port 9100 and sends the job as a stream. This is very widely supported by printers.
RPM can also receive using this method. Sometimes in-house we use it as a loopback, like this:
- Send a job to RPM
- RPM processes the job on a Windows printer
- However, the port monitor for this printer is a TCP/IP monitor that sends the print job using Telnet or LPR. Of course, we're using Telnet in this example.
- RPM receives the newly generated print job.
Typically the configurations we see, and the ones we use in-house, store the newly generated print ready files.
What is LPR Print?
LPR Print sends a print job to a printer, or print host. It uses the LPR protocol to send, the same way that RPM uses to receive.
RPM has a built-in action to do LPR Print.
An alternate approach: using Pylpr
There is a third method we recommend, and that is to use the pylpr program we provide in the RPM install. Pylpr is a command line program for sending print jobs. It has excellent functionality and flexibility. We use pylpr extensively in RPM testing.
You can run the command
pylpr
in a command prompt. The program will list the options.
You would use the Filter Action to run pylpr from RPM.