Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS) Information
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Novell, Inc.
01 Dec 2001
How to Use the NDPS Migration Utility
To begin migrating your printing resources to Novell Distributed Print Services, perform the following steps:
From whatever version of Windows you are using, run DPMIGW3X.EXE (the NDPS Migration utility) from your server's SYS:PUBLIC directory.
The SYS:PUBLIC directory will probably be designated as network drive Z:. If you have never run the NDPS Migration utility on this workstation, the Select Path dialog appears.
Select the directory in which to store the migration database. In most cases, you will want to use the same database directory for the entire migration process.The Select Resource Manager screen then appears.
Select the Resource Management Service you want to use. The Migration utility needs to know which NDPS Broker has the Resource Management Service (RMS) enabled that you want to use for your migrated printers. Select a Broker here. (The Select Container (Add) dialog appears if you have not previously run the Migration utility.)
Select the container with the objects you want to migrate.The Migration utility assembles all the information about the printers in the container you select. The utility uses this information to create the migration database in the directory you specified above, or the information is added to an existing database.
A browser view showing the hierarchical structure of the container's printing objects appears with the title "Candidate Printers to Migrate."
Select the printer you want to migrate.
From the Edit pulldown menu, select Properties. The Edit Properties screen is displayed, containing the following tabs.
The NDPS Printer Agent and .PD2 Files.
When creating a new NDPS Printer Agent from within the NWADMN32 utility, the list of "Gateway Types" that is presented for selection is based upon the *.PD2 files that are present in the NWADMN32 directory.
For instance, there is a CONFIGPD.PD2 file that presents the "Novell Printer Gateway." There are also various third-party .PD2 files, such as CONFIGHP.PD2 which presents the "Hewlett-Packard IP/IPX Printer Gateway," the XPD2.PD2 file which presents the "Xerox Printer Gateway," etc.
These .PD2 files present the gateway-specific configuration dialogs that are used during the NDPS Printer Agent creation. (For example the configuration dialog for the Hewlett-Packard IP/IPX Printer Gateway queries the network and lists the available JetDirect printer devices.)
The .PD2 files are also responsible for reporting the proper "Port Handler" and "Gateway" command lines to the NDPS Manager to invoke when loading the NDPS Printer Agent. For example the CONFIGPD.PD2 for the "Novell Printer Gateway" would end up sending a PH.NLM command line for "Port Handler" and a PDS.NLM command line for "Gateway."
On the other hand, the CONFIGHP.PD2 for the Hewlett-Packard IP/IPX Printer Gateway sends an HPGATE.NLM command line for the "Gateway" and would leave the "Port Handler" command line blank. Any additional parameters that are passed on to the NLM load commands depend on the options that were selected during the configuration dialogs of the .PD2 files themselves.
Note: Having the .PD2 file present in the NWADMN32 directory does not necessarily mean that the Novell NetWare server where the NDPS Manager is loaded actually has the corresponding NLMs installed or even made available. The reverse can also be true. The Novell NetWare server running the NDPS Manager may have a full array of NDPS gateway NLMs installed, but if the directory in which NWADMN32 is launched does not have the appropriate .PD2 files, those gateways will not be listed in the "Gateway Types" dialog.
Moving the NDPS Manager to Another Server.
When loading an NDPS Manager at a Novell NetWare server, the NDPSM.NLM checks the NDPS Manager object you have selected and verifies that the "Database Volume" attribute on the NDPS Manager object references a NDS volume object which corresponds to a volume on the local Novell NetWare server.
If the "Database Volume" references a volume from some other server, the NDPSM.NLM will halt and post a warning dialog on the NDPSM.NLM console screen. The warning states the volume that the selected NDPS Manager uses is not on the local server, and that before the NDPS Manager can be loaded, the NDPS Manager database directory must be moved to the local server.
If this prompt is accepted, a following dialog will prompt for you to confirm whether the NDPS Manager database should be moved to the local server. If this action is confirmed, the NDPSM.NLM will present a list of local volumes upon which the NDPS Manager database may be hosted.
After selecting one of the local volumes to place the NDPS Manager database, NDPSM module will then restore the database from the backup that is stored on the NDPS Manager's NDS object. After successfully restoring the database to the selected volume, NDPSM.NLM will next start the NDPS Printer Agents.
The spooling location for the printer agents (which is used to refer to a volume location on the previous NetWare server) will default to the same location as the newly selected NDPS Manager database location.
Note: Only the NDPS Printer Agents themselves have been moved; any existing or held print jobs for the NDPS Printer Agents will not be transferred to the new NDPS Manager location.
Steps to Moving the NDPS Manager.
There are several actions that will help ensure success in moving an NDPS Manager from one server to another, and these actions should happen before you unload the NDPS Manager from the original server.
On the "NDPS Manager Status and Control" | "Database Options" | "Backup Database Options" selection route, be sure that the "Backup Database to NDS" entry is set to "Yes."
Select the "Backup Database Files" option from the "Database Options" list so that the database will be immediately saved to NDS.
Then using DSREPAIR | "Report Synchronization Status" and DSTRACE (if necessary), ensure that NDS synchronization has been successful. This will help ensure that the latest database backup saved on the NDPS Manager object has been synchronized to all the NDS replicas.
Now unload the NDPS Manager from the original Novell NetWare server and load the NDPSM.NLM on the new server selecting the existing NDPS Manager object and confirming the prompts for moving the NDPS Manager to the new server and volume.
Moving an NDPS Broker to Another Server
Unlike the NDPS Manager objects, an NDPS Broker object can be loaded at an alternate server, technically without making any modifications whatsoever. The only issue is that since the "Resource Mgr Database Volume" still refers to the volume object of the original server location (regardless of which server you loaded the NDPS Broker on), it will attempt to make a remote connection back to that specified volume.
To correct this condition, first copy the NDPS\RESDIR directory from the old location to the new target volume. Ensure the directory structure remains the same (i.e., that the \NDPS\RESDIR directory is at the root of whichever volume the directory is copied to).
Once the directory exists at the intended location, load the ConsoleOne utility from either the NetWare server or from a client workstation. Navigate to the context where the NDPS Broker object exists, select the Broker object and then bring up the "Properties" dialog by right-clicking on the object and selecting "Properties" or by selecting "Properties" from the "File" menu.
Once the "Properties" dialog is displayed, go to the "Other" tab, which will display a page named "Edit." You will see a list of the existing attributes on the NDPS Broker object. Find the "Resource Mgr Database Volume" attribute in this list, ensuring not to confuse it with "Resource Mgr Database Path" option, which is also listed.
Expand the tree control on the "Resource Mgr Database Volume" attribute and you will see that the existing value is still referencing the old volume object. Highlight that existing value (the actual value, not the "Resource Mgr Database Volume" attribute name) and then select the "Modify" button on the "Edit" page.
The existing attribute value will now have a browse button from which you can browse and select the new volume object from within NDS. Once you confirm on the "Properties" screen to save the changes that you made to the NDPS Broker object and those changes are synchronize throughout NDS, the BROKER.NLM should no longer attempt to connect to the old volume for the RMS broker.
NDPS Banner Page
Some of you have asked, "why can't I see the banner page selections I want in NDPS?" The banner pages that NDPS allows for a printer is based on the languages that the NDPS Manager database is aware of that the selected printer supports.
As such, if only a text-mode banner is being allowed, it's because NDPS is unaware that the printer has any other language capability. With vendor-specific printer devices and gateways, this banner information is normally queried live from the printer itself and is then written into the NDPS Manager database.
For other situations where the printer language information is not being queried from the printer, create or re-create the NDPS Printer Agent and select "(Generic) PCL" or "(Generic) PS" as the Printer Type (depending upon which banner option you desire).
* Originally published in Novell AppNotes
Disclaimer
The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.