Integration of SAP, Unix, AS/400, and mainframe spool systems in Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix Presentation Server environments

Transcription

1 Host Integration Host Integration Integration of SAP, Unix, AS/400, and mainframe spool systems in Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix Presentation Server environments

2 Direct printing via TCP/IP For direct printing via TCP/IP, the initiating spool server sends the print job via TCP/IP directly to the printing end device. This can be the local printer on a PC or terminal or a network printer equipped with a.print Client (e. g., Lexmark, HP with relevant option) or a printer connected via an external print server that is equipped with a.print Client. Area of application.print component Advantages Direct printing to network printer Batch processing Utilization of time with lower bandwidth traffic.print Server Engine.print Server Engine Host.print Server Engine Unix.print Server Engine AS/400 Independent of existing sessions High compression and bandwidth management LPD capability of end device not required With use of.print Server Engine and a Windows PC, SSL encryption also available Support for clusters Maximum flexibility when designing print landscape Remote printing.print Queue Manager Secure, fault-tolerant print job delivery Printout on network printers in masked networks.print Connected Gateway Stable, reliable addressing of remote network printers in masked networks

3 Printing via central Windows print servers A very intelligent and convenient method is the use of a central Windows print server. In this case, documents are printed from the host systems in shares on the Windows print server. The entire print management can then be centralized. To ensure the highest level of fault tolerance at the same time,.print Server Engine also supports clusters. Area of application.print component Advantages Direct printing to network printers Batch processing Utilization of time with lower bandwidth traffic.print Server Engine Independent of existing sessions High compression and bandwidth management LPD capability of end device not required SSL encryption Additional parallel use of Windows print servers as dedicated print server for the terminal servers possible Remote printing.print Queue Manager Secure, fault-tolerant print job delivery Printout on network printers in masked networks.print Connected Gateway Stable, reliable addressing of remote network printers in masked networks

4 Host Integration Printing via ICA/RDP The most flexible solution is offered by the.print Host Integration Service. If a user initiates a print job on a host application system, the.print Host Integration Service first detects the Microsoft Terminal or Citrix Presentation Server on which that user is working and forwards the print job via TCP/IP to that server. From there, the print job is compressed and sent with the ICA or RDP protocol across controlled bandwidth to the workstation, where the data is decompressed and sent to the local printer. If the spool server creates PDF data, this can optionally be sent unchanged but greatly compressed directly to the end device and printed directly with the Adobe reader. The great advantage is that the remote clients do not have to be addressed from the host system because all print jobs travel through the.print Host Integration Service distribution center. If the user changes his workplace, the host printout follows him, even to his home workstation. Area of application.print component Advantages Further information can be found at Dynamic distribution of host print jobs to any workplace.print Host Integration Service together with.print Application Server Engine Dynamic, user-oriented distribution of print jobs Secure transmission within the RDP/ICA virtual channel No firewall/routing configuration necessary Bandwidth management and high compression Use of SAPLPD unnecessary Relief to terminal servers User-friendly processing of PDF spool files Remote printing.print Queue Manager Secure, fault-tolerant print job delivery

5 Businesses that today use Microsoft Windows Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server also use this technology to access business applications like ERP, PPS, or CRM systems. These systems, though, often have a distributed architecture. Thus, the user interface is installed on the terminal server to enable, for example, SAPGUI, a UNIX emulation, or access via web browser, but the application itself is run on its own application server. In may cases, print jobs are not created on the terminal server. This creates several disadvantages: All printers must be defined on the host system and assigned to users Only static assignment using IP addresses is possible; there is no option for changing workplace High bandwidth usage because there is no compression of print data End device must be LPD capable Delivery is impossible if network masking is in use A separate port must be opened for print data Unsecured transmission is a security risk When using SAPLPD High load to terminal server Printout from default printer only Restrictions on printer names Stability issues Inefficient print job processing The.print product portfolio offers help. Depending on the application scenario, the.print components can be deployed for optimal integration of host print streams in server based environments. Three typical implementations are described below.

6 .print components for integrating host systems to Microsoft Terminal Services and Citrix Presentation Server environments.print Server Engine Central component of.print architecture and required for some host integration solutions. The.print Server Engine is necessary to send print jobs from a spool server directly to printing end devices via TCP/IP. Another application scenario for this license is centralized print management, which is realized through usage of a dedicated print servers. The.print Server Engine is available in different versions for the use in Windows Server environments (.print Server Engine), in mainfraime architectures (.print Server Engine Host), Unix environments (.print Server Engine Unix), or with AS/400 machines (.print Server Engine AS/400)..print Host Integration Service This license offers the ultimate flexible solution allowing integration of host print streams to Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix Presentation Server environments. The Host Integration Service detects the right user s RDP or ICA session server and receives print data via LPD from the host..print Application Server Engine This license is necessary in combination with.print Host Integration Service. It receives the print stream from the.print Host Integration Service, compresses it and embedds it bandwidth-controlled to the Virtual Channel of ICA or RDP..print Queue Manager The.print Queue Manager is an ideal add-on product to host integration environments. It enables helpful transmission settings to be defined individually for each printer queue. Settings include the number and intervals of retries and the total amount of time retries are to be attempted before the print job is finally deleted if the.print Client is not accessible..print Connected Gateway As another helpful add-on,.print Connected Gateway offers the advantage of sending print data with TCP/IP to a Client Gateway, even if it is in a masked network (e.g., behind a router with Network Address Translation). In this case, the.print Client installed on the Client Gateway connects to the.print Connection Service installed on the server ensuring print job delivery. info@thinprint.com Head Office Germany: ThinPrint AG Alt-Moabit 91a/b Berlin, Germany Phone: +49 (0) Fax: +49 (0) USA (Ohio), Local Office: ThinPrint, Inc Detroit Rd Cleveland, OH 44146, USA Phone: Fax: USA (Colorado), Local Office: ThinPrint, Inc Grandview Avenue, Suite 200 Denver, CO 80002, USA Phone: Fax: Australia, Local Office: ThinPrint Pty Ltd. Level 8, 275 Alfred Street North Sydney / NSW / 2060, Australia Phone: +61-(0) Fax: +61-(0) ThinPrint Japan B1 AIG building Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Phone: +81-(0) Fax: +81-(0) All names and trademarks are names and trademarks of the respective manufacturers.