179 lines
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179 lines
9.9 KiB
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<title>Book Review: <EM>Networking Printing</EM> LG #65</title>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">Book Review: <EM>Networking Printing</EM></font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:dpuryear@usa.net">Dustin Puryear</a></H4>
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<p>Network Printing
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<br>O'Reilly and Associates
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<br>October 2000
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<br>ISBN 0-596-00038-3
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<br>$34.95
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<p>There are few applications so beneficial, pervasive,
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and--oftentimes--complex as network printing. Network printing is beneficial
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because it reduces the number of printers required for an organization.
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Allowing users to print to a limited set of printers, rather than requiring
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a printer for each user realizes an obvious reduction in capital cost.
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This also equates to a savings in space requirements and power consumption.
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(These are two often overlooked but important factors.) The reason network
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printing is so pervasive is directly a result of the benefit of network
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printing--it reduces cost, both in terms of capital outlays and maintenance.
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<p>Unfortunately, network printing can also be quite
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complex. This is especially true for heterogeneous networks. In a heterogeneous
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network, not only do administrators need to worry about printers and print
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servers speaking the same lingo, but also that each device is actually
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using the same network layer protocols (i.e., TCP/IP). Even when a network
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is homogenous there can be difficulties, especially in large organizations
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where printers number in the hundreds or thousands.
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<p>In order to combat this complexity, and with it's
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resulting rise in cost and overhead, an administrator needs a solid set
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of documentation and a framework from which to grow. O'Reilly has attempted
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to satisfy just this need with their release of "Network Printing," by
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Todd Radermacher and Matthew Gast. "Network Printing," published in October
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of 2000, provides a step-by-step guide for building an infrastructure to
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support network printing in heterogeneous networks (and, by extension,
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homogenous ones as well).
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<p>So what exactly does Radermacher and Gast, the authors,
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bring to the table? Both Radermacher and Gast have several years of experience
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in the computer industry. They also both have a very readable writing style,
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and consistently speak to the reader in the first person. (This helps to
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engage the reader in the material, and often leads to more readable technical
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literature.) Now, on to the book!
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<p>In Chapter 1, "A Brief History of Printing and Publishing",
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Network Printing begins with a general introduction to printing in general.
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By "in general" I mean the entire field of printing, and not just network
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printing. The authors give a quick overview of the history of printing,
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including the introduction of such notables as papyrus scrolls and the
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Linotype. Personally, I feel this type of material is usually best left
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to the history books, but you may disagree.
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<p>The second chapter, "Printer Languages," progresses
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to the more relevant topic of page-description language. A page-description
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language is the <i>lingua franca</i> used by a print server and a printer.
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Common examples, and ones that are covered in the book, are Adobe's PostScript
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and Hewlett-Packard's Print Command Language (PCL). All in all, the authors
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do a good job of summarizing these languages. However, if you are looking
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for in-depth coverage, you will need to go elsewhere.
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<p>Chapters 3, 4, and 5 concern three popular UNIX print
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systems currently in use: BSD, SysV, and LPRng. The emphasis of the book
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is on using UNIX as the central print server platform for an organization,
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so the concentration on these systems is important. (However, I would have
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liked to see more focus on NT print servers.) Special attention is paid
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to print filters, which form the core of the UNIX print process.
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<p>In Part II, "Front-End Interfaces to UNIX queues," the authors begin with
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the requisite chapter on Samba. Chapter 6, "Connecting Windows to UNIX Servers:
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Let's Samba", describes deploying Samba on UNIX machines so that the servers
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can interface with Windows networks. Certainly, this book is not the end-all
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for documentation relating to Samba and it's various configuration options, but
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Gast and Radermacher cover it in enough detail to get the reader up and
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running.
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<p>After the coverage on Samba and Windows environments,
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the authors move to a more underserved support issue in many books stressing
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UNIX solutions: integration with Macintosh and NetWare networks. In Chapters
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7 and 8 the authors cover netatalk and ncpfs, respectively. Similar to
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the Samba chapter, the authors'
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main focus here is to educate the reader about the aspects of the support
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software relating to printing.
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<p>In Part III, "Administration," Radermacher and Gast
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enter into one the more crucial aspects of network printing--effectively
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and efficiently administering the system. At this point the authors assume
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you have the knowledge to implement network printing for the various networks
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covered, and they move to making the system not only effective but also
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efficient.
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<p>In Chapter 9, "Using SNMP to Manager Networked Printers,"
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the authors demonstrate how to use SNMP to monitor and control your printer
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infrastructure. Of note is their good overview of SNMP, and review of SNMP
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agents, such as MRTG. Not the strongest chapter in the book, but more than
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sufficient.
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<p>Next, in Chapter 10, "Using Boot Servers for Basic
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Printer Configuration," and Chapter 11, "Centralized Configuration with
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LDAP," the emphasis is on methods for maintaining a centralized configuration
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for all of the network printers. In small to medium networks these chapters
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may not be truly useful, but for large installations, centralized configuration
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is vital. The chapter on LDAP is especially informative, and offers several
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insights.
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<p>Finally, in Chapter 12, "Accounting, Security, and
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Performance," the authors tie many loose ends left from earlier chapters.
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The main point of this chapter is demonstrating the use of scripts for
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accounting and monitoring and tuning server performance. The section on
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security is rather small unfortunately, and I would have liked to see more
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detail. Alas, it was not forthcoming.
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<p>In conclusion, I think this was a rather well done
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book. The authors did an excellent job of keeping a rather boring subject
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(for most of us at least) somewhat upbeat. I also was quite happy to see
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several rather keen insights, especially the use of LDAP to pull configurations
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to print servers. If you are a network administrator that is not afraid
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of Linux or UNIX and need to better organize and control your printer infrastructure
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then this is an excellent resource.
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<H5 ALIGN=center>
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Copyright © 2001, Dustin Puryear.<BR>
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Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
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Published in Issue 65 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2001</H5>
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