Sharing Printers with PSM

PSM works in two different but related ways. First of all, it allows classic Mac OS users to print to any printer shared by your Windows 2000 PSM server. As far as the Macintosh users are concerned, any printer (regardless of its native capabilities) shared from your PSM server appears to be a 300 dots-per-inch PostScript level 1 printer. Handily, the PSM service also works in the reverse way: it allows you to connect to an AppleTalk network printer so that Windows users can print to a queue on the Windows 2000 Server and have their jobs go to the AppleTalk printer—without putting AppleTalk on the clients themselves. You can also capture an AppleTalk printer so that clients can only connect to it using the Windows print server, thereby providing a centralized print queue.

Before You Install PSM

As mentioned earlier, in the section entitled Setting Up File and Print Services, the best way to install PSM for use on a network using AppleTalk is to first install, configure, and test the AppleTalk protocol. After you're confident that AppleTalk is working properly, the next step is to create a user account for the PSM service. FSM doesn't need its own account, because permissions are already set on the files and folders it makes available to Macintosh users. However, to control printing you'll need to have a separate account to which you can assign permissions. Use the tools discussed in Chapter 9 to create a new user to be used exclusively with PSM, and then follow these steps to configure the PSM service to use this account instead of the default LocalSystem credentials:

1. Open the Computer Management snap-in from an MMC console.
2. Switch to the Services view.
3. Find the Print Server for Macintosh service, right-click it, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
4. In the PSM Properties dialog box, click the Log On tab and then click the This Account option. The account and password controls become active. Select the PSM account you created, type its password in the appropriate fields, and then click OK.

Sharing a Printer for Macintosh Users

After you install the Print Server for Macintosh service, all shared printers on the server are automatically available to clients on the AppleTalk network.

The first step in creating a printer to which Mac OS users can print is to create a shared printer, either by creating a new printer from scratch using the Add Printer Wizard (discussed in Chapter 8) or by sharing an existing printer.

If you want to share an existing printer that's already attached to your Windows 2000 Server but not currently shared, just click the Sharing tab of its Properties dialog box, select the Shared As option, and give the shared printer a name.

To connect to a printer on a Windows print server running PSM from a classic Mac OS system, use the following procedure:

1. Open the Chooser from the Apple Menu.
2. Select the printer driver to use for the network printer from the list.
3. Select the AppleTalk zone in which the printer is located, and then select the printer from the list, as shown in Figure 23-17.

   

   Figure 23-17. Using Chooser to connect to a printer on a Windows print server.

4. Click Create. Mac OS connects to the printer and creates a desktop printer for it.

Connecting to an AppleTalk Printer

If you're creating a new printer, the process is slightly more complicated. To connect a Windows print server running PSM to an AppleTalk printer and make it available for Windows users, use the following procedure:

1. Start the Add Printer Wizard by double-clicking the Add Printer icon in the Printers folder. When the wizard appears, click Next to move on to the next screen.
2. In the next screen of the wizard, select the Local Printer option and, if appropriate, clear the Plug And Play Detection check box. Click Next.
3. In the Select The Printer Port screen of the wizard (Figure 23-18), select the Create A New Port option and then choose AppleTalk Printing Devices from the Type list. Click Next.

   

   Figure 23-18. The Select The Printer Port screen of the Add Printer Wizard.

4. The wizard opens an AppleTalk browser that works much like the standard My Computer browser you're already accustomed to. Search through the AppleTalk zones on your network until you find the printer you want to use, select it, and click OK in the browser.
5. When asked if you want to capture the AppleTalk device, click No to simply connect to the printer, allowing Macintosh clients to continue to directly access the printer. Alternatively, click Yes to force all clients to access the printer through the Windows print server, which then provides a central print queue.
6. Complete the Add Printer Wizard by naming your new printer (using a name that's fewer than 32 characters long) and being sure to share the printer when prompted.

As part of the configuration process, you can set restrictions on who can use the printer (with the Security tab of the printer's Properties dialog box) or on when and how it can be used (with the Advanced tab).

After you've taken these steps, the newly created shared printer is available to Macintosh users as soon as the PSM service is stopped and restarted.

Capturing and Releasing Existing AppleTalk Printers

To make an AppleTalk printer available exclusively through a Windows print server, providing a central print queue for Windows and Macintosh users alike, or to release a captured printer, use the following steps:

1. Right-click the AppleTalk printer you want to capture from the Printers folder and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
2. Switch to the Ports tab and select the AppleTalk port to which the printer is connected and click Configure Port.
3. Select or clear the Capture This AppleTalk Printing Device check box.
4. Stop and restart the PSM service.

Remember, a captured device is available to Windows and Mac OS users who print only to the corresponding queue on Windows 2000 PSM Server; an uncaptured or released AppleTalk printer is available only to clients that speak AppleTalk.