Creating Printer Pool Queues

Mac OS X supports a special type of printer queue called a printer pool, which can load-balance print jobs between multiple printers. Essentially, a printer pool is a queue that automatically sends a print job to the next available printer on a list you define. It takes only a few steps to enable a shared printer pool on Mac OS X Server.

To create a printer pool:

1.	On the server, open the Printer Setup Utility, and add all the printers you wish to pool together.
2.	Select all the printers you wish to pool by holding down the Command key while you make your selections (Figure 7.37). Figure 7.37. Select the printers you wish to add to the printer pool.
3.	Choose Printers > Pool Printers (Figure 7.38). Figure 7.38. Choose Printers > Pool Printers. The Printer Pool dialog drops down from the Printer List title bar.
4.	Edit the pool's name, and click Create (Figure 7.39). Figure 7.39. The Printer Pool dialog shows all printers in the pool.
5.	Return to the Server Admin tool's printer queue list to find your new printer pool queue. Enable print sharing for the printer pool queue as you would for any other printer.