Printer Queues

A shared printer is a printer available to network users on a server. Users send their print jobs to the server, which passes them to a printer queue, where they are held until they are ready to print. Jobs sent to a printer queue print, one by one, usually in the order received.

Printer queues can be set up in two ways: One printer can handle jobs from several queues, or one queue can send jobs to several similar printers.

When a single printer receives jobs from several queues, the queues can have different priorities for printing. The printer might receive requests from a low-priority queue that accepts jobs from all network users, as well as from a high-priority queue that accepts jobs only from users who need files printed quickly.

When several printers receive jobs from a single queue, the server controlling the queue informs users which printer printed their jobs.

If the Messenger and Netpopup (or Winpopup or Minipop) services are running on your workstation, a message appears when your print job is printed. For information about the Messenger and Netpopup services, see Chapter 4, "Sending and Receiving Messages."