HP Bc1500 - BladeSystem - Blade PC Reference manual

White Paper

ThinPrint .print for HP Blade PCs

ThinPrint .print ■The new way of printing

Windows XP Professional provides users with Terminal

Services as the so-called remote desktop connection.

The protocol in use, RDP, is actually meant for mobile

access to home Window PCs on the one hand and

remote maintenance on the other.

With the compilation of hundreds of Windows XP

PCs as Blades in a server rack, users can use the same

functions that they know from conventional terminal

servers. Moreover, performance intensive applications

on Blade PCs do not influence other sessions.

The only problem left to resolve is printing. Thin-

Print .print remedies that – first, by avoiding band-

width blockages during printing, and secondly, by

compressing print data. Furthermore, the use of cen-

tral and local print servers poses no problem, because

print data can be sent by either RDP or TCP/IP – even

if the clients or local print servers are in masked net-

works.

Abstract

Introduction

CCI printing challenges

■Support of multiple client printers

■WAN bandwidth utilization

■Returning print data to end-user’s client

platform, (NAT and VPN challenges)

■Driver Free Printing

■Stand-alone ThinPrint .print network printer

support

■Printing to remote offices and home users

■Printing with dedicated print servers

■Printing to clients in masked networks

despite NAT

ThinPrint GmbH

Alt-Moabit 91 a/b

10559 Berlin

Germany/Alemania

ThinPrint, Inc.

616 Girod Street

New Orleans, LA 70130

USA/EEUU

ThinPrint APAC

L 10, 275 Alfred Street

North Sydney / NSW / 2060

Australia

email: [email protected]

www: www.thinprint.com

Issued: November 8, 2004 (v09)

Inhalt

HP blade PCs White Paper 3

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ 4

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4

CCI printing challenges .......................................................................................... 4

Support of ThinPrint’s Driver Free Printing ......................................................................... 5

WAN bandwidth utilization .............................................................................................. 5

Returning print data to end-user’s client platform, (NAT and VPN challenges) ....................... 6

Stand-alone ThinPrint .print network printer support ........................................................... 6

Printing to remote offices and home users ......................................................................... 7

Printing with dedicated print servers ................................................................................. 8

Printing to clients in masked networks despite NAT ............................................................ 9

Abstract

4 White Paper HP blade PCs

Abstract

This white paper presents the audited procedures for installing ThinPrint’s .print

Engine on Consolidated Client Infrastructure (CCI) environment. ThinPrint provides

value in traditional enterprise computing architecture and in server based computing

(SBC). With .print installed, organizations can utilize the ThinPrint .print architec-

ture, which addresses many printing challenges of enterprise and server based com-

puting thereby providing:

■Driverless printing in CCI environment

■Bandwidth management of print job data across LAN and WAN

■Compression of print job data across the LAN and WAN

■Auto-created client printer in CCI environment

■Returning printer job data back to the end user’s device

Introduction

This paper presents the necessary details to install and configure .print Engine on

HP Blade PCs and on a central dedicated print server. Included is a short review of

these challenges and the resolution through the use of ThinPrint .print architecture.

A simple test environment was configured and reviewed during the preparation of this

material and is documented in this paper.

This document provides a proof point to the compatibility and value of ThinPrint

.print. The reader will be introduced to the architecture, providing best practices

insight.

CCI printing challenges

CCI environments execute end-user applications on HP Blade PCs while a client

machine is used to display data and essentially facilitate all communications. Clients

connect to the “blade servers” via various access devices such as thin clients (disk-

less PCs) or standard desktops. CCI printing requirements create challenges in sev-

eral facets, including:

■Support of multiple client printers

■WAN bandwidth utilization

■Returning print data to end-users client platform, (NAT and VPN) challenges

■Central and local (dedicated) print server support

■Stand alone .print network printer support

Countless architectural options result depending on the specific challenges of each

environment. The solutions architect will determine the best practices architecture

resulting from the goals, priorities and challenges of the customer. Presented here is

an introduction to the basic concepts.

CCI printing challenges

HP blade PCs White Paper 5

Support of ThinPrint’s Driver Free Printing

The ThinPrint .print architecture allows for driver free printing in that the Blade PC

need not have a printer-specific driver loaded but needs only a ThinPrint Output Gate-

way Printer attached to a ThinPrint Port installed. The printer-specific driver is loaded

only on the local client where a printer is connected to the desktop computer. Loading

and updating all required individual printer drivers is time consuming, and certain

printer drivers can cause conflicts which disrupt the system. ThinPrint .print archi-

tecture provides a driver free architecture shown in Illus. 1 (one example for a net-

work printer and one for a Windows desktop).

Illus. 1

By leveraging the ThinPrint .print architecture, users can print to any of the con-

nected printers without loading printer-specific drivers for each required printer.

WAN bandwidth utilization

Enterprises may use CCI to serve clients at remote offices connected by a Wide Area

Network or WAN connection. The speed of these connections may be as low as

64 kbits per second to any single site. Printing an invoice may be acceptable, though

larger jobs such as month-end reports fail or take an unreasonably long length of time

to complete. Regardless of the time required for printing, the communication channel

between the Blade PC (application server) and the remote office will be degraded

during the time required for the print job to complete. The server component of Thin-

Print .print – the .print Engine – compresses print jobs, averaging 75 percent com-

pression ratio , reducing the amount of data required to be delivered to the remote

office.

Enterprises can now optimize and manage the bandwidth utilized per port to print

at remote locations from HP Blade PCs by adopting the ThinPrint .print architecture.

Illus. 1 Driver free printing for network printers and Windows clients (example)

CCI printing challenges

6 White Paper HP blade PCs

Returning print data to end-user’s client platform,

(NAT and VPN challenges)

Clients utilize RDP to connect to the HP Blade PCs. This TCP connection may origi-

nate from a desktop on a network segment that is partitioned from the application

server by a router, firewall or a virtual private network (VPN) service. Often a combi-

nation of these apply. A user that connects through a VPN from a laptop computer,

connected via a small firewall device and a broadband Internet connection, provides

an example.

.print Engine can send print data to .print Clients over RDP as well as TCP/IP. If

the client machines are in a masked network, .print Engine can send print data either

directly to the user's terminal via RDP, or - using the .print Connection Service - via

TCP/IP to a local print server. Both solutions can also be deployed simultaneously.

Stand-alone ThinPrint .print network printer support

Many HP printers have support for a broad set of extended features through the

JetCAPS partnership program. ThinPrint has worked in conjunction with EuroForm

to provide a .print Client embedded into the HP LaserJet printers. Printers can be

connected directly to the Ethernet network and support .print compressed and band-

width-controlled data delivery by purchasing a DIMM ROM with the EuroForm .print

Client. A 16 MB memory expansion and a Jetdirect 615N card were tested for the

support on the HP LaserJet 2300. The .print Client was configured using a web

browser. Illus. 2 shows the simple remote printer configuration providing standalone

support for the .print Client.

Illus. 2

Deployment of standalone, network-connected printers may reduce support costs

when compared to printers directly attached to desktops that must be managed sep-

arately. This method of providing ThinPrint .print support improves the availability of

Tip! RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol is Microsoft’s Terminal Services Pro-

tocol. RDP is used in this paper as terms to describe the communications pro-

tocol with which the client communicates with the HP Blade PC.

Illus. 2 Network printer support with .print Clients in a DIMM ROM from EuroForm or

a network card from SEH

CCI printing challenges

HP blade PCs White Paper 7

printers on the network. Current HP Laserjet printers supporting EuroForm JetCAPS

.print Client include:

HP Color LaserJet 3700, HP Color LaserJet 4600, HP Color LaserJet 4650,

HP Color LaserJet 5500, HP Color LaserJet 5550, HP Color LaserJet 9500,

HP LaserJet 2300, HP LaserJet 2300L, HP LaserJet 4100, HP LaserJet

4100mfp, HP LaserJet 4200, HP LaserJet 4200L, HP LaserJet 4300, HP

LaserJet 9000, HP LaserJet 9000Lmfp, HP LaserJet 9000mfp, HP LaserJet

9050, HP LaserJet 9055mfp, HP LaserJet 9065mfp

In addition, complete network cards with embedded .print Clients for all interfaces of

HP network printers are available from SEH.

Printing to remote offices and home users

Thin clients were used as workstations for the HP Blade PCs. Advantageously, HP

t5000 thin clients with embedded Linux oder Windows CE were used in LANs and

in branch offices with a local print server (Illus. 3). The client component of the Thin-

Print software, .print Client, was installed on the local print servers. .print Client

receives all print data for the branch office, decompresses and renders it, and then

distributes it through the local network.

If it is nevertheless necessary – for instance, with home users – to connect the print

devices to the terminals locally, then HP t5000 thin clients with embedded Windows

XP should be used. It is very easy to install the required .print Client onto these

devices (Illus. 3).

If the Driver Free Printing technology from ThinPrint .print is to be used in the

entire network, then all HP t5000 thin clients must have embedded Windows XP,

because in this case, the client operating system is responsible for rendering print

data. Thus, Windows PCs could also be used instead of HP t5000 thin clients with

embedded Windows XP.

In every case, it is necessary to install as well as license the server component of

the ThinPrint software, .print Engine, on all HP Blade PCs (Illus. 3).

CCI printing challenges

8 White Paper HP blade PCs

Illus. 3

Printing with dedicated print servers

To minimize server load during printing and utilize the advantages of central manage-

ment, dedicated print servers are usually setup on the server side. This is also pos-

sible with HP Blade PCs. In this scenario, print data is sent via TCP/IP. Also, .print

Engine is installed on the dedicated print server instead of on the HP Blade PCs; the

dedicated print server as well as all HP Blade PCs require licensing (Illus. 4).

Illus. 4

Illus. 3 Print data for a remote office is received by a local print server; home users

receive print data directly (example)

Illus. 4 Printing with a dedicated print server on the server side (example)

CCI printing challenges

HP blade PCs White Paper 9

Printing to clients in masked networks despite NAT

If the .print Clients depicted in Illus. 4 are in masked networks1, print data must

either be sent via RDP, or the .print Connection Service is installed on the server for

sending print data via TCP/IP. The latter case is usually only necessary if print servers

are used on the client side (Illus. 5). The .print Connection Service only needs to be

installed on a single server. All print data is then sent from .print Engine to the .print

Connection Service instead of to .print Clients. The .print Clients independently

establish a connection to the .print Connection Service and receive their print data

through this connection.

The .print Connection Service is installed on the server but is licensed per .print

Client.

Illus. 5

1 Networks in which routers mask the IP addresses with network address translation (NAT)

Illus. 5 Printing with a dedicated print server on the server side and a client side print

server in a masked network (NAT)

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