Installing and customizing the Infoprint Server Windows client

This information describes how to customize the Infoprint Server client that runs on Windows systems. The client is called IBM® Infoprint Port Monitor for Windows. The Infoprint Port Monitor is software that you install on a Windows workstation. It lets you print files on z/OS® printers just like you print files on local Windows printers. You can print files from any Windows application that has a printing function.

You can also use several other print-submission methods from a Windows system that do not use the Infoprint Port Monitor. Table 1 compares the print-submission methods that you can use: Infoprint Port Monitor, Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), and TCP/IP commands that use the LPR to LPD protocol, including the lprafp command.
Table 1. Comparison of Windows printing methods
Function Infoprint Port Monitor IPP LPR/LPD
Specify Infoprint Server job attributes Yes Yes1 No
Obtain print job status Yes2 Yes No
Windows systems supported Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2016 4 Any Windows systems that support IPP Any Windows systems with an LPR command
Infoprint Port Monitor must be installed on Windows system Yes5 No No
Infoprint Server daemon that must be started aoplpd (LPD) aopippd (IPP Server) aoplpd (LPD)
  1. You can specify IPP job attributes instead of Infoprint Server job attributes. However, if the printer is not IPP-enabled Infoprint Server supports only a subset of IPP job attributes. For more information, see Customizing the IPP workstation client.
  2. You can see the documents that are waiting to print. If an error occurred, you can view the Windows Event Log.
  3. When the Windows job status window is open, z/OS system performance might be degraded.
  4. Infoprint Port Monitor V3.2 can run on 32-bit Windows systems and on 64-bit Windows systems based on x64 architecture. However, it cannot run on 64-bit Windows systems that are based on Intel Itanium architecture.
  5. If you define the z/OS printer as a shared Windows network printer, you do not need to install the Infoprint Port Monitor on each user's Windows system. However, users can modify Infoprint Server job attributes before printing documents only from the system on which the Infoprint Port Monitor is installed.

To use the Infoprint Port Monitor:

  1. Make sure that you have Windows administrator authority on your Windows system.
  2. If you are currently using an earlier version of the Infoprint Port Monitor, do not uninstall it.
  3. Customize the Printer Inventory Manager and Print Interface, including the Infoprint Server LPD (aoplpd).
  4. Download and install the Infoprint Port Monitor from one of these locations:
    • z/OS system: Use a file transfer program (such as ftp) to download one of these files in binary:
      • For 32-bit Windows systems: /usr/lpp/Printsrv/win/En_US/aopwin32.exe
      • For 64-bit Windows systems: /usr/lpp/Printsrv/win/En_US/aopwin64.exe
      To download from the z/OS system, you need an account on the z/OS system where Infoprint Server is installed.
    • IBM website: Download the Infoprint Port Monitor.
    Tips:
    1. (Optional) You can download the Infoprint Port Monitor to a shared Windows folder.
    2. For more information about downloading and installing the Infoprint Port Monitor, see z/OS Infoprint Server User's Guide.
  5. Make sure that Infoprint Sever is started and the Print Interface line printer daemon (aoplpd) is started.
  6. Define z/OS printers to your Windows system. For instructions, see the Infoprint Port Monitor online help. A shortcut to the help, in the Windows folder IBM Infoprint Port Monitor, was put on your desktop during the installation of the Port Monitor.

    Windows printers that you added for the earlier version of the Infoprint Port Monitor are still defined. You do not need to change them.

    To define a printer, you need this information:
    • The host name or the IP address of the z/OS system where Infoprint Server is running.
    • The port number on the z/OS system where the Infoprint Server line printer daemon (aoplpd) is listening. The port number is usually 515. Specify the same number as specified in the lpd-port-number attribute.
    • The name of the printer. This is the name of the printer definition in the Printer Inventory. (When you configure the Infoprint port on the Windows system, you select this name from a list.)
    • The name of the printer driver. The printer driver converts documents to a format that the printer understands. For example, to AFP format (for AFP printers) or to PostScript format (for PostScript printers).

      If a PCL to AFP or PostScript to AFP transform filter is specified in the printer definition in the Printer Inventory, you can specify a PCL or PostScript printer driver for an AFP printer.

    • If you use the AFP Printer Driver, the model number and resolution of the AFP printer.
  7. (Optional) You can define the z/OS printer as a shared Windows printer in your Windows network. If you do, other Windows users can print on the printer without downloading the Infoprint Port Monitor.

    However, when the printer is defined as a shared Windows printer, other Windows users cannot modify the settings of the Infoprint port before they print a document to the shared printer. For example, a Windows user cannot specify separator sheet information or other job attributes before printing a document.

    If you define a z/OS printer as a Windows shared printer:
    • In the Infoprint Port Configuration window, select Unattended port.
    • In the Infoprint Port Monitor Options window, do not select Prompt for attributes when printing. This window is displayed only on the Windows system where the Infoprint Port Monitor is installed.