Introducing Print Services Facility
Print Services Facility (PSF) is a
licensed printer driver program. Table 1 shows the operating systems that run
AFP printers and the PSF products they support.
| Operating System | PSF Product |
|---|---|
| z/OS® | PSF for z/OS |
| VM | PSF/VM |
| VSE | PSF/VSE |
| IBM® i | PSF/400 |
PSF has similar capabilities in all environments, plus differences unique to the operating system
on which it is running. This information focuses on PSF on the z/OS system. On any operating system, PSF combines print data with resources to manage and
control data transmitted to AFP printers. PSF accepts various data streams, transforms these data
streams into the data stream that is required by each printer (by using processing and printing
options that are specified by the user and the installation), and then transmits the data to the
printer. In addition, PSF:
- Manages resources
- Verifies a part of the syntax of the input data stream (the printer verifies the rest of the syntax)
- Provides diagnostic aids, which provide information that can be used for problem determination
- Reports the status of a printer to the system operator
- Provides accounting information
- Provides error-recovery procedures for AFP printers, meaning that if a job does not print because of a printer problem, PSF retransmits the affected pages to the printer later