Opening Ports on a Firewall for TCP/IP Printing

Resolving The Problem

There are various ports that need to be opened up on a firewall to print using a Remote Output Queue (RMTOUTQ) or a *LAN device description.

Remote output queues always use port 515 when communicating with a TCP/IP printer. However, when it comes to *LAN device descriptions, it depends on the port number specified in the printer device description. The most common port numbers are:

o	161 any *LAN 3812 SNMP printer device descriptions.
o	9100 for *LAN 3812 PJL or *LAN 3812 SNMP printer device descriptions to most ASCII laser printers including those from IBM, InfoPrint Solutions Company, HP, Lexmark, and Ricoh.
o	9100, 9101, and 9102 for *LAN 3812 PJL or *LAN 3812 SNMP printer device descriptions to printers using an external, multi-port HP JetDirect or Lexmark MarkNet print server.
o	2501 for *LAN 3812 PJL or *LAN 3812 SNMP printer device descriptions to older IBM Network Printer or IBM Infoprint printers.
o	5001, 9100, and 9600 for *LAN IPDS printer device descriptions to most IPDS-capable laser printers including those from IBM, InfoPrint Solutions Company, Lexmark and others.
o	631 or 6310 for *LAN 3812 IPPP printer device descriptions to most ASCII laser printers that support the Internet Print Protocol (IPP) and that will print using a *LAN 3812 IPP DEVD.

Remote Output Queues use source ports 256 through 1024 on IBM OS/400 or IBM i5/OS and always use destination port 515 on the printer or print server.

*LAN device descriptions use source ports 5000 through 65000 on OS/400 or i5/OS; however, the destination port depends on the printer hardware. The destination port for the printer hardware is always reflected in the Port number (PORT) parameter in the printer device description, so that can be a good place to look.

The most common destination ports are 2501, 5001, 9100, 9101, 9102, and 9600; however, some printers could use other ports. Port 161 must be opened on the firewall if any printers are configured as a *LAN 3812 SNMP device description, and ports 631 and 6310 must be opened on the firewall if any printers are configured as a *LAN 3812 IPPP printer device description.

For a list of the known port numbers for *LAN device descriptions, refer to the Rochester Support Center knowledgebase documents in the References section.

For more information, refer to the following Rochester Support Center knowledgebase documents:

N1019689: Recommended PJL Port Number Values for *LAN 3812 PJL Device Descriptions
N1019571: Recommended SNMP Port Number Values for *LAN 3812 SNMP Device Descriptions
N1019440: Recommended IPDS Port Number Values for *LAN IPDS Device Descriptions