Printing documents over the Internet using the Internet Printing Protocol

A market research firm wants to print documents created by Windows applications over the Internet to PostScript printers and to high-speed AFP printers attached to an IBM® System z®. The company runs on a Windows system that provides an integrated IPP client. It also installs printers that support the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP).

1. From a Windows workstation, a user submits a document for printing using the standard print-submission method that the Windows application provides. The user selects a z/OS printer defined to Infoprint Server, which might be a remote PostScript printer or a locally-attached AFP printer. The printer driver associated with the printer creates an output file in the required format. For example, the AFP Printer Driver for Windows creates an output file in AFP format for printing on AFP printers.
2. The IPP printing protocol included in Windows automatically transmits the output file over the Internet to the Print Interface component.
3. The Print Interface component creates an output data set on the JES spool, using JES output parameters defined by the administrator. The JES output parameters specify routing information that PSF and IP PrintWay™ can use to transmit the output to a printer. They can also specify how the job is to be printed.
4. If the selected printer is a remote PostScript printer, the IP PrintWay component transmits the output data set to the PostScript printer on the TCP/IP network. If the printer supports the IPP protocol, the IP PrintWay component communicates with the printer's IPP server. If the selected printer is an AFP printer, PSF prints the data set on the AFP printer. The z/OS® IP security function can encrypt the data.

Figure 6 shows how Infoprint Server directs data to PostScript or AFP printers.

Figure 6. Printing documents with the IPP Printing Protocol