I. NetPort® Manager Configuration

1. If using the internal model of the NetportExpress™ PRO print server, install the card in the printer. Plug the network cable into a known good network drop and then power on the printer.

   If using the external model, plug your NetportExpress PRO print server into a known good network drop. Plug in the power cable and the printer.

2. Use the diagnostics button on the NetportExpress print server to verify communications between the NetportExpress print server, the printer and the network.

   NOTE: The diagnostics page will only print to printers attached to LPT1 at this time.

3. If you have not already done so, install the NetPort® Manager software onto either a workstation or on your Windows NT* server. You must use NetPort Manager release 4.x to configure any of the NetportExpress PRO print server models. You must also run the software on a workstation or Windows NT server which is running NetBEUI as the default protocol, regardless of whether you intend to use NetBIOS or TCP/IP to print.

4. Start the NetPort Manager program. The NetportExpress print server will be displayed in the left column. Highlight the NetportExpress print server which needs to be configured.

5. Press the Configure Hardware button. Assign an alias name if you would like to. The alias name is a name to use instead of the PRxxxxxx identifier. This is not necessarily the name of the printer your users will select when they print from their workstations.

6. Use the lower half of the screen to set appropriate printer settings for each printer. Set the centronics speeds as outlined below. Do not enable bi-directional communications unless the printer is capable of using this setting.
   • For any dot matrix parallel printers, for laser printers at or below the level of an HP* III, and for inkjet printers, select the Low speed setting.
   • For most other printers, select the Medium speed setting.
   • For high speed printers, select the High speed setting.

7. For any dot matrix printers, be sure there is no check mark in the Autolinefeed box. This will prevent the printer from double line-feeding your text.

8. If you will be attaching a serial printer to your NetportExpress print server, make any necessary changes to the Serial Port settings area. Each serial setting must exactly match the settings on the printer.

9. Press the Save button.

10. Press the Configure Print Services button. Select UNIX & SNMP and press the Configure button.

11. The Location and Contact fields are optional reference fields.

12. If you wish to manually assign an IP address to your NetportExpress print server, place a check mark in Manually Assign IP Address in the IP Resolution Options area on the right side of the screen. If this option is not available, remove the check marks from other items in this area first. You can then enter the address in the NetPort server IP entry area.

13. Disregard the tabs for SNMP Communities and SNMP Traps.

14. Press the Save button to exit the UNIX and SNMP screen.

15. Press the Close button to exit the Configure Print Services screen.

16. Wait 1 to 2 minutes for the NetportExpress print server to save the configuration.

17. Use the Status button from the Main Menu of the NetPort Manager software to verify the information you have configured is correct.

    NOTE: The status screen will always display several hardware settings as "Not configured." This is normal; these are other possible ways in which the print server may be configured. Your status screen may also display NetBIOS: Running. This is also normal.

You will be repeating these steps for each printing device you attach to your NetportExpress print server.

1. Open your Print Manager. Select Printer/Create Printer. Give your printer a name.

2. Select the appropriate driver for the printing device attached to the NetportExpress print server.

3. In the Print To: field, select Other. You will need to use the inverted triangle and scroll down to it.

4. Select LPR port from the list of available options and then click OK. If LPR is not an available option, you will need to install Microsoft TCP/IP Printing Services. For further details regarding LPR ports and Microsoft TCP/IP Printing Services, please contact Microsoft.

5. In the entry field which opens, enter the DNS name or the IP address from the print server.

6. In the Name of printer field, type in one of the following:
   LPT1_PASSTHRU for most jobs (use this for Internal models or for printing devices on port 1 of the external model)
   LPT2_PASSTHRU for most jobs
   COM1_PASSTHRU for most jobs
   LPT1_TEXT for jobs that need to have a CR added to LF's (use for Internal models)
   LPT2_TEXT for jobs that need to have a CR added to LF's
   COM1_TEXT for jobs that need to have a CR added to LF's

7. Click on "Share this printer on the network box" and provide a share name.

III. Connecting to the Printer From a Workstation

Each workstation should select the shared printer defined in section II above to which they send their print jobs, rather then the NetportExpress print server device directly. This will allow all print jobs to be spooled through the Windows NT* server. For more information on spooling vs peer to peer printing, see document  #6030, Printing with Peer to Peer vs. Spooled Print Jobs.

This applies to:

Intel® NetportExpress™ PRO and PRO/100 Print Servers