Re: IP printers through a firewall

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Pam,

> We have a third-party vendor that needs to be able to sign on to our
> AS/400 and print reports. While the list archives made it easy to find out
> which ports Client Access needs to operate through the firewall, I'm not
> sure which IP ports printing uses.

There are several ways to provide printing support over a TCP/IP network.
Which ports you need open depends on which method you're using to provide
printing...

a) LPR/LPD uses port 515

b) IPP uses port 631

c) LPJ (HP's "JetDirect" protocol) uses 9100 by default

d) TN5250e printer support uses the standard telnet ports, 23 for plain
TCP or 992 for SSL.

Personally, I prefer to use the TN5250e method with SSL because I can use
certificates to restrict it to only trusted people, plus it's encrypted
which gives me a little more piece of mind about my users sending
potentially confidential info over the internet.

The downside to TN5250e as opposed to something like LPR/LPD or JetDirect
is that a program needs to be started and running on the PC to provide
printer emulation support, and you have to convince the user that he/she
really needs to start that program and keep it running in order to get the
reports :)

Another method that works well is to convert the spooled files to PDF or
HTML and e-mail them.