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Little information is available about the print job. After a job leaves a print server queue, it is removed
from the queue, regardless of whether it actually prints. This could cause a print job to be lost if the
printer is turned off in the middle of the print job. This is inherent in the NetWare design.

Notes about printing performance:

Many people prefer to configure their print servers in PSERVER. In early versions of NetWare,
PSERVER performance was significantly better than NPRINTER/RPRINTER performance.
This performance difference is less for IntraNetWare. Actual print job throughput is affected by many
other factors such as topology, job size and content, and print server settings. Under many
circumstances, NPRINTER provides an excellent IntraNetWare NDS solution.
PSERVER in IntraNetWare NDS

Advantages of using PSERVER in NDS:

•Does not require that PSERVER.NLM be installed on the NetWare server
•Increases performance. Although overall print job throughput is affected by many factors, file
transfer time on the network may be faster using PSERVER because:
In NPRINTER/RPRINTER, NetWare uses SPX to transfer packets. Packet size for data
transmitted in SPX is 512 bytes.
In PSERVER, NetWare uses IPX to transfer packets. Packet size for data transmitted in IPX is
up to 1 Kilobyte for Ethernet and up to 4 Kilobytes for Token-Ring networks.
Because of this difference in packet size, PSERVER may be faster than NPRINTER/
RPRINTER. Actual IPX packet size is negotiated by the client application. This actual IPX
packet size is often less than the maximum because of packet size limitations of gateways and
routers.
If printing is a significant part of your network traffic, and if network traffic is a proven concern
for your network, you may find it better to use the print servers in PSERVER.

Disadvantage of using PSERVER in NDS:

Requires a NetWare server user license for each PSERVER device
Also, in IntraNetWare you can “pool” printers by assigning a single print queue to multiple printers, or
“share” printers by assigning multiple print queues to a single printer. Be careful when configuring
“pooled” printer environments because the printers need to have the same capabilities in terms of
printer data stream and resources such as fonts, forms, internal memory, resolution, and so on.
Though Novell recommends assigning one print queue per printer for ease of management, it may be
useful to “share” a printer between multiple queues when a printer supports multiple emulations such
as PostScript and PCL.