How to create a PD queue

A PD queue is a print queue that exists only in Print Director. It belongs to a PDAgent, usually one on a server, but unlike an ordinary Windows print queue there is no Windows printer, driver or port behind it. It simply receives print jobs, records who sent them, and holds them for release at a printer like any other Print Director queue.

PD queues are listed under Print Management > Print Queue Management > PD Queues in Resource Manager. Windows print queues on PCs and servers are listed separately, under Installed Queues.

When to use a PD queue

• As the destination for deployed queues. A Queue Deployment of the type Forwards to PD queue – jobs wait on the server PDAgent installs a queue on each PC that sends its jobs to a PD queue on a server. See How to deploy local queues that will send jobs to the server.
• For Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android phones, Chromebooks and Linux. These can print to a PD queue directly over IPP, using the driver built into the device. With Advertise on mDNS ticked, the queue appears in their printer list automatically.
• For LPR printing to a server. Queues that send jobs over LPR to a server’s PDAgent are matched to the PD queue of the same name on that server.

Before you start

The PD queue receives jobs through the PDAgent’s print services, so check them first:

1. In Resource Manager, click PD Agents and double-click the PDAgent that will hold the queue.
2. Open the Print services tab. In the IPP & LPD services section:
   • tick Enable IPP to receive jobs over IPP. The SSL port (for example 9633) is used for encrypted IPPS, and Non SSL (for example 631) for plain IPP;
   • tick Enable LPD if PCs will send jobs to it over LPR (Port 515 by default).
3. Click OK + Refresh to save and apply the change to the PDAgent straight away.

Create the PD queue

1. Expand Print Management > Print Queue Management and click PD Queues.
2. Click Add PD queue at the bottom of the list. The New PD queue window opens.
3. Enter the Print queue name. This is the name users see when they add the printer, and the name LPR jobs are matched by. It must be unique among the PD queues on that PDAgent; a Windows queue on the same PDAgent may have the same name.
4. In Assigned to PDAgent, choose the PDAgent that will receive the jobs. Click … beside it to search the list.
5. Set Match to Device: the printer the queue’s jobs are recorded against, and whose secure release setting it follows. Click … to search for the device. Tick Matched to Fiery IP address if jobs should be delivered to a Fiery controller.
6. Set the remaining options (see below).
7. Click OK + Refresh to save the queue and refresh the PDAgent straight away, so it can receive jobs immediately. If you click OK instead, the PDAgent picks up the new queue the next time it refreshes its settings.

PD queue settings

Android phones: Android’s built-in Default Print Service cannot sign in. To print from Android to a queue that requires a username and password or a PIN, users need the Mopria Print Service app, which can.

Good to know

• A PD queue has no Windows printer, so the PDAgent it is assigned to does not need the printer’s driver.
• A PD queue can be moved to another PDAgent later by changing Assigned to PDAgent. Nothing has to be reinstalled on that PDAgent’s computer.
• A PD queue that a Forwards to PD queue deployment sends jobs to cannot be deleted while the deployment uses it. Resource Manager tells you which deployments depend on it.

Related articles

• How to deploy local queues that will send jobs to the server
• How to manually create a Queue Deployment
• How to deliver print jobs securely with IPPS
• How to store held print jobs on the PDServer

How to create a PD queue