How to deploy local queues that will send jobs to the server

Normally a deployed print queue holds each job on the user’s own PC, in the PDAgent, until the user releases it at the printer. That has some drawbacks:

• If the user’s laptop goes to sleep, or leaves the network, before they release the job, the job cannot print.
• If the PDAgent on the user’s PC has lost its connection to the PDServer at the moment of release, the printer panel shows the user an error.

Sending jobs to a server instead avoids both. The server effectively becomes the print server, and this has advantages over a Windows Server print server with shared (SMB) printers:

• The server can run a desktop version of Windows, such as Windows 10 or 11.
• Client PCs do not need to be joined to a domain. Their jobs can be identified by their local Windows account, or users can be asked to log in to the PDAgent Client.
• It avoids the problems some sites have deploying shared printer connections with Group Policy since Microsoft’s “PrintNightmare” security changes.

Choose an approach

Options 1 and 2 are set up by choosing the deployment type when you add the Queue Deployment. Option 3 is the original method and still works.

Option 1: Jobs wait on the PDServer

1. In Resource Manager, expand Print Management > Print Queue Management, click Queue Deployments and click Add.
2. In the New queue deployment window, choose Capture by local PDAgent – jobs wait on the PD Server and click OK.
3. Complete the deployment as described in How to manually create a Queue Deployment. On the PD settings tab, Jobs wait at shows the PDServer the jobs are uploaded to.

To change an existing deployment instead, set Jobs wait at on its PD settings tab to the PDServer. See How to store held print jobs on the PDServer.

Option 2: Forward to a PD queue on a server

On the server:

1. Install PDAgent on the server.
2. In Resource Manager, click PD Agents, double-click the server’s PDAgent and open the Print services tab. In the IPP & LPD services section, make sure Enable IPP is ticked.
3. Create the PD queue that will receive the jobs: expand Print Management > Print Queue Management, click PD Queues and click Add PD queue. See How to create a PD queue.

Then create the deployment:

1. Click Queue Deployments and click Add.
2. In the New queue deployment window, choose Forwards to PD queue – jobs wait on the server PDAgent and click OK.
3. Set Receiving PD queue to the PD queue you created. Set Installed queue name to Use destination queue name if the queue on each PC should have the same name.
4. Set the Deployment scope, then click OK.

The PD settings (matched device, secure release and so on) come from the receiving PD queue, so there is no PD settings tab. Users see each job’s sending progress in their Windows queue, and the job disappears from it once it has reached the server. See How to manually create a Queue Deployment for the full set of options.

Option 3: Manual LPR port to a server’s PDAgent

Set up the server

1. Install PDAgent on the server.
2. In Resource Manager, click PD Agents, double-click the server’s PDAgent and open the Print services tab.
3. In the IPP & LPD services section:
   • Tick Enable LPD and note the Port (515 by default).
   • Set LPD Job owner to where the user name is read from in each LPR job: LPR username (the user name sent with the job), or part of the LPR queue name (queuename{username} in LPR queue, queuename.username in LPR queue or queuename-username in LPR queue). Tick then try to add up to two fallbacks.
   • Optionally, under Jobs that cannot be assigned to a queue from IPP/LPD info, tick Use the first queue that is matched to device, or choose a queue in Use this queue, to catch jobs that do not match a queue on the server.
4. In the Print job user authentication section, set Use to how jobs are assigned to users: Initial user (job owner) uses the job owner’s name, Require authentication from PDAgent Client makes the user log in to the PDAgent Client on their PC, and Allow Job Owner until client auth received uses the job owner’s name until the user logs in.
5. Click OK + Refresh to save and apply the settings to the PDAgent straight away.

Point the deployment’s port at the server

1. Expand Print Management > Print Queue Management, click Queue Deployments and double-click the Queue Deployment. It must be a Manual port configuration deployment. If it does not exist yet, see How to manually create a Queue Deployment.
2. Click the Platform configs tab. Double-click the configuration for the platform of the PCs, or click Add and choose the platform.
3. Choose the Driver, and optionally set the Win queue settings (for example sharing).
4. On the Port configuration tab, set Port type to Standard TCP/IP ports (RAW/LPR). If there is already a port, select it and click Delete. Then click Add.
5. In the Standard TCP/IP Port window, change only the Address from 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of the server. Check that the other settings are as follows (they are the defaults):
   • Port name begins with PD_. Print Director never pauses a queue whose port name begins with PD_, even when the queue is matched to a device, because its jobs are captured by a PDAgent.
   • Protocol is LPR.
   • Port is the same as the LPD Port on the server’s PDAgent (515 by default).
   • Set LPR queue to print queue name is ticked, so the server knows which queue each job belongs to.
6. Click OK to close the Standard TCP/IP Port window, then OK to close the Platform configuration window.
7. Check the rest of the deployment’s settings and click OK.

This approach uses an LPR port, which is not compatible with Windows Protected Print mode.

Apply the change

PDAgents pick up deployment changes the next time they refresh their settings. To apply the change straight away, click PD Agents, right-click the PDAgent and choose Refresh, or refresh every PC from PD Servers: right-click the PDServer and choose Send command > Refresh all connected PDAgents.

Related articles

• How to create a PD queue
• How to manually create a Queue Deployment
• How to store held print jobs on the PDServer
• How to deliver print jobs securely with IPPS
• For every setting on the Queue deployment window, see Queue Deployment Configuration.

How to deploy local queues that will send jobs to the server