Are there any requirements for banner printing?
The printer must be capable of printing postscript.
 

What limitations are there on printer names?

• 12 character limitation for a shared printer connected to a Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP. The limitation is that Windows 95/98 clients will not be able to view the printer due to limitations in the Client for Microsoft Networks.
• 14 character limitation for print queues on Sun administrative Unix servers.
• 16 character limitation in the first section of an lpr printer name on Windows 2000. Windows 2000 will not allow a string of greater than 16 characters prior to the first period in a DNS name when printing through the lpr protocol. Using the printer IP address will allow this printer configuration to work properly. For example; DEPT-PRINTERNAME.printer.uidaho.edu. The DEPT-PRINTERNAME section exceeds 16 characters.
• ITS suggests the limit for a printer name be 14 characters.

What does ITS suggest when creating printer names?
We believe that identifying printers easily requires two pieces of information, the customers identifying group and a defined name for the printer. Due to our recommendation of limiting the printer name to 14 characters we suggest this structure: DEPT-PrinterName.

• The department section can be any university group, department or college (we suggest this be limited to 5 characters in length although this is not a requirement). This name can be selected by the customer who purchased the printer and should try to not coincide with any other acronyms of departments and groups used on campus. We suggest using the enrollment information for colleges and agreed upon acronyms for departments or groupsbut this is up to the customers discretion.
• The printer name section can be any printer identifiable traits, such as the group, function of the printer, printer model or location. ITS suggests the group and function be used since the printer model and location can change more frequently causing changes in printer setups on client computers. This section should not cause the 14 character limitation to be exceeded when combined with the department and delimiting character. For example: DEPT-HelpDesk, DEPT-HP4050 or DEPT-AD230.
• Specialty naming requirements for the Netware platform shall include appending -NDPS to the printer name for NDPS objects to differ them from normal printer queues and appending -JD and -PRINTER for JetDirect and Printer objects.
• Additionally, all printer devices will be placed in the printer.uidaho.edu domain using their DEPT-PrinterName identifier for the hostname section. For example: ITS-HelpDesk.printer.uidaho.edu.

• Netware Print Queue Object Name: ITS-HelpDesk
• Netware NDPS Print Object Name: ITS-HelpDesk-NDPS
• Domain Name Services (DNS) Name: ITS-HelpDesk.printer.uidaho.edu
• Sun Administrative System Print Queue Name: ITS-HelpDesk
• Banner Print Queue Name: ITS-HelpDesk

• Quite often the ITS Help Desk is approached to rename printers that have been created with a name based on the building and room number. These changes require altering all client workstations that print to the old name as well as notifying all clients to use the new name when printing from Banner or other resources.
• Many printer names are created for the ease of system administrators at the time of creation (to make the printer easier to find). It has been our experience that even though this may be the initial reason for the printer name MOST of the printers retain the SAME name regardless of where the printer is moved to, including moving buildings! The reason why printer names are NOT usually changed when they move rooms or buildings is the same as reason #1. We have many customers contacting the Help Desk that have to find printer names that have no correlation between the printer name and the actual physical location of the printer.
• The function or functional location of a printer does not change as much as the location OR the printer model. For example, the Help Desk has physically moved 3 times in the past 5 years and the printer models used as the printer have change approximately 5 times. If the printer was originally named ITS-HelpDesk instead of a name based on the room or model there would have been no printer name changes required for that entire 5-year period.
• Even though printer names based on building and room number (if accurate) are easier for system administrators, or individuals who have worked with the department for years, most new employees with the university have more of an idea of the functional name of a location not the actual room number. For instance all new Help Desk employees know where the ITS Front Office is but many do not know the room number is 138-140.
• There have been conflicts of printer names when names are not updated for printer moves and new printers are added to the system trying to use the same name.