LPR ports

I can't seem to find a way to alter the IP Port that a network printer uses
when connected to my 2003 Server. The scenario is this:

Location A: Windows Server 2003, running as a terminal server for local and
remote users. Connected to the Internet.

Location B: A couple of thin client terminals and a printer server with two
printers and a cash drawer, connected to the Internet.

We want to connect two printers (parallel) and a cash drawer to the print
server, and connect a third printer (parallel) using the integral print
server in the thin client device. This is chiefly because the third printer
is physically alongside the thin client in a different room to the print
server, so it saves on long parallel or USB cables. Serial isn't fast
enough, even if we could get a print server with two parallel ports and two
serial ports. We can't find a print server with more than three ports, and
have four devices.

What we'd normally do is create two virtual servers on the router at
location B, one on port 515 forwarding to port 515 on the print server, and
one on another port (516, for the sake of it) forwarding to port 515 on the
thin client. Then we'd configure the printers on the server to point to the
appropriate IP/port combination and go from there. We've done this with
quite a lot of THEOS servers at various places, but never before on Windows
2003 server.

The problem is that as soon as we select 'LPR' when we create the port, it
isn't possible to change the remote port. On examining the registry it
appears that the port 515 setting is stored in
HKLM\SYSTEM\Currentcontrolset\control\print\monito rs\standard TCP/IP
Port\Ports\port-name, but when we change it it still doesn't work. Then,
when we reboot the server, it reverts to 515.

So, any ideas on how we can achieve what we want to? I don't think the thin
client device (Winterm 3150SE) supports the raw protocol.

TIA,
Mike Edwards.

Hi Mike,

That is certainly a lot of work for configuring a few printers.

What I am not understanding is why you just don't get some el cheapo eternal
print server boxes and map IP ports off the windows server to these devices.
Or map directly to the clients. Lots of options with some basic hardware.
And of course you can also see if you can find an internal Print server for
the printers as well.

Then anyone (or any node) you allow to can use the printers.

LPR ports were really designed for forwarding to Unix based print ques or
devices. They aren't terribly flexible in MS operating systems.

--
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
and those who don't.
"Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I can't seem to find a way to alter the IP Port that a network printer uses
>when connected to my 2003 Server. The scenario is this:
>
> Location A: Windows Server 2003, running as a terminal server for local
> and remote users. Connected to the Internet.
>
> Location B: A couple of thin client terminals and a printer server with
> two printers and a cash drawer, connected to the Internet.
>
> We want to connect two printers (parallel) and a cash drawer to the print
> server, and connect a third printer (parallel) using the integral print
> server in the thin client device. This is chiefly because the third
> printer is physically alongside the thin client in a different room to the
> print server, so it saves on long parallel or USB cables. Serial isn't
> fast enough, even if we could get a print server with two parallel ports
> and two serial ports. We can't find a print server with more than three
> ports, and have four devices.
>
> What we'd normally do is create two virtual servers on the router at
> location B, one on port 515 forwarding to port 515 on the print server,
> and one on another port (516, for the sake of it) forwarding to port 515
> on the thin client. Then we'd configure the printers on the server to
> point to the appropriate IP/port combination and go from there. We've done
> this with quite a lot of THEOS servers at various places, but never before
> on Windows 2003 server.
>
> The problem is that as soon as we select 'LPR' when we create the port, it
> isn't possible to change the remote port. On examining the registry it
> appears that the port 515 setting is stored in
> HKLM\SYSTEM\Currentcontrolset\control\print\monito rs\standard TCP/IP
> Port\Ports\port-name, but when we change it it still doesn't work. Then,
> when we reboot the server, it reverts to 515.
>
> So, any ideas on how we can achieve what we want to? I don't think the
> thin client device (Winterm 3150SE) supports the raw protocol.
>
> TIA,
> Mike Edwards.
>
>

Manny,

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Location B (where the port redirecting is going on)
is miles away, connected via the Internet. So as we're using NAT on the
broadband router located at B, we use port forwarding on the WAN address of
the router to get the connection 'in' to the LAN at B.

We are in effect using cheapo external print servers - one with three ports,
and one which is built into the thin client device. But because they are
both effectively presenting the WAN address of the broadband router, we need
to use an alternate port for the second print server device.

Mike.

"Manny Borges" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Mike,
>
> That is certainly a lot of work for configuring a few printers.
>
> What I am not understanding is why you just don't get some el cheapo
> eternal print server boxes and map IP ports off the windows server to
> these devices. Or map directly to the clients. Lots of options with some
> basic hardware. And of course you can also see if you can find an internal
> Print server for the printers as well.
>
> Then anyone (or any node) you allow to can use the printers.
>
> LPR ports were really designed for forwarding to Unix based print ques or
> devices. They aren't terribly flexible in MS operating systems.
>
> --
> Manny Borges
> MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
> MCT, Certified Cheese Master
>
> There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
> and those who don't.
> "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I can't seem to find a way to alter the IP Port that a network printer
>>uses when connected to my 2003 Server. The scenario is this:
>>
>> Location A: Windows Server 2003, running as a terminal server for local
>> and remote users. Connected to the Internet.
>>
>> Location B: A couple of thin client terminals and a printer server with
>> two printers and a cash drawer, connected to the Internet.
>>
>> We want to connect two printers (parallel) and a cash drawer to the print
>> server, and connect a third printer (parallel) using the integral print
>> server in the thin client device. This is chiefly because the third
>> printer is physically alongside the thin client in a different room to
>> the print server, so it saves on long parallel or USB cables. Serial
>> isn't fast enough, even if we could get a print server with two parallel
>> ports and two serial ports. We can't find a print server with more than
>> three ports, and have four devices.
>>
>> What we'd normally do is create two virtual servers on the router at
>> location B, one on port 515 forwarding to port 515 on the print server,
>> and one on another port (516, for the sake of it) forwarding to port 515
>> on the thin client. Then we'd configure the printers on the server to
>> point to the appropriate IP/port combination and go from there. We've
>> done this with quite a lot of THEOS servers at various places, but never
>> before on Windows 2003 server.
>>
>> The problem is that as soon as we select 'LPR' when we create the port,
>> it isn't possible to change the remote port. On examining the registry it
>> appears that the port 515 setting is stored in
>> HKLM\SYSTEM\Currentcontrolset\control\print\monito rs\standard TCP/IP
>> Port\Ports\port-name, but when we change it it still doesn't work. Then,
>> when we reboot the server, it reverts to 515.
>>
>> So, any ideas on how we can achieve what we want to? I don't think the
>> thin client device (Winterm 3150SE) supports the raw protocol.
>>
>> TIA,
>> Mike Edwards.
>>
>>
>
>

Why not do a vpn tunnel between the routers and deal with them all as
standard lan connections?

You also aren't sending raw print data unecrypted over the internet that
way.

--
Manny Borges
MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
MCT, Certified Cheese Master

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
and those who don't.
"Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Manny,
>
> Sorry, I wasn't clear. Location B (where the port redirecting is going on)
> is miles away, connected via the Internet. So as we're using NAT on the
> broadband router located at B, we use port forwarding on the WAN address
> of the router to get the connection 'in' to the LAN at B.
>
> We are in effect using cheapo external print servers - one with three
> ports, and one which is built into the thin client device. But because
> they are both effectively presenting the WAN address of the broadband
> router, we need to use an alternate port for the second print server
> device.
>
> Mike.
>
> "Manny Borges" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi Mike,
>>
>> That is certainly a lot of work for configuring a few printers.
>>
>> What I am not understanding is why you just don't get some el cheapo
>> eternal print server boxes and map IP ports off the windows server to
>> these devices. Or map directly to the clients. Lots of options with some
>> basic hardware. And of course you can also see if you can find an
>> internal Print server for the printers as well.
>>
>> Then anyone (or any node) you allow to can use the printers.
>>
>> LPR ports were really designed for forwarding to Unix based print ques or
>> devices. They aren't terribly flexible in MS operating systems.
>>
>> --
>> Manny Borges
>> MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
>> MCT, Certified Cheese Master
>>
>> There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
>> and those who don't.
>> "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I can't seem to find a way to alter the IP Port that a network printer
>>>uses when connected to my 2003 Server. The scenario is this:
>>>
>>> Location A: Windows Server 2003, running as a terminal server for local
>>> and remote users. Connected to the Internet.
>>>
>>> Location B: A couple of thin client terminals and a printer server with
>>> two printers and a cash drawer, connected to the Internet.
>>>
>>> We want to connect two printers (parallel) and a cash drawer to the
>>> print server, and connect a third printer (parallel) using the integral
>>> print server in the thin client device. This is chiefly because the
>>> third printer is physically alongside the thin client in a different
>>> room to the print server, so it saves on long parallel or USB cables.
>>> Serial isn't fast enough, even if we could get a print server with two
>>> parallel ports and two serial ports. We can't find a print server with
>>> more than three ports, and have four devices.
>>>
>>> What we'd normally do is create two virtual servers on the router at
>>> location B, one on port 515 forwarding to port 515 on the print server,
>>> and one on another port (516, for the sake of it) forwarding to port 515
>>> on the thin client. Then we'd configure the printers on the server to
>>> point to the appropriate IP/port combination and go from there. We've
>>> done this with quite a lot of THEOS servers at various places, but never
>>> before on Windows 2003 server.
>>>
>>> The problem is that as soon as we select 'LPR' when we create the port,
>>> it isn't possible to change the remote port. On examining the registry
>>> it appears that the port 515 setting is stored in
>>> HKLM\SYSTEM\Currentcontrolset\control\print\monito rs\standard TCP/IP
>>> Port\Ports\port-name, but when we change it it still doesn't work. Then,
>>> when we reboot the server, it reverts to 515.
>>>
>>> So, any ideas on how we can achieve what we want to? I don't think the
>>> thin client device (Winterm 3150SE) supports the raw protocol.
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>> Mike Edwards.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

We tried VPN tunnelling before, using 3Com VPN routers (we figured that by
choosing a quality make we'd get some success). Problem was that if the
connection drops (as broadband sometimes does) the VPN has to be manually
re-established. Even with a firmware update that was supposed to address
that exact issue, the problem didn't go away. I am reluctant to invest yet
more money into VPN hardware that could join the pile of VPN firewalls we've
got downstairs without good reason.

The only reason we're having an issue here is that we cannot change the port
number in the Windows driver, which to me seems unreasonable. If someone
could confirm for certain that there's no way to do it, I could at least
then know I need to pursue other avenues.

Mike.

"Manny Borges" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Why not do a vpn tunnel between the routers and deal with them all as
> standard lan connections?
>
> You also aren't sending raw print data unecrypted over the internet that
> way.
>
> --
> Manny Borges
> MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
> MCT, Certified Cheese Master
>
> There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand binary
> and those who don't.
> "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Manny,
>>
>> Sorry, I wasn't clear. Location B (where the port redirecting is going
>> on) is miles away, connected via the Internet. So as we're using NAT on
>> the broadband router located at B, we use port forwarding on the WAN
>> address of the router to get the connection 'in' to the LAN at B.
>>
>> We are in effect using cheapo external print servers - one with three
>> ports, and one which is built into the thin client device. But because
>> they are both effectively presenting the WAN address of the broadband
>> router, we need to use an alternate port for the second print server
>> device.
>>
>> Mike.
>>
>> "Manny Borges" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Hi Mike,
>>>
>>> That is certainly a lot of work for configuring a few printers.
>>>
>>> What I am not understanding is why you just don't get some el cheapo
>>> eternal print server boxes and map IP ports off the windows server to
>>> these devices. Or map directly to the clients. Lots of options with some
>>> basic hardware. And of course you can also see if you can find an
>>> internal Print server for the printers as well.
>>>
>>> Then anyone (or any node) you allow to can use the printers.
>>>
>>> LPR ports were really designed for forwarding to Unix based print ques
>>> or devices. They aren't terribly flexible in MS operating systems.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Manny Borges
>>> MCSE NT4-2003 (+ Security)
>>> MCT, Certified Cheese Master
>>>
>>> There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who do understand
>>> binary and those who don't.
>>> "Mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>I can't seem to find a way to alter the IP Port that a network printer
>>>>uses when connected to my 2003 Server. The scenario is this:
>>>>
>>>> Location A: Windows Server 2003, running as a terminal server for local
>>>> and remote users. Connected to the Internet.
>>>>
>>>> Location B: A couple of thin client terminals and a printer server with
>>>> two printers and a cash drawer, connected to the Internet.
>>>>
>>>> We want to connect two printers (parallel) and a cash drawer to the
>>>> print server, and connect a third printer (parallel) using the integral
>>>> print server in the thin client device. This is chiefly because the
>>>> third printer is physically alongside the thin client in a different
>>>> room to the print server, so it saves on long parallel or USB cables.
>>>> Serial isn't fast enough, even if we could get a print server with two
>>>> parallel ports and two serial ports. We can't find a print server with
>>>> more than three ports, and have four devices.
>>>>
>>>> What we'd normally do is create two virtual servers on the router at
>>>> location B, one on port 515 forwarding to port 515 on the print server,
>>>> and one on another port (516, for the sake of it) forwarding to port
>>>> 515 on the thin client. Then we'd configure the printers on the server
>>>> to point to the appropriate IP/port combination and go from there.
>>>> We've done this with quite a lot of THEOS servers at various places,
>>>> but never before on Windows 2003 server.
>>>>
>>>> The problem is that as soon as we select 'LPR' when we create the port,
>>>> it isn't possible to change the remote port. On examining the registry
>>>> it appears that the port 515 setting is stored in
>>>> HKLM\SYSTEM\Currentcontrolset\control\print\monito rs\standard TCP/IP
>>>> Port\Ports\port-name, but when we change it it still doesn't work.
>>>> Then, when we reboot the server, it reverts to 515.
>>>>
>>>> So, any ideas on how we can achieve what we want to? I don't think the
>>>> thin client device (Winterm 3150SE) supports the raw protocol.
>>>>
>>>> TIA,
>>>> Mike Edwards.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>