If you have defined printer queues on your server, manually recording all the printer and queue definitions is a tedious task. We used the utility BACKPRN, which backs up printer and job properties to a file. This file can be used later for restoration by RESTPRN (see Section 6.12.2 RESTPRN) or RINSTPRN (the remote printer installation program - see Section 6.12.3 RINSTPRN).
A printer and job properties file consists of printer driver specific data defined for a printer and a queue. The printer part describes hardware-related information, such as which fonts are installed or which options are installed on the printer. The job properties consist of information about what paper to select, what resolution and orientation to use, and so on. So, printer properties belong to the printer, and job properties belong to a queue. These two types of properties are closely related to each other; so, it makes sense to back them up together.
Invoking BACKPRN without any command line parameter will show the syntax of the program as well as the available printers, queues, and the printer drivers used by them.
The syntax for BACKPRN is:
BACKPRN <printer-name>[.<queue-name>] <file-name>
where:
For example:
BACKPRN PSCRIPT1.PSCRIPT1 pscript.pjp
The property file (extension .pjp) created with BACKPRN
contains the printer and job properties as well as information about the driver
used.
Figure 18: BACKPRN Output
To continue the example, the command is executed again to save the properties of the IBM 4019 printer with the output illustrated in Figure 19.
Although there is a warning in this particular example, the backup completes
successfully. The printer properties that cannot be found are printer driver
specific settings, such as forms and tray information, which, in this case,
have not been changed. We decided to include it in the example because the help
on the utility is not extensive, and we wanted to show that the message was
nothing to worry about.
Figure 19: Using BACKPRN to Save Printer Properties