Share print sessions

You can specify printer sharing properties on the PSF configuration object. This lets you limit the amount of time that you have a connection to the printer, control when the session is released, control when a new session is started, and specify how many times Print Services Facility™ (PSF) tries to connect to the printer.

Several parameters from the PSF configuration object and device description let you configure PSF to share sessions with other PSF sessions or ASCII print drivers.

Notes:
  1. PSF supports session sharing with TCP/IP-attached printers.
  2. PSF supports session sharing with any printer attached to the PSF Direct licensed program.
  3. PSF does not support session sharing with APPC-attached printers. If you want to use session sharing with these printers, either use their TCP/IP support, if available, or attach them to PSF Direct, if supported.
  4. PSF does not support session sharing with twinaxial printers attached to local or remote workstation controllers. If you want to use session sharing with these printers, check if TCP/IP support is available.

Following are the parameters you need to consider for printer session and dialog sharing.

ACTTMR
Printer device description parameter that specifies how long (in seconds) that PSF waits for a printer to respond to an activation request. This applies to TCP/IP-attached printers only. PSF uses this timer only after a session has been opened with the printer.

No timers can influence the length of time that TCP/IP takes to wait for a response to a session start request. You can specify that PSF retries session start requests after a failure of the session start request failure is detected. To do this, use the PSF configuration object RETRY parameter to specify how many session start request retries PSF should perform.

ACTRLSTMR
PSF configuration object parameter that specifies the point at which the Release Timer (RLSTMR) is activated.

If you are using a non-impact continuous forms printer, do not set the PRTRQSTMR parameter in the printer device description to *NOMAX. If you set the PRTRQSTMR to *NOMAX, an operator must perform a manual nonprocess runout (NPRO) at the printer. PSF will not release a session or Intelligent Printer Data Stream™ (IPDS™) dialog until the last file sent to the printer is printed.

RESTRTMR
PSF configuration object parameter that specifies the amount of time to wait before the printer writer attempts to re-establish either a session or dialog. For example, if this value is set to 10, PSF activates the timer as soon as a session or dialog is released. After 10 minutes have elapsed, PSF checks for a spooled file with a status of RDY. If there is one, PSF tries to start a session or dialog with the printer in order to print the file. If a spooled file is not ready after the timer expires, PSF waits for a RDY spooled file to be placed on its output queue before attempting to start a session or dialog.

This timer is ignored if PSF has not been configured to release either a session or dialog. Use the ACTRLSTMR and RLSTMR parameters to configure PSF to release either a session or dialog.

RETRY
PSF configuration object parameter that specifies the number of additional attempts PSF will make to establish an APPC or TCP/IP session. When PSF is sharing a PSF directly-attached printer with other PSF sessions, you might want to set the value to *NOMAX. This specifies that PSF will continue trying to obtain a session. The default value for the RETRY parameter is 15.

The RETRY parameter is helpful for TCP/IP-attached printers in this situation: You want to share an AFCCU™ printer with more than three PSFs. A printer is temporarily unavailable when PSF tries to open a session with it. You might have seen this when PSF failed to start a printer session. One example of this is when PSF issues message PQT3603 with error code 22 or 15. The RETRY parameter specifies that instead of ending PSF should retry to open a session with the printer. PSF will try to open a session up to the number of times specified.

RETRYDLY
PSF configuration object parameter that specifies the number of seconds to wait between each retry attempt to establish a session. This parameter is used only when PSF is using an SNA attachment. The default value for the RETRYDLY parameter is 90.
RLSTMR
Timer set in the PSF configuration object. Its value is referenced by the ACTRLSTMR parameter. The default setting is *NOMAX, which means that PSF does not release the session or dialog with the printer until the writer is ended.

The value specified for parameter RESTRTMR determines when PSF re-establishes a session or a dialog.

Related concepts

PSF configuration objects

Related tasks

Specify a PSF configuration object

Related reference

CL commands for PSF configuration objects

CL commands for device descriptions