Hi. Red Hat newbie here. We're running Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.1 (Santiago).

In HP-UX there is the rlp command which allows for the submission of print jobs to its lp(cups) spooler from remote servers.

We are setting up a 5-box system with two database servers (H/A cluster) and three application servers. I want to submit print jobs from any of the App servers to the active DB server. This will make administration of CUPS easier and prevent contention when two App servers want to print on the same printer at the same time.

How do I accomplish this in Red Hat?
TIA,
Brad

Using cups.
IT is not only a server, it is it's own best client!

Basically you configure cups on the DB server for sharing. The shared printer can then be selected when you add a printer via cups on the other computers. With cups you can also setup classes where jobs are forwarded to the first available printer.

Thanks for the help. I've done some digging and modified the client.conf to contain the IP of the server running cups. At first I was using the name (e.g. dbs.fotokem.local) and consistantly got 'Connection Refused' errors. I then changed the entry to use the IP address instead of the server's name and the 'Connection Refused' error went away, but now a 'Connection timed out' error occurs. These two servers are already talking with one another, so I don't quite understand what could be causing this.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
-Brad

If running a firewall make sure it allows TCP traffic port 631

In addition to the firewall allowing port 631, go to http://127.0.0.1:631/admin make sure these 3 are checked

Show printers shared by other systems
Share printers connected to this system
Allow printing from the Internet

(do this on the box that the printer is attached to)

I found that I had put an incorrect IP address in client.conf.
With the correct IP I'm back to the 'Connection refused' error.
I've checked with our network admin and there are no firewalls between these two servers.
I have also tweaked the CUPS settings as suggested yesterday by inoculos.
I have this question posted with my hardware / OS vendor but, frankly, thought I'd have more luck here.
Thanks for all the help,
Brad

You still have to open the port on the computer with the printer, In fedora its something like applications>admin>firewall. Enable all port 631 services

Dang! So close, yet so far away.
I found the firewall settings and when I'm about to save, I'm warned about how I might be overriding (and losing) any previously made manual firewall settings.
How do I verify that no manual firewall settings have been made?
Thanks very much for your help. I think I'm only inches away from a solution!
-Brad

that warning is default, dont worry about it.

your also gonna need the correct driver for that model of printer on the machine than has the printer, but worry about that after you get the connection open.

I've got the printer defined on the DB server already and I'm able to print to it (I got the driver from Brother's website - it's a Brother HL-5370DW if that makes any difference).
Okay; so I checked "Network Printing Server (IPP)", and clicked Apply. When I try an "lpstat" from the App server, I still get the "Connection refused" error. I checked "Network Printing Client", too. Do I need to restart a daemon on either server, or something?
So close I can smell it!
-Brad

does the app server actually see the printer? Does it give the correct info about location and printer name when you add a printer to client?

I'm not adding a printer to the client (app server). I only added a printer to the server (DB server).
On the DB server:
[root@db1 /]# lpstat -ta
scheduler is running
no system default destination
device for bam: socket://139.64.101.21
bam accepting requests since Fri 02 Sep 2011 10:21:13 AM PDT
printer bam is idle. enabled since Fri 02 Sep 2011 10:21:13 AM PDT
[root@db1 /]#

On the App server:
[root@app1 cfg]# lpstat -ta
scheduler is not running
no system default destination
lpstat: Connection refused
lpstat: Connection refused
lpstat: Connection refused
lpstat: Connection refused
lpstat: Connection refused
[root@app1 cfg]#

Oh no, does this mean that I have to add all 121 printers to all of the App servers? I thought CUPS would allow me do have the printers on my DB server and be able to submit jobs to them from my App servers. No? If not, then what's the point of client/server?
What am I missing here? Apparently something pretty big!

Two silly questions for you. Did you open the ports on the "client" machines as well? Also, if you haven't already restarted the iptables service(s) via the gui, the command is quick and easy. Also do that for ip6tables if you use ip v6