Using Direct Print

The Direct Print feature helps to track jobs that are directly sent to Lexmark printers for users in Lexmark Cloud Services. Using Direct Print, these jobs do not go through a global queue and are not released through the Print Release application. When Lexmark Print Management Client (LPMC) is installed in a workstation, users submitting jobs must enter credentials. LPMC sends the user-level data to the Lexmark Cloud Services portal. This data helps Lexmark Cloud Services to track print activities for users in Lexmark Cloud Services. The print job never leaves the customer network and is never held for release, but is sent and printed immediately to the designated printer.

The Direct Print installation package includes a configuration XML file that contains the printer profile information to ensure jobs are sent to the specified printers.

To let users select which printer to send their job directly, do the following:

Install the required settings in your workstation along with the LPMC software.
Assign the direct printers in the cloud.
Deploy the Direct Print configuration to the user workstation.

Direct Print can be used with cloud and hybrid submissions as well, allowing more flexibility in the allowable end-user print endpoints and workflows.

Before you begin, make sure that:

Direct Print is enabled for the organization. For more information on enabling Direct Print, see Configuring organizational settings.
LPMC Windows version 2.3.1145.0 with proper configuration is available.
LPMC macOS version 3.3.0 or later in installed.
Ubuntu version 3.3.0 or later in installed.
Device Usage version 2.4.32 is installed.
The printer is enrolled in Cloud Fleet Management and is attached to a network.
- For Lexmark eSF enabled printers, make sure that the Cloud Print Management application bundle is installed on the device.
- For Lexmark eSF printer or a non-eSF printer, make sure that Lexmark Universal Print Driver must be installed with the LPMC.
The client workstation is connected to the network and access to port 9100 is enabled.
Direct Print roles are defined. For more information on defining roles, see Organization administrator. The Direct Print roles are as follows:
Direct Print administrator
- Provides access to Direct Print users
- Create configurations using Cloud Fleet Management tags
- Downloads configurations from Print Clients page
Direct Print user
- Downloads personal Direct Print installation package from Print Clients page
- Submits print jobs using Direct Print

Note: When the Direct Print feature is enabled by a Direct Print administrator, configuration settings become available.

Creating an assignment for the Direct Print feature

Before you begin, make sure that Enable direct print is selected on the Organizational Settings page. For more information on enabling Direct Print, see Configuring organizational settings.

You must have an administrator role in Cloud Print Management and Cloud Fleet Management to configure the Direct Print feature. To configure Direct Print, you must create assignments. Assignments act as a bridge between a cost center or a department or a user and a set of printers. Creating an assignment helps a department or cost center or a user to use the Direct Print feature on a particular set of printers.

Notes:

From the Fleet Management portal, we recommend updating the Printer name (optional) field on the Printer details page. It is not mandatory to update this field. If you want to change the print queue name as it appears to the end user, then enter a value in the Printer name (optional) field. If no value is entered, then the print queue appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
Printers to be used in an assignment must have a tag associated with them. A tag which is a construct in Cloud Fleet Management is maintained within Cloud Fleet Management and can have multiple printers assigned to it. Also, an individual printer can have multiple tags assigned to it. For more information on creating tags, see Creating tags.

From the Print Management web portal, click Administration > Direct Print Assignments.
Depending on the organizational settings, select Cost Centers, Departments, or Personal.
Notes:
- When administrators create an assignment for a department, the users in that department can access the Direct Print feature.
- When administrators create a personal assignment for specific users, the same users can access the Print Clients page to download the Direct Print installation package for the particular assignment. Using their personal assignment, end users can then retrieve their own Direct Print installation package after the administrator has created them.
Click Create Assignment.
Notes:
- If there are existing assignments, then you can edit, delete, or filter the assignments by tags.
- To edit an existing assignment, click the name of the assignment.
- To delete an existing assignment, select the assignment, and then click Delete Assignment.
- To filter assignments by tags, from the Printer Tags menu, select the tags.
In the Create Direct Print Assignment window, configure the following:
For Cost Center
- Assignment name—Type a unique assignment name.
- Cost center name—Type the name of the cost center in Account Management.
- Preferred print queue name—Select any of the following:
  - Default—Default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Hostname—Value of the network host name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Printer name—Value of the printer name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
- Tags identifying printers this cost center may use for direct printing—Type the printer tags to identify the printers that you want to use for Direct Print, and then click Add. For more information on tags, see Assigning tags to printers.
For Personal
- Assignment name—Type a unique assignment name.
- E-mail addresses of registered users to be included in this assignment—Type the email address of the user.
  Note: In the “E-mail addresses of registered users to be included in this assignment” field, you can add only addresses of users with Direct Print access.
- Preferred print queue name—Select any of the following:
  - Default—Default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Hostname—Value of the network host name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Printer name—Value of the printer name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
- Tags identifying printers these users may use for direct printing—Type the printer tags to identify the printers that you want to use for Direct Print, and then click Add. For more information on tags, see Assigning tags to printers.
For Department
- Assignment name—Type a unique assignment name.
- Department name—Type the name of the department in Account Management.
- Preferred print queue name—Select any of the following:
  - Default—Default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Hostname—Value of the network host name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
  - Printer name—Value of the printer name of the printer. If no value is entered, then the print queue name appears as the default or custom prefix followed by the IP address of the printer.
- Tags identifying printers this department may use for direct printing—Type the printer tags to identify the printers that you want to use for Direct Print, and then click Add. For more information on tags, see Assigning tags to printers.
Notes:
- You can add multiple tags to each unique printer.
- You can view the total number of unique printers that are tagged.
- If the total number of unique printers attached to the tags exceeds 10, then you cannot download the Direct Print installation package.
Click Create Assignment.

Downloading the Direct Print installation package

From the Print Management web portal, click Print Clients.
From the Select client menu, select an operating system.
From the Select package type menu, select Direct Print.
Depending on the organizational settings, select Cost Centers, Departments, or Personal.
Select the assignments that you want to download.
Note: You can select one or more assignments.
Click Download Client.
Click Download.

Sample configuration file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<DirectPrintConfiguration>
    <AllPrintSettingDetails>
       <PrintJobFileNameFormat>%d_%i.prn</PrintJobFileNameFormat>
       <APIVersion>3.0</APIVersion>
       <PrintSettingDetails>
          <LoopbackPort>9151</LoopbackPort>
          <LoopbackPortName>DirectPrintPort9151</LoopbackPortName>
          <PrintQueueName>MOJA</PrintQueueName>
          <DestIPAddress>10.194.8.166</DestIPAddress>
          <TrueUpData>false</TrueUpData>
       </PrintSettingDetails>
       <PrintSettingDetails>
          <LoopbackPort>9152</LoopbackPort>
          <LoopbackPortName>DirectPrintPort9152</LoopbackPortName>
          <PrintQueueName>
DirectPrintQueue-10.194.17.212</PrintQueueName>
          <DestIPAddress>10.194.17.212</DestIPAddress>
          <TrueUpData>true</TrueUpData>
       </PrintSettingDetails>
    </AllPrintSettingDetails>
    <LPMServerSettings>
       <ServerIP>apis.us.iss.lexmark.com/cpm</ServerIP>
       <ServerPort>443</ServerPort>
    </LPMServerSettings>
    <IDPServerSettings>
       <ServerIP>idp.us.iss.lexmark.com</ServerIP>
       <ServerPort>443</ServerPort>
    </IDPServerSettings>
    <APIVersion>3.0</APIVersion>

<ESFDirectPrintListenerPort>9443</ESFDirectPrintListenerPort>
    <DriverName>Lexmark Universal v2 XL</DriverName>
</DirectPrintConfiguration>

Note: For more information on configuration, see the Lexmark Print Management Client Configuration Guide.

To ensure that analytics data appears the same way as other user-related print data, the version of Device Usage must be correct. In this case, the data differs in the following ways:

The user print job details are displayed in the Printer Activity Detail report.
The IP address column shows <x.y.z.y>(Direct), where <x.y.z.y> is the IP address of the printer.
Page numbers and other metadata reflected for the print job details represent the user intent of the submission and may not represent the actual print output. For instance, a user may send a four-page color job to a mono printer without the correct version of the eSF application. In this case, the job details show that a four-page color job was printed.

Installing the Direct Print installation package

Note: If you download the Direct Print installation package for one assignment, then the folder contains an executable file and an XML configuration file. If you download the Direct Print installation package for multiple assignments, then the folder contains an executable file and multiple folders. Each of the multiple folders contains a DirectPrintConfiguration.xml file. There is one folder for each assignment that is downloaded simultaneously.

From the Direct Print installation package, run the Installer file.
Accept the End-User License Agreement.
Click Install.
Click Finish.