Output Devices in the SAP Spool System

Print Architecture and Printing Methods

 All hardware and software components involved in printing are combined in the print architecture.

Depending on the order of these individual components, an architecture that fulfills different purposes and requires a specific print method, such as those listed below, is produced:

• Local printing
• Remote printing (network)
• Front-End Printing (SAP GUI for Windows)
• Front-End Printing (SAP GUI for HTML)

Structure

The figure below shows the individual components of the print architecture that are required to print from the SAP System:

 

 

The individual components interact as follows:

1. After the user triggers the print process, the print requests are sent to the spool server, which contains the dialog and spool work processes required for the processing.
2. A dialog work process (D-WP) of the spool server forwards the spool data to the spool database for temporary storage.
3. When the data is explicitly sent to an output device, an output request is generated from the spool request.
4. This is forwarded to the spool work process (S-WP).
   The spool work process formats the output request data. This converts an internal data stream of the SAP Systems to a data stream that the output device understands.
5. After formatting, the spool work process forwards the print request to the host spool system (operating system spooler). The host spool system has the following tasks:
   • Wait queue management
   • Transferring the data to the output device
   Depending on the situation of the host spool system, one of the following print types is used:
   • Local: The print requests are forwarded to the printer through a local network. The host spool system and the spool work process are on the same host.
     It is irrelevant whether the output device is directly connected to the server, or whether it is defined using a remote print server.
   • Remove: The print requests are forwarded from the spool work process to the printer through a remote network. The host spool system is on a different host to the spool work process. This remote host is called the target host.
   For information about the optimal planning of your print architecture, see Planning the SAP Print Architecture.

Every architecture requires a specific print method that is explained in the corresponding sections:

• Local Printing
• Remote Printing
• Front-End Printing (SAP GUI for Windows)
• Front-End Printing (SAP GUI for HTML)
• Frontend Printing Using the Windows Transaction Server (WTS)
• Printing Using E-Mail (SAPConnect)
• Printing Adobe-Based Forms

 

Output Devices in the SAP Spool System

 A target device must be specified for the output for every document to be printed in the SAP system. As the document can be output using not only printers, but also archiving devices, these devices are called Output Devices in the SAP system.

In the SAP system, output devices are the logical representations of the real output devices.

You must create a device definition in the SAP system for every output device. This definition contains all the important data for addressing the device; otherwise the device cannot be correctly addressed. This data includes, for example:

• Device type, such as POSTSCPT or HPLJ4
• Name of the spool server (= application server with a spool work process)
• Host spool access method (such as local or remote)
• Destination host (for remote access methods)
  For information about the device definition in general and the various types of output devices, see the following sections:
• Defining Output Devices for Microsoft Windows Printing
• Defining Output Devices for UNIX Printing
• Defining an Output Device for Frontend Printing (SAP GUI for Windows)
• Defining an Output Device for Frontend Printing (SAP GUI for HTML)
• Defining Output Devices for Printing Using E-Mails
• Defining Logical Output Devices
• Printer Pools
• Defining Output Devices for IBM i Printing