PSF/AIX: Printing a PCL file of more than 2 GB
ITEM: RTA000100147
Q:
====> THIS TEXT HAS BEEN ENTERED BY IBM IN FRANCE
An outsourcer has received from one of his customers a PCL file which
is bigger than 2 GB.
- I know it's necessary to be in AIX V4 to handle such a big file, but
I don't know if PSF/AIX can convert such a file ?
- What disk space and memory does he need to convert such a file ?
- If he uses psfin command, he should be able to print before the end
of the PCL2AFP conversion.
- Can you explain how it works : as soon as a page is converted it is
printed, or it works with Input Manager segments (the size of which
can be modified through smit) ?
- Any comment, recommendation is welcome...
A:
If the file is coming from tape or from MVS Download, both of which use
psfin, then you can process a file greater than 2GB through PSF for AIX
even at AIX Version 3.2.5. This is accomplished through the use of
segments.
If you want to or must have the file itself on the RS/6000, then you
would need to be at AIX V4. AIX V4.1 allows you to have filesystems
larger than 2GB, but individual files are still limited to 2GB. AIX
V4.2 allows you to have individual files larger than 2GB.
1) So, if you need the file itself on the RS/6000, you will need enough
disk space to hold the file and you will need to configure an AIX
Large File Enabled Journaled File System. Please see AIX
documentation for information on how to do this.
2) Then when you invoke the PCL transform (whether through enq, pcl2afp,
or psfin), a temporary copy of the file will be placed in the work
directory you've specified in the /usr/lpp/psf/pcl2afp/pcl2afpd.cfg
file; by default this is the /var/psf/pcl2afp directory.
3) What happens next depends on how you submit the job for transforming
and/or printing:.
a) If you use the pcl2afp command with the -o flag from an AIX
command prompt, the file will be converted to MO:DCA in whatever
location you've specified on the -o flag. The resulting file size
will depend on a number of factors, including the resolution and
image type (compressed or uncompressed) as well as the complexity of
the PCL. Because the files can vary so widely in content, we have no
rule-of-thumb to say what the resulting file size may be; it may be
smaller, or it may be larger. There's no way to predict in advance.
b) If you use the pcl2afp command and pipe the output to the enq
command, the file will be transformed into MO:DCA in
/var/spool/qdaemon. The PCL must be completely transformed to MO:DCA
before printing will begin. The size will vary as above in option
#3a.
c) If you use the enq command with -odatatype=pcl, the file will be
transformed into MO:DCA in /var/psf/tmp. The PCL must be completely
transformed to MO:DCA before printing will begin. The size will vary
as above in option #3a.
d) If you use the psfin command with JsFileType=pcl, the file will be
transformed into MO:DCA and passed to the segmenter. As soon as the
segmenter creates the first segment of the size specified for the
job, it creates the seglist, and then enqueues the seglist to the AIX
qdaemon. The first segment will begin printing. Meanwhile the
segmenter is receiving additional structured fields from the
transform, building the next segments and adding them to the seglist.
As each segment is ready, it will print. Under this scenario, the
disk space used depends on how you have configured Input Manager.
Please refer to PSF for AIX Print Administration manual
(S544-3817-03, beginning on page 237) in the chapter on "Customizing
Input Manager", particularly the section on "Understanding Input
Manager's Work Area". I would strongly recommend a separate
filesystem for /var/psf/segments and /var/psf/seglist if at all
possible. That way you do not impinge on the system's /var
filesystem. Because this file is so large, you may also wish to have
a separate /var/psf filesystem. This is easy to implement before
installation of PSF/AIX. After installation it can also be done, but
requires a bit more work. I have some additional information on that
if you are interested.
4) For printing, it will depend on if you are printing to an IPDS or
a PCL printer:
a) If printing to an IPDS printer, the conversion of MO:DCA to IPDS
is done in memory, not on disk.
b) If printing to a PCL or PPDS printer, the MO:DCA file will be
converted into /var/spool/qdaemon, and must be completely converted
to PCL/PPDS before the job will be queued to the AIX-defined printer.
Without knowing more about your particular configuration and usage, I
can't give you a specific recommendation on disk, but I hope the above
information will help. At a minimum, I'd say you will need at least
twice the size of the file (items 1 and 2 above), plus whatever is
needed depending on how you are operating with respect to items 3
and 4--that's just for usage in /var. That does not include disk space
required for the operating system and licensed program products, or
paging space.
For memory, I would recommend a minimum of 128MB. More may be better,
but I don't have the empirical data to back that up. It certainly
wouldn't hurt.
I hope this helps. Please reopen with any additional questions.
(Reviewed 01 Sep 1998)
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
AIX PSF/6000 PSF PSFIN DISK 2GB MEMORY INPUT MANAGER psf/aix pcl
pcl2afp seglist segments large aix v4 4.2 postscript ps2afp tape
download segmenting /var/psf
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000100147 ITEM: RTA000100147
Dated: 09/1998 Category: XPSF6000
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