How to print from Cognos Connection to a network printer ?

1. Is there anything special that a network printer needs to have done to it so that you can print to it?


- as long as you can print to the printer outside of Cognos environment, then you can also set it up in Cognos Connection to print. Cognos just sends the request to the printer driver on your OS and it is the printer driver that actually communicates with the printer. One thing to remember is that the account which you use to run Cognos 8 service should also have permission to print to the printer.

Reference: Installation and Configuration Guide (p.85)

The account under which Cognos 8 runs must have access to all required resources, such as printers and Web servers. For example, on Windows, to print reports using a network printer, the account must already have access to the network printer, or you must assign a logon account to the Cognos 8 service. You can configure the Cognos 8 service to use a special user account by selecting the Cognos 8 service from the list of services shown in the Services window in Windows.

2. Do you need to add a printer to the Printers and Faxes section before you can set it up in cognos connection?
- YES, make sure that you can print first to that printer outside of Cognos environment (ie. do a print test page, print a test MS Word document, etc.)

3. Can you just specify the printer network name or do you have to specify an IP address?
- you can just type the network address of the printer (ie. \\server_name\printer_name) . To test this you can open windows explorer and put  \\server_name\printer_name on the address field.

Reference: Cognos Connection User Guide (p. 39)

- Set Report Options for the Current Run

5. If you choose to print, click Select a printer, click the button next to the printer you want to use, and click OK. If the printer is not listed, you can type the printer information.

Tip: If you have administrator privileges and want to set up the printer for future use, click New printer. You must type the network address of the printer by using the format \\server_name\printer_name for a network printer on a Windows installation and printer_name for a UNIX installation or for a local printer.
In summary, in order to be able to print from Cognos Connection to a network printer:

1. you need to run Cognos 8 service using an account that has permission to print to the target printer
2. you need to make sure that you can first print to the target printer outside Cognos environment
3. check that you can access the target printer by pasting the network address of the printer (ie. \\server_name\printer_name) to Windows Explorer