> I would like to run a Virtual Print Server for > Solaris, Windows, Linux and Mac clients. > > Currently our Windows and Mac clients print directly > to the network printers > and we have no control over the print jobs that are > submitted. > > The plan is to move all of our printers to a new VLAN > that the clients cannot > connect to. The clients will be forced to print thru > the Virtual Print Server. > > Our printing environment includes: > Xerox 90 ppm network copier/printers with > professional finishers that > can collate, staple, trifold and bookletfold. > Available media include > Letter, Letterhead, Bond, Punched, A4 and 11x17. > Several 26 ppm convenience printers for small > simplex or duplex jobs. > Color printer with transparencies and color paper.
Good Plan :) > The requirements for the Virtual Print Server are: > > Count pages and redirect or reject the job if a page > limit is exceeded. > Redirect jobs if needed (for example an A4 document > should be redirected > to a printer with A4 media regardless of which > printer it was sent to). > Check the size in bytes of each document and reject > the job if it is too large. > Pass options: simplex, duplex, staple, fold, number > of copies, media selection. > Convert different formats to PS (for example PDF to > PS). > Log usage details including user, source, destination > printer, copies, total > pages, size in bytes, document type and filename. > > Currently we have a custom solution for Solaris and > Linux. We use a > script that meets the requirements described above. > The script then calls > p with the correct options and the job is sent to a > Solaris print server > running CentreWare. However we do not have a > solution for Windows or MacOS. > > We are looking to redesign our entire printing > architecture without using > CentreWare. Here are some questions: > > 1. Is there a commercial or open source solution > that would meet our > requirements ? (probably not). Sure, Samba on either a Linux or Solaris Box will do fine. > (2?) Should our Virtual Print Server run on Solaris or > Linux? We have always printed on Solaris boxes, the Windows machines always print via a Solaris Samba server ... however in Solaris 10 we have come upon quite a few issues with Printing ... and we are currently experimenting with a very basic Linux CUPS server. > 3. Should we use the CUPS or the LP print service > on Solaris? > (sounds like CUPS is going to be the preferred > print service). We have heard, although not investigated, that CUPS on Solaris fixes the printing Issues that we are having ... I am sure that it would handle more file type conversion (especially with GhostScript) than you could do manually with standard LP > (4?). In order to support the Windows clients, should I > use Samba on top > of our Virtual Print Server? Or should the > Windows clients print > directly to the Virtual Print Server? We use Samba ... but you have to set them up to have "Local Printers" ... which have a local port of "\\machine\printer" ... then the driver control is managed locally, and once set up all users on that machine have access to the printer. I have seen the IPP approach, but i guess we're Luddites, we've stuck with the same approach for the last 12 years :) > (5?). Should the Macs use CUPS or Samba for printing? I'm not sure, But I'd assume that if the Mac's CUPS talks to the Servers CUPS then there will be less conversion/confusion. > 6. Is there a way to force anonymous print users to > identify themselves? > For example, a user printing from a Windows > laptop can currently not > be identified. > hanks. Ok ... It is exceptionally easy to make it so that users _HAVE_ to connect to the print server as a user before they can print, and if they are logged onto a domain it's even easier ... that said, if the user doesn't have drives mapped from the print server, and they aren't logged in with a user recognised by the server it will silently sit there and wait till it is authenticated, either by accessing the print server in explorer or with the "net use \\server" command at the prompt. Jon -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
