Common questions about Site Servers

No. The Site ServerSite Servers take over the role of a Primary Application Server in the event of network outages. Key roles taken over include authentication, copy and print tracking and Find-Me printing. Site Servers ensure continuous availability of printing resources to support key business functions over unreliable network links or during unplanned network disruptions. does not maintain its own data and does not need backing up. If a Site Server fails, you can quickly establish a new one by re-installing. By contrast, the Application ServerAn Application Server is the primary server program responsible for providing the PaperCut user interface, storing data, and providing services to users. PaperCut uses the Application Server to manage user and account information, manage printers, calculate print costs, provide a web browser interface to administrators and end users, and much more. does maintain important configuration and history data and should be backed up.

No. The Site Server does replicate key tables from the PaperCut database related to configuration. This includes User, Group, Printer, Device and Attribute tables. Importantly, the Site Server does not replicate the Printer Log table from the Application Server, as this data is not needed. For many customers, the Printer Log table is by far the largest table in the database.

Yes. The Site Server performs all communication with the Application Server over a secure HTTPS connection. A Site Server cannot be connected to the Application Server without the approval of a PaperCut administrator with sufficient admin rights.

No. The PaperCut Site Server also ships with an internal database in the same way the Application Server does. However, if you prefer an external database, we support these too.

PaperCut developed its own database replication strategy to remove the requirement for costly enterprise database licenses.

The failover from online to offline mode for the Site Server is an automatic process and happens without the need for intervention from an administrator. The failover time is also instantaneous for the MFDs and configurable for the Print ProviderA Print Provider is a monitoring service installed on a secondary print server to allow PaperCut to control and track printers. This monitoring component intercepts the local printing and reports the use back to the primary Application Server., so users can continue to function without interruption.

You can validate the status of a Site Server through the PaperCut Admin web interface via the Sitestab as well as via the http://[site-server]:9191/admin URL.

Yes. Filters and restrictionsRestrictions are a type of print filter that ensures jobs meet certain criteria (denying those that don't). For example, you can restrict access to one or more printer, define a maximum number of pages allowed in a single job, or allow only duplex. set at the queue level are supported when the Site Server is offline from the Application Server. However, print scripts and any conversionsConversions are a type of print filter that changes something about the print job, for example, from color to grayscale, or convert to duplex. controlled by script do not run when offline.

Yes. Site Servers are able to be configured in a way that they can validate username and passwords when the Application Server is unavailable, however, this is not enabled by default. If a link between a remote site and the main site is unavailable, there is a high likelihood that the directory server is also not available to validate credentials.

Cross server releasing of print jobs (where the physical queue and virtual queue are on different print servers) is supported during an outage when both source and target queues reside on print servers connected to the same Site Server.

Customers implementing clusteringClustering allows your organisation to ensure your services are not affected if anything should happen to your main server. PaperCut is a cluster compatible application and is supported under Windows (Microsoft Cluster Server / MSCS, Microsoft Failover Cluster Manager / MSFCM, Vetitas Cluster Server / VCS) and Linux (Novell Cluster Services / NCS, Linux-HA) at all levels of the application, including: clustering at the print spooler service layer by integrating with clustering services, failover based clustering at the Application Server layer using clustering services, and at the database layer by utilising cluster aware databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Oracle. of the Application Server to maintain high service levels should continue to do so. The Site Server offers additional protection, but many features of the Application Server, such as Web PrintWeb Print enables printing from user-owned devices without the need to install printer drivers and manage server authentication., BYOD printing and external payment gateways are not currently available through a Site Server.

In the initial release, we are not claiming scalability benefits for the Site Server. However, the Site Server is distributing workload - and as we gather more data and continue to build the solution, we will likely see some scalability benefits.

Where a Site Server has multiple IP addresses, devices that look for PaperCut might need to know which IP address is the correct address to connect to. On the Application Server, this is easily set under Options > Advanced > Server Address . On the Site Server, you can specify the address to use on the Sites > Site Server Details page in Override Network Address.

Jobs that were printed to a local print serverA print server is a system responsible for hosting print queues and sharing printer resources to desktops. Users submit print jobs to a print server rather then directly to the printer itself. A print server can be a dedicated server but on many networks this server also performs other tasks, such as, file serving prior to an outage are redisplayed in your held jobs list a few minutes after the Application Server becomes unavailable.