This section describes the process of setting up a secondary print server on a Linux system. The primary Application Server may either be a Windows, Mac, Novell or a Linux based system. PaperCut NG has full support for "mixed" or heterogeneous printing environments.
Before installing a secondary server you should take some time to ensure the primary server (central Application Server) is set up and running correctly. If it is not running fine now, adding an extra server will only "add an extra variable to the equation" and complicate troubleshooting. Take some time now to verify that the primary server is functioning correctly. For example, verify that:
Printers on this server are being tracked.
Users are allowed user login to user pages from their workstations.
Administrators can access the system.
Secondary server needs to communicate (initiate a TCP connection) on port 9191. Administrators should ensure that any firewall software on the primary Application Server is not set to block any incoming local network traffic on this port. A good way to test, is to open a browser on the planned secondary server and confirm you can access the administration web interface on port 9191.
On the secondary server, create a user account called papercut
.
The papercut
user's home directory should be set to the desired install
location. This is normally /home/papercut
. The method of creating this
account is the same as that used for the primary server setup. See Chapter 2, Installation
for more details if required.
The instructions below assume i686
architecture.
If your system OS is 64-bit, replace i686
with x64
in all
file paths.
Install the Print Provider software onto the secondary server by copying all files and directories from the primary Application Server's directory:
[app_dir]/providers/print/linux-i686/*
To the equivalent location on the secondary server:
/home/papercut/providers/print/linux-i686/
on the secondary server. Perform the copy operation as the papercut
user so
that files are owned by the papercut
user. You may use any method to copy the
files, including over the network or via a USB key. If the primary server is also Linux, the simplest
way would be use Secure Copy (scp
) as follows:
shell> su - papercut shell> mkdir -p providers/print shell> cd providers/print shell> scp -r primary.server.name:/home/papercut/providers/print/* .
After the copy operation is performed, execute the setperms
and
roottasks
scripts as root:
shell> su - root shell> sh ~papercut/providers/print/linux-i686/setperms shell> sh ~papercut/providers/print/linux-i686/roottasks
The Print Provider on the secondary server needs to know where the primary server is installed (e.g. Its IP address).
Open the file:
/home/papercut/providers/print/linux-i686/print-provider.conf
in a text editor.
Locate the line starting with ApplicationServer=
and change
localhost
to the name or IP address of the primary server.
The binaries copied in step 4 now need to be integrated into the CUPS, Samba or Novell iPrint print queues. This process is detailed in the section called “Linux Print Queue Integration” and the section called “Step 5 - Printer/iPrint Configuration”.
The secondary server should now be configured. Perform some test printing on all of this secondary server's printers. Log into the system as "admin" and verify that the printers are now listed under the Printers section. Perform a multi-page test print on each printer and verify that print jobs are tracked correctly.
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