Novell® iPrint:Advanced Features on Linux

Ted Tronson Kyle Bradford iPrint Architect Technical Support Engineerttronson@novell.com kwbradford@novell.com

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.2

Agenda

• New Features:– Windows 7 support

– Printer Driver Profiles> Universal Print Driver Support

– Auto Driver/Profile Update

• Accounting• iPrint troubleshooting tool – iPrintInfo Tool• iPrint Mass Management• iPrint Migration

iPrint: Windows 7 Support

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.4

iPrint: Windows 7 Support

• Introduced in: – NetWare® 65 SP8 (post patches)

– Linux Open Enterprise Server 2 SP1 (post updates)

– Linux Open Enterprise Server 2 SP2

• Updates required to:– iPrint Client

– iPrint plug-in

• Server code (RPM or NLM) • See TID 7004814 for detailed information

Printer Driver Profile

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.6

Printer Driver Profile (PDP)

• Administrator can pre-configure print driver settings to be applied to end user iPrint printer installations.

• Support for UPD and bi-directional print drivers

– Introduced in Open Enterprise Server 2 SP2

• PDP data is stored in the print manager database file (psmdb.dat)

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.7

PDP – How it works

• Print Driver: – Is copied from the resdir to mod_ipp

– Is download to the workstation using iManager

– Is temporarily installed as a “hidden-printer”> In the scenario of UPD or bi-di print driver, the installed print driver

communicates to the physical printer

– Options are presented to the administrator to configure available driver settings and features.

– Settings are saved in binary format to the Print Manager database file (psmdb.dat)

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.8

PDP – How it works (continued...)

Administrator can select a profile for any PA using the assigned print driver.

Note: PDP creation requires administrator to run iManager from same Windows OS for which the driver is being configured.

Universal Printer Driver Support

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.10

Universal Print Driver (UPD) Support

• What is a UPD?

• What is a bi-directional print driver?

• How does the iPrint Client work with UPD and bi-di driver types?

• How do UPD and bi-di drivers affect Printer Driver Profiles?

Auto Driver Update

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.12

Auto Driver Update

• Push updated print drivers, with associated profile, to workstations.

• When invoked, the printer is re-installed to the workstation.

• Available with: – NetWare® 6.5 SP8 with iprntnw65sp8b-2 updates

– Open Enterprise Server 2 SP1 with post SP1 code(see TID 7002435)

– Open Enterprise Server 2 SP2

• See TID 7002435 for additional information.

Accounting

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.14

Accounting

• Available through 3rd Party Vendors.– Equitrac

– Papercut

– Pcounter

• Charge printing costs to users.• Compatible with Open Enterprise Server 2 SP1

and later.• Accounting vs iPrint Auditing

– iPrint Auditing tracks who printed, how many pages, when, job name, which printer, and job size.

iPrint Information Gathering Tool

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.16

iPrint Information Gathering Tool

• Novell® Cool Solution– Google Search for: iPrint Information Gathering Tool

• Script creates an output file which includes:– Files laid down by each iPrint RPM– Ownership/permissions of all iPrint related files and directories– iPrint related configuration files– iPrint log files– LUM, LDAP, Novell eDirectory™ configuration relevant to iPrint.

• Useful for identifying iPrint configuration problems by comparing working and non-working iPrint servers.

iPrint Mass Management

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.18

iPrint Mass Management

• Print Manager periodically writes its database information to an XML file.

/var/opt/novell/iprint/[printmanager].[ou].[o].psm/padbtxt.xml

• It is possible to import the XML data to a Print Manager database (psmdb.dat) using the --xml-import feature

iprntman psm --xml-import ./customXML-input.xml

• --xml-import will create new objects, add new attributes, modify existing attributes, and ignore data that already exists in the Print Manager Database file. The import will not remove data.

iPrint Migration

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.20

iPrint Migration: Procedure

• iPrint data migrated includes– Printer objects, printer drivers, driver profiles, print managers,

ACL's, banners and printer pools• Using the GUI

– Select the active print managers on both the source and the target

– Select all or a subset of printers to migrate• The printers can keep the same name and context in

Novell® eDirectory™. The original printer agent objects in eDirectory are renamed if selecting to migrate to the same context.

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.21

iPrint Migration: Key Points

• TID 7004455 is the official iPrint migration best practices guide.

• The iPrint migration tool (miggui):– requires iprntman authentication to succeed– creates duplicate printer objects (NetWare® to Linux)– option to “migrate” objects to same container (rename _NW)– is a non-risk procedure if choosing 'Consolidate'.– creates /opt/novell/iprint/bin/psmimport.xml.– does not configure workstations to connect to the target

print manager.

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.22

iPrint Migration: NetWare® preparation

• iPrint Migration does not handle NetWare:

– Port Handler Gateway

– Public Access Printers

– Windows 2000 printer drivers auto-matching Windows XP printer drivers (unless you obtain updated code from the channel)

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.23

iPrint Migration: Workstation Strategies• iPrint printers installed to workstation consist of:

– Printer Agent Name (without Novell® eDirectory™ context)

– Address to which Print Manager is bound

• Two strategies to point installed printers to new server– 1. Address binding

(TID 7005255)> PSMHostAddress value within

/etc/opt/novell/iprint/conf/ipsmd.conf

– 2. iPrint Printer Agent Redirection (TID 3006726)

Question and Answer

Unpublished Work of Novell, Inc. All Rights Reserved.This work is an unpublished work and contains confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information of Novell, Inc. Access to this work is restricted to Novell employees who have a need to know to perform tasks within the scope of their assignments. No part of this work may be practiced, performed, copied, distributed, revised, modified, translated, abridged, condensed, expanded, collected, or adapted without the prior written consent of Novell, Inc. Any use or exploitation of this work without authorization could subject the perpetrator to criminal and civil liability.

General DisclaimerThis document is not to be construed as a promise by any participating company to develop, deliver, or market a product. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents of this document, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. The development, release, and timing of features or functionality described for Novell products remains at the sole discretion of Novell. Further, Novell, Inc. reserves the right to revise this document and to make changes to its content, at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revisions or changes. All Novell marks referenced in this presentation are trademarks or registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.