Centralized Server Problem

[Kurt Pfeifle]

> And please say if what I want
>
> (filters are only installed on one machine (server), other machines can have local printers and pass the jobs to the server for filtering)
>
> is impossible to do with CUPS.


Ah, now I understand better. You haven't been very clear about what you want to achieve.

OK, here is the plan:

 (a) On the clients (I assume they run CUPS as well), do s.th. like this:

        lpadmin -p client_prn1 -v parallel:/dev/lp0  # do not use "-P..."
        lpadmin -p client_prn2 -v usb:/dev/lp0       # do not use "-P..."

     To find out what exact usb:// scheme to use, connect the printer,
     power it on and run (as root) "lpinfo -v".

     The above lpadmin command installs the local printqueues as "raw"
     queues. (You may want to add some "Deny From localhost" statement
     even to prevent accidental local raw printing....)


 (b) On the central server, do s.th. like this for each client-attached
     printer:

     lpadmin -p real_prn1 -v ipp://fooclient/printers/client_prn1 -P /path/to/PPD

     This command now installs the printer with the appropriate driver,
     and points the target to be the raw queue named "client_prn1" on
     remote "print server" named "fooclient".


 (c) Last, make sure that the clients get to know the "real_prn1",
     "real_prn2" printers by one of the CUPS' standard methods. (I
     assume you know these by now, having read all that documentation.)
     Also make sure, that the clients don't use the printers named
     "client_prn1" for their printing jobs, but only "real_prn1".


Disclaimer: I have not tested this, but I'd expect it to work. Also,
     you may be able to use s.th. like "BrowseDeny localhost" &&
     "BrowseAllow CentralCUPSServer" to hide their own local queues
     from the clients' view and only show them the queues on the server.
     Another option would be to use a client.conf file with "ServerName
     CentralCUPSServer".

Cheers,
Kurt

--
Kurt Pfeifle
System & Network Printing Consultant --- Linux/Unix/Windows/Samba/CUPS
Infotec Deutschland GmbH - A RICOH Company ......... Stuttgart/Germany