Working with the Print Service

10

 

In this chapter you will find commands you can use to configure and manage the print service.

The print service in Mac OS X Server lets you share network and direct-connect printers among clients on your network. The print service also includes support for managing print queues, monitoring print jobs, extensive logging, and using print quotas. This chapter covers the commands needed to view, modify, or change the print service settings.

Understanding the Print Process

Apple’s printing infrastructure is built on the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS). CUPS uses open standards, such as Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) and PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files. Tools derived from the old LPD and LP systems are fully integrated with the printing system. You can add a print queue with Printer Setup Utility or from the command line, and print to it from either a Mac OS X application or the command line. CUPS allows Mac OS X to support all the printers that other UNIX systems support.

The CUPS daemon is /usr/sbin/cupsd. Mac OS X applications and tools communicate with the daemon using IPP. IPP uses UDP and HTTP for transport over IP. Some configuration files that affect the behavior of cupsd reside in /etc/cups. When you make a change to printer sharing or to the printer list using Mac OS X applications or tools, you modify cupsd.conf or printers.conf, respectively.

To prepare files for printing, cupsd invokes other tools called filters and backends. These reside in subfolders of /usr/libexec/cups/.

CUPS has its own URL, 127.0.0.1:631, which you can access with a web browser. The URL is independent of the Apache web server, so you do not need to enable web sharing to use it. You can find the CUPS documentation at www.cups.org.

161

Page 161
Image 161
Apple Mac OS X Server manual Working with the Print Service, Understanding the Print Process