.. SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021-2025 Univention GmbH
..
.. SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only

.. _nubus-devices-printers:

Printers module
===============

This page describes the available tabs and fields
of the *Printers* management module in the *Management UI*.
It's for functional administrators who manage printers and their shares in Nubus.
However, administrators mostly use it in the context of Nubus for UCS
with its share management capabilities.
The following sections describe each tab of the module in detail.

The *Printers* management module enables functional administrators
to create, modify, and delete printer objects through the *Directory Manager*.
You find the *Printers* management module in the *Management UI* at
:menuselection:`Devices --> Printers`,
as shown in :numref:`nubus-devices-printers-overview-figure`.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-overview-figure:

.. figure:: /images/devices.*
   :alt: The Printers management module in the device section of the Management UI
   :width: 500px

   The *Printers* management module in the device section of the *Management UI*

.. _nubus-devices-printers-create:

Printers
--------

To create a printer share,
open the *Printers* management module,
click :guilabel:`Add`
and select ``Printer share: Printer`` as type.
Click :guilabel:`Next`.
For a description of the fields, see the following sections:

* :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general`
* :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-access-control`

When you add, edit, or delete a printer,
more specifically a printer share,
Nubus automatically configures the printer share in the CUPS printing service.

CUPS doesn't have an LDAP interface for printer configuration.
Therefore, Nubus creates the :file:`printers.conf` configuration file for CUPS
through a listener module.
If you use Samba,
Nubus automatically creates the printer share for Microsoft Windows clients.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general:

General tab - Printers module
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:numref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-figure`
shows the *General* tab in the *Printers* management module.
This section describes the fields in this tab.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-figure:

.. figure:: /images/create_printershare.*
   :alt: Creating a printer share
   :width: 871px

   Creating a printer share

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-name:

Name
   Specifies the name of the printer share.
   CUPS uses the name to identify the share.
   The printer appears under this name in Linux and Windows.

   The name may contain alphanumeric characters,
   such as uppercase and lowercase letters ``a`` to ``z``,
   and numbers ``0`` to ``9``, as well as,
   hyphens and underscores.
   Don't use other characters,
   including blank spaces,
   because CUPS doesn't allow them.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-server:

Print server
   A print server manages the printer queue for the printers that you want to share.
   It converts the print data into a compatible print format if necessary.
   If the printer isn't ready,
   the print server temporarily saves the print jobs
   and forwards them to the printer subsequently.
   If you specify more than one print server,
   Nubus sends the print job to the first print server
   that becomes available.

   The list of available print servers only lists Nubus for UCS systems
   that have the :program:`univention-printserver` package installed
   and that have one of the following system roles:

   * Primary Directory Node
   * Backup Directory Node
   * Replica Directory Node
   * UCS Managed Nodes

   .. seealso::

      :external+uv-architecture:ref:`concept-role`
         in :cite:t:`uv-architecture`
         for more information about the role concept.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-protocol:

Protocol and Destination
   The two input fields specify how the print server accesses the printer.

   The following list describes the syntax of the individual protocols for
   the configuration of printers connected locally and directly to the server:

   * :samp:`parallel://{devicefile}`

     Example: ``parallel://dev/lp0``

   * :samp:`socket://{server}:{port}`

     Example: ``socket://printer_03:9100``

   * :samp:`usb://{devicefile}`

     Example: ``usb://dev/usb/lp0``

   The following list describes the syntax of the individual protocols for
   the configuration of network printers:

   * :samp:`http://{server}[:{port}]/{path}`

     Example: ``http://192.0.2.10:631/printers/remote``

   * :samp:`ipp://{server}/printers/{queue}`

     Example: ``ipp://printer_01/printers/xerox``

   * :samp:`lpd://{server}/{queue}`

     Example: ``lpd://192.0.2.30/bwdraft``

   ``cups-pdf``
      To integrate a pseudo printer to create a PDF document from all the print jobs,
      use the ``cups-pdf`` protocol.
      For more information about the setup,
      see :external+uv-ucs-manual:ref:`pdf-printer`
      in :cite:t:`uv-ucs-manual`.

   ``file:/``
      The ``file:/`` protocol expects a path with a filename as target.
      CUPS doesn't send the print job to a printer,
      but instead writes it to the file defined as target.
      The approach is useful for testing purposes.
      Each print job to this printer rewrites the file.

   ``smb://``
      You can use the ``smb://`` protocol to mount a Windows print share.

      For example,
      to integrate the ``laser01`` printer share from Windows system ``win01``,
      specify ``win01/laser01`` as destination.
      You need to select the printer manufacturer and the model according to your printer.
      The print server uses the printer model settings
      to convert the print jobs where necessary
      and sends them directly to the URI ``smb://win01/laser01``.
      The protocol doesn't use Windows printer drivers.

   Independent of these settings,
   other Microsoft Windows systems can mount the printer shares
   with the corresponding printer drivers.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-manufacturer:

Manufacturer
   Select a printer manufacturer.
   The selection list for the
   :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-printer-model`
   automatically updates accordingly.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-printer-model:

Printer model
   This selection list shows all printer PPD files available for the selected manufacturer.
   If the required printer model isn't available,
   you can select a similar model
   and make a test print to establish correct function.
   For information about how to add additional printers the list of printer models,
   see
   :external+uv-ucs-manual:ref:`print-ppdlisten`
   in :cite:t:`uv-ucs-manual`.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-samba-name:

Windows name
   You can assign an additional name to a printer
   that shows up in Microsoft Windows.

   Unlike the CUPS name in
   :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-name`,
   the Windows name may contain blank spaces and umlauts.
   The printer is then available to Microsoft Windows under both names,
   the CUPS name and the Windows name.

   Using a Windows name in addition to the CUPS name is useful,
   for example,
   if the printer was already in use with Microsoft Windows
   under a name which contains blank spaces or umlauts.
   Windows computers can then still reach the printer under this name
   without the need to reconfigure the Windows computers.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-manufacturer-location:

Location
   Some applications show the printer location when you select the printer.
   You can write any text here.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-manufacturer-description:

Description
   Some applications show the printer description when you select the printer.
   You can write any text here.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-tab-access-control:

Access control tab - Printers module
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This section describes the *Access control* tab in the *Printers* management module.

Access control
   Specify access rights for the printer here.
   You can limit access to the printer
   to certain user groups or users,
   or generally allow access
   and block certain user groups or users specifically.
   As default,
   printer access is available to all user groups and users.
   Nubus adopts the access control rights also for the corresponding Samba printer shares,
   so that the same access rights apply
   when printing through Samba as when printing directly through CUPS.

   For example, in environments with several locations,
   you can limit the availability of printers to users of one location,
   so that the users at location A
   don't see the printers of location B.

Allowed/denied users
   List of individual users for whom Nubus controls the access to the printer.

Allowed/denied groups
   List of individual user groups for whom Nubus controls the access to the printer.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-groups:

Printer groups
--------------

CUPS can group printers into classes, implemented as *printer groups*.
Printer groups appear to clients as normal printers.
The goal of such a printer group is
to increase the availability of print services.
If users print to printer group,
CUPS sends the print job to the first printer in the printer group that becomes available.
CUPS selects the printers based on the round-robin principle
to keep the degree of utilization uniform.

You manage *Printer groups* through the *Printer* management module in the *Management UI*.
To create a printer group,
open the *Printers* management module,
click :guilabel:`Add`
and select ``Printer share: Printer group`` as type.
Click :guilabel:`Next`.
You see a screen as shown in
:numref:`nubus-devices-printers-groups-figure`.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-groups-figure:

.. figure:: /images/printer_group.*
   :alt: Creating a printer group
   :width: 871px

   Creating a printer group

A printer group must have at least one printer as a member. Only printers from
the same server can be members of the group.

.. caution::

   Grouping printer shares from different print servers in a printer group
   makes it possible to select printer groups as members of a printer group.
   This could result in a printer group adopting itself as a
   group member.

   **Don't** create such a configuration.

The following list describes the fields for creating a printer group.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-groups-field-name:

Name
   Specifies the name of the printer share.
   CUPS uses the name to identify the share.
   The printer group appears under this name in Linux and Windows.
   For the allowed characters,
   see :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-name`.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-groups-field-print-server:

Print server
   Specify a range of print servers, also called spoolers,
   to expand the list of printers available for selection.
   From the print servers that you assign here,
   you can select the printers as members of the printer group in
   :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-groups-field-group-members`.

Windows name
   You can assign an additional name to a printer group
   that shows up in Microsoft Windows.
   For further details,
   see :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-tab-general-field-samba-name`.

.. _nubus-devices-printers-groups-field-group-members:

Group members
   Assign printers to the printer group.
   The selection comes from the assigned print servers at
   :ref:`nubus-devices-printers-groups-field-print-server`.