Setting up Samba as a Print Server: Difference between revisions

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= Introduction =
= Introduction =


If you set up Samba as a print server, clients in your network are able to send print jobs to the Samba host using the server message block (SMB) protocol. The examples shown in this documentation use a raw printer in the back end. This configuration requires that the print job is formatted by a driver on the client and thus can be processed by the printer without further processing or filtering.
A print server accepts print jobs from network computers, queues them locally and then sends them to the appropriate printers. As well as having domain and file service capabilities, Samba can also act as a MS Windows compatible print server. While Samba provides the interface to Windows/SMB machines, CUPS or LDP is used by Samba to send print jobs to the devices.


In the following, we give an overview about Sambas supported backends, including how to add a new network printer to them. The examples setup a RAW printer (content is sent unmodified to the device). We don't use filters or drivers on the backend, because a RAW printer allows the rendering of the output to be done on the workstation by the printer vendors specific driver. In the latter the printer will be shared by Samba to provide the service to the network. If you're also interested in automatic printer driver deployment via Point'n'Print, see the corresponding [[Configuring_Point'n'Print_automatic_printer_driver_deployment|documentation]].






= Supported Print Server Back Ends =


Samba supports the multiple print server back ends, such as [https://www.cups.org/ CUPS] and [http://www.lprng.com/ LPRng]. For a complete list, see the <code>printing</code> parameter in the <code>smb.conf(5)</code> man page.


{{Imbox
= Print server backends =
| type = note
| text = You must set up the printer server back end locally on the Samba host. Samba cannot forward print jobs to a remote host. However, you can configure the local printer server back end to forward the job to a remote print server.
}}


For details how to set up the back end, see the print server's documentation.
In the following we assume that the print server backend is already basically configured, running and printers can be added.






== Samba <code>CUPS</code> or <code>IPRINT</code> Back End Support ==
== CUPS ==


When using the <code>CUPS</code> or <code>IPRINT</code> print server back end, Samba must have been built with CUPS support enabled. To verify, enter:
[http://www.cups.org CUPS] is currently the most widely used spool system in *nix environments and shipped with most distributions. Samba has built-in support and defaults to CUPS, if the development package (header files and libraries) are found at compile time.


# smbd -b | grep "HAVE_CUPS"
* Open the CUPS admin web frontend (<nowiki>https://servername:631/admin</nowiki>)
HAVE_CUPS


If no output is displayed:
* Click "Add Printer" on the "Administration" tab
* Samba was built using the <code>--disable-cups</code> parameter.
* The Samba <code>configure</code> script was unable to locate the required libraries for CUPS support. For details, see [[Package Dependencies Required to Build Samba]].


* Choose the way that your printer is connected and enter the appropriate URL. Examples:


:* LPD protocol:
lpd://hostname/queue


:* Internet Printing Protocol
ipp://hostname/ipp/port


* Forwarding the jobs to a Windows print server (''Note: Vista and higher don't allow anonymous connects by default. You have to provide a username and password for the connection'')
smb://username:password@domain/servername/printername


= Adding a printer to the Print Server Back End =
* Enter a name for the printer


== CUPS ==
* Choose "Raw" for the printer vendor and model


To add a raw printer to an CUPS print server:
* Save the the settings


* Open the CUPS admin web interface in your browser. For example, <nowiki>https://servername:631/admin</nowiki>


* Select the <code>Administration</code> tab and click <code>Add Printer</code>.


* Select the connection type and enter the corresponding URL to the printer's queue or to the remote print server queue. For example:
== LPD ==
:* LPD-based printers: <code>lpd://''printer_name''/''queue''</code>
:* IPP (Internet Printing Protocol)-based printers: <code>ipp://''printer_name''/ipp/port</code>
:* SMB (Server Message Block)-based printers: <code>smb://''username'':''password''@''domain''/''windows_print_server_host_name''/''printer_name''</code>
:: Note that forwarding a job to a print server running Windows Vista or newer, or Windows Server 2008 or newer requires authentication.


* Enter a name for the printer. This name is used in the <code>smb.conf</code> when sharing the printer using Samba.
This was the first widely used printing system and is still used on many servers. It is very simple to install and to configure. There are different implementations of LPD servers, such as the often used [http://www.lprng.org/ LPRng].


* Select the <code>Raw</code> printer vendor and model.
* Add the following line to your "printcap" file (typically located in /etc/)


* Save the settings.
PRINTERNAME:sd=/path/to/spool/directory:sh:mx=0:mc=0:rm=IP_or_DNS_Name


:For the options used in the example above, check out the printcap man page.


* Create the printers spool directory


== LPRng ==
# checkpc -f


To add a raw printer to a LPRng print server:
* Restart LPD


* Add the following line to the <code>/etc/printcap</code> file:
# service lpd restart


''printer_name'':sd=/var/spool/lpd/''printer_name''/:sh:mx=0:mc=0:rm=''Printer_DNS_name_or_IP_address''
* The following command allows you query the state of the printer:
: The printer name is used in the smb.conf when sharing the printer using Samba.
: For further details about the options used, see the <code>printcap(5)</code> man page.


* To create the spool directory, enter:
# lpq -P PRINTERNAME
Printer: PRINTERNAME@SAMPRINTSERVER (dest PRINTERNAME@IP_or_DNS_Name)
Queue: no printable jobs in queue
Ready
no entries


# checkpc -f


* Restart the LPRng service.






= Configure Samba as print server =


== Enable spoolssd (optional) ==


= Enabling the <code>spoolssd</code> Service =
''Note: Some features of spoolssd were broken before 4.0.17 and 4.1.7. If you are considering using spoolssd, please use a later version!''


The Samba <code>spoolssd</code> is a service that is integrated into the smbd service. If you configured Samba as a print server, you can additionally enable <code>spoolssd</code> to:
spoolssd, a feature introduced in Samba 4.0, increases printer performance. In the past, when a print job came in, a smbd child process was forked, to initialize the printcap cache, spoolss, etc. If you have a huge printcap cache and it needs to be updated first, the client could hang for several seconds. Since Samba 4.0, you can configure spoolssd to be started as forked processes. If enabled, you'll see additional smbd processes, which will handle only spoolss requests. The master process is a simple daemon with a small memory footprint, that only forks and kills childrens serving the spoolss pipe. When a connection comes in, it can directly start to talk to the daemon and ask for information about the printer without any delay, this gives a performance improvement.
* Support package-aware Windows drivers.
* Increase performance on print servers with a high number of jobs or printers.
: Without <code>spoolssd</code>, Samba forks the <code>smbd</code> process or each print job and initializes the <code>printcap</code> cache. In case of a large number of printers, the <code>smbd</code> service can become unresponsive for multiple seconds when initializing the cache. The <code>spoolssd</code> service enables you to start pre-forked <code>smbd</code> processes that are processing print jobs without any delay. The main <code>spoolssd</code> <code>smbd</code> process uses a low amount of memory, and forks and terminates child processes


To enable spoolssd, add the following to the [global] section of your smb.conf:
To enable the <code>spoolssd</code> service:

* Edit the <code>[global]</code> section in your <code>smb.conf</code> file:

:* Add the following parameters:


rpc_server:spoolss = external
rpc_server:spoolss = external
rpc_daemon:spoolssd = fork
rpc_daemon:spoolssd = fork


:* Optionally, you can set the following parameters:
After the next restart of Samba, you will discover additional smbd processes that handle spoolss requests:
::{| class="wikitable"
!Parameter
!Default
!Description
|-
|spoolssd:prefork_min_children
|5
|Minimum number of child processes
|-
|spoolssd:prefork_max_children
|25
|Maximum number of child processes
|-
|spoolssd:prefork_spawn_rate
|5
|Samba forks this number of new child processes, up to the value set in <code>spoolssd:prefork_max_children</code>, if a new connection is established
|-
|spoolssd:prefork_max_allowed_clients
|100
|Number of clients, a child process serves
|-
|spoolssd:prefork_child_min_life
|60
|Minimum lifetime of a child process in seconds. 60 seconds is the minimum.
|}


* Restart Samba.
<u>With spoolssd enabled:</u> <u>With spoolssd disabled (default):</u>

30903 smbd 30903 smbd
After the restart, Samba automatically starts <code>smbd</code> sub-processes:
30912 \_ smbd 30912 \_ smbd
# ps axf
...
30903 smbd
30912 \_ smbd
30913 \_ smbd
30913 \_ smbd
30914 \_ smbd
30914 \_ smbd
30915 \_ smbd
30915 \_ smbd
...
30916 \_ smbd
30917 \_ smbd
30918 \_ smbd
30920 \_ smbd
30921 \_ smbd
30922 \_ smbd
30923 \_ smbd
30924 \_ smbd


You can adjust the daemons behaviour through the following parameters (the values in the examples are the defaults):


spoolssd:prefork_min_children = 5 # Minimum number of child processes
spoolssd:prefork_max_children = 25 # Maximum number of child processes
spoolssd:prefork_spawn_rate = 5 # Start (fork) x new children if one connection comes in (up to prefork_max_children)
spoolssd:prefork_max_allowed_clients = 100 # Number of clients, a child process should be responsible for
spoolssd:prefork_child_min_life = 60 # Minimum lifetime of a child process (60 seconds
# is the minimum, even a lower value has been configured)


spoolssd is still a new feature. If you encounter any bug, please report it at https://bugzilla.samba.org/, to get it fixed as soon as possible.




= Enabling the Print Server Support in Samba =


To enable the print server support:
== Setup the [printers] share ==


This share defines general information about your printing backend. See the "[printers]" section in the smb.conf man page for further information.
* Set the printing back end in the <code>printing</code> parameter of the <code>[global]</code> section in your <code>smb.conf</code> file. For example:
printing = CUPS

* Add the following section to your <code>smb.conf</code>:


* Add the [printers] section to your smb.conf
[printers]
[printers]
path = /var/spool/samba/
path = /var/spool/samba/
printable = yes
printable = yes
printing = CUPS|LPRNG|...


* Create the spool directory set in the <code>path</code> parameter:
* Check for Samba CUPS support (only necessary, if "printing = CUPS")
# smbd -b | grep CUPS
HAVE_CUPS_CUPS_H
HAVE_CUPS_LANGUAGE_H
HAVE_CUPS
HAVE_LIBCUPS

:If you don't get any output, make sure that the CUPS header files and libraries are installed and recompile Samba with --with-cups

* Create the Samba spool directory, defined in the "[printer]" share.


# mkdir -p /var/spool/samba/
# mkdir -p /var/spool/samba/
# chmod 1777 /var/spool/samba/
# chmod 1777 /var/spool/samba/


* Reload Samba:


# smbcontrol all reload-config




== Share a printer ==


Unless "load printers = yes" was set in your smb.conf to automatically share all printers available in the backend, a separate share is required for each printer that should be shared by Samba:



[MyDemoPrinter]
= Sharing a Printer =

== Automatic Sharing of All Printers Configured in the Print Server Back End ==

Using the default setting, all printers configured in the print server back end are automatically shared.



=== Disabling the Automatic Printer Sharing ===

To disable the automatic printer sharing:

* Add the following parameter to the <code>[global]</code> section of your <code>smb.conf</code> file:

load printers = no

* Reload Samba:

# smbcontrol all reload-config



== Manual Sharing of Printers ==

To manually share a printer:

* Verify that the automatic printer sharing is disabled. See [[#Disabling_the_Automatic_Printer_Sharing|Disabling the Automatic Printer Sharing]].

* Add the share for the printer to your <code>smb.conf</code> file:

[''Samba_printer_name'']
path = /var/spool/samba/
path = /var/spool/samba/
printable = yes
printable = yes
printer name = Printername_in_backend
printer name = ''printer_name_in_the_back_end''
# Set the "printer name" parameter to the name of your
# corresponding CUPS/LPD/... queue name


: Set the <code>printer name</code> parameter to the name of the printer used in the local print server back end.
Reload Samba after configuration changes:

* Reload Samba:


# smbcontrol all reload-config
# smbcontrol all reload-config


= Further documention =



* [[Configuring_Point'n'Print_automatic_printer_driver_deployment|Configuring Point'n'Print automatic printer driver deployment]]


= Setting up Automatic Printer Driver Download for Windows Clients =

See [[Setting_up_Automatic_Printer_Driver_Downloads_for_Windows_Clients|Setting up Automatic Printer Driver Downloads for Windows Clients]].








----
----
[[Category:Configuration]]
[[Category:Active Directory]]
[[Category:Domain Members]]
[[Category:NT4 Domains]]
[[Category:Printing]]
[[Category:Printing]]
[[Category:Standalone Server]]

Revision as of 12:03, 18 October 2017

Introduction

If you set up Samba as a print server, clients in your network are able to send print jobs to the Samba host using the server message block (SMB) protocol. The examples shown in this documentation use a raw printer in the back end. This configuration requires that the print job is formatted by a driver on the client and thus can be processed by the printer without further processing or filtering.



Supported Print Server Back Ends

Samba supports the multiple print server back ends, such as CUPS and LPRng. For a complete list, see the printing parameter in the smb.conf(5) man page.

For details how to set up the back end, see the print server's documentation.


Samba CUPS or IPRINT Back End Support

When using the CUPS or IPRINT print server back end, Samba must have been built with CUPS support enabled. To verify, enter:

# smbd -b | grep "HAVE_CUPS"
   HAVE_CUPS

If no output is displayed:



Adding a printer to the Print Server Back End

CUPS

To add a raw printer to an CUPS print server:

  • Open the CUPS admin web interface in your browser. For example, https://servername:631/admin
  • Select the Administration tab and click Add Printer.
  • Select the connection type and enter the corresponding URL to the printer's queue or to the remote print server queue. For example:
  • LPD-based printers: lpd://printer_name/queue
  • IPP (Internet Printing Protocol)-based printers: ipp://printer_name/ipp/port
  • SMB (Server Message Block)-based printers: smb://username:password@domain/windows_print_server_host_name/printer_name
Note that forwarding a job to a print server running Windows Vista or newer, or Windows Server 2008 or newer requires authentication.
  • Enter a name for the printer. This name is used in the smb.conf when sharing the printer using Samba.
  • Select the Raw printer vendor and model.
  • Save the settings.


LPRng

To add a raw printer to a LPRng print server:

  • Add the following line to the /etc/printcap file:
printer_name:sd=/var/spool/lpd/printer_name/:sh:mx=0:mc=0:rm=Printer_DNS_name_or_IP_address
The printer name is used in the smb.conf when sharing the printer using Samba.
For further details about the options used, see the printcap(5) man page.
  • To create the spool directory, enter:
# checkpc -f
  • Restart the LPRng service.



Enabling the spoolssd Service

The Samba spoolssd is a service that is integrated into the smbd service. If you configured Samba as a print server, you can additionally enable spoolssd to:

  • Support package-aware Windows drivers.
  • Increase performance on print servers with a high number of jobs or printers.
Without spoolssd, Samba forks the smbd process or each print job and initializes the printcap cache. In case of a large number of printers, the smbd service can become unresponsive for multiple seconds when initializing the cache. The spoolssd service enables you to start pre-forked smbd processes that are processing print jobs without any delay. The main spoolssd smbd process uses a low amount of memory, and forks and terminates child processes

To enable the spoolssd service:

  • Edit the [global] section in your smb.conf file:
  • Add the following parameters:
rpc_server:spoolss = external
rpc_daemon:spoolssd = fork
  • Optionally, you can set the following parameters:
Parameter Default Description
spoolssd:prefork_min_children 5 Minimum number of child processes
spoolssd:prefork_max_children 25 Maximum number of child processes
spoolssd:prefork_spawn_rate 5 Samba forks this number of new child processes, up to the value set in spoolssd:prefork_max_children, if a new connection is established
spoolssd:prefork_max_allowed_clients 100 Number of clients, a child process serves
spoolssd:prefork_child_min_life 60 Minimum lifetime of a child process in seconds. 60 seconds is the minimum.
  • Restart Samba.

After the restart, Samba automatically starts smbd sub-processes:

# ps axf
...
30903 smbd
30912  \_ smbd
30913      \_ smbd
30914      \_ smbd
30915      \_ smbd
...



Enabling the Print Server Support in Samba

To enable the print server support:

  • Set the printing back end in the printing parameter of the [global] section in your smb.conf file. For example:
printing = CUPS
  • Add the following section to your smb.conf:
[printers]
       path = /var/spool/samba/
       printable = yes
  • Create the spool directory set in the path parameter:
# mkdir -p /var/spool/samba/
# chmod 1777 /var/spool/samba/
  • Reload Samba:
# smbcontrol all reload-config



Sharing a Printer

Automatic Sharing of All Printers Configured in the Print Server Back End

Using the default setting, all printers configured in the print server back end are automatically shared.


Disabling the Automatic Printer Sharing

To disable the automatic printer sharing:

  • Add the following parameter to the [global] section of your smb.conf file:
load printers = no
  • Reload Samba:
# smbcontrol all reload-config


Manual Sharing of Printers

To manually share a printer:

  • Add the share for the printer to your smb.conf file:
[Samba_printer_name]
       path = /var/spool/samba/
       printable = yes
       printer name = printer_name_in_the_back_end
Set the printer name parameter to the name of the printer used in the local print server back end.
  • Reload Samba:
# smbcontrol all reload-config



Setting up Automatic Printer Driver Download for Windows Clients

See Setting up Automatic Printer Driver Downloads for Windows Clients.