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PaperCut LRS VPSX Integration

1 Introduction This document covers the PaperCut MF (www.papercut-mf.com) integration with the print spool system VPSX®* System by Levi, Ray & Shoup Inc. ®* (www.lrs.com). Integration is provided in the form of a VPSX filter that interfaces the print spooling process with PaperCut. It allows the VPSX system to leverage core PaperCut features including:

• Detailed print tracking, reporting and quota controls • Ability to allocate jobs to accounts, departments, projects via client • Popup software (Mac, Windows, Linux) • Implement Find-Me printing, hold/release queues and release stations • Integrate tracking of off-the-glass copier jobs • Track color usage and printing costs using page-level color analysis • Interact with end-users via popup dialogs driven by Print Scripting. E.g. Did you

really mean to print 100 pages in simplex? • Detailed environmental impact reporting • ... and much much more!

For more information about the PaperCut print management software please visit www.papercut.com .

Note: The VPSX integration is designed to be installed and supported by PaperCut and LRS staff. It’s not intended to be consumed by an end-user. If demand exists, an automatic end-user installer may be developed in the future. At the current time, the installation and setup process is manual.

2 How it works PaperCut interfaces with VPSX via its filter system. When a new job arrives, a specially written filter is called. This filter extracts information from the print job and the VPSX print queue, and passes it across to the PaperCut for logging, accounting, and actions such as Hold, Print, Redirect or Cancel.

At a technical level, jobs are first transferred across to a VPSX Personal Print Queue (PPQ), analyzed, and when the action is determined, the job is transferred across to the target queue or cancelled/deleted as appropriate. The “action” may be near immediate for some jobs, while hours for others - for example, jobs held in a hold/release queue. (Note: this is an alternate method bypassing the use of the PPQ, however this is limited to special cases such as batch printing queues).

3 How to obtain The specially written VPSX filter for PaperCut is currently supplied as an extra add-on to PaperCut. At the current time this is provided to customers after discussion after an

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appropriate installation and support agreement is put in place. Because VPSX is a niche and targeted print queue system, integration is supplied as a supported service rather than a commodity download product. Please contact PaperCut MF Sales (sales@papercut-mf.com) for more information.

4 Installation

4.1 Prerequisites

• LRS VPSX setup with working print queues (currently only the Windows version is supported)

• PaperCut version 10.5 for higher ( http://www.papercut-mf.com/direct/ ) installed either as a primary server or as a secondary server on the VPSX server.

4.2 Install Procedure

1) Ensure PaperCut is installed on the server running VPSX. It may either be a stand-along primary server install, or a secondary server install reporting back to another PaperCut primary server. A secondary server install is recommended as it is much lighter weight than a primary server instance.

2) Copy the file VPSX-papercut-filter.exe file provided by PaperCut to: [pc-install-path]/providers/print/win/ e.g. C:\Program Files\PaperCut MF\providers\print\win

3) Create a spool directory (new folder) at:

[pc-install-path]/providers/print/win/spool/VPSX

4) Add the local system to the VPSX pullprinthosts file in ~VPSXroot

5) Create a new Personal Print Queue (PPQ) called PaperCutPPQ in the VPSX

system. The name of this queue is important! This PPQ is used as a holding queue while jobs are being analyzed or pending release from a PaperCut hold/release queue.

6) On any queue to be tracked/controlled/targeted by PaperCut, add a VPSX External Filter for Data Type of ALL with arguments:

Command: [pc-install-path]\providers\print\win\VPSX-papercut-filter.exe

Argument: &infile &outfile &attrfile

Note: Do not put the filter on the PaperCutPPQ

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Repeat this step from each printer/queue to be monitored/controlled by PaperCut.

7) On any queue to be tracked/controlled/targeted by PaperCut, ensure the PullPrint

option is selected.

8) Print a test page on each printer. This act will "register" the queue in the PaperCut web interface under the Printers tab. Configure the queues in PaperCut as required.

9) Set up global/virtual queues, etc. in PaperCut’s web interface and conduct appropriate

testing.

5 Pass-Through Mode for Batch Printing In special circumstances the step of transferring jobs from the original target queue, to a PPQ, then back again (re-queuing) may not be desirable. For example, batch print runs that reply on a guaranteed print order may be affected by this process. The re-queuing step may cause ordering problems. To support these special batch printing queues, the PaperCut VPSX integration has a special passthrough mode. In this mode jobs are momentarily stopped for analysis in a VPSX filter and no queue transfer happens.

This mode should only be considered when:

• There is a concrete need for guaranteed print order • The target print queue does not have any of the following enabled:

o Hold/Release or Find-Me Printing o Any client interaction popups – e.g. account selection or scripting popups

Because passthrough mode blocks at the filter, it’s important that potentially long running tasks such as hold/release or user interaction is not used on the queue.

To enable passthrough mode simply append the word passthrough as the final 4th filter argument.

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6 Troubleshooting

• Check the log file at: [pc-install-path]/providers/print/win/print-provider.log • Consider enabling debug (add the line debug=on to the file

[pc-install-path]/providers/print/win/print-provider.conf. This will increase in the level of logging in the print-provider.log file.

• Contact PaperCut Support: http://www.papercut.com/contact/

7 Known Limitations

PaperCut would like to address the following known limitations moving forward:

1) The VPSX system will on contact PaperCut (via a filter call) after a print job as completed spooling to the server. On other platforms PaperCut is able to intercept selected print details before spooling is complete. This allows PaperCut to do selected actions such as interaction with users via a popup windows in a more timely fashion.

2) Printers/Queues will only register in PaperCut after the first-print. Queues will not automatically add when they are first created in VPSX.

* VPSX® and LRS® are registered trademarks of Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc.