MVIFilePlus: CPCA Server on Linux with Samba
This product may be of help for printing on Canon iR devices within a MS Windows environment where a Linux printer server with Samba is used.
As governments push administrations more and more to OpenSource applications, often a first step is a Linux print server within a traditional Windows environment.
The Samba server assure sharing of printers with the Window clients.
The Canon drivers for Windows are once uploaded to the Samba server.
Thereafter they are available for the Windows clients. Please note that all Canon drivers for Windows for iR devices use CPCA (a Canon proprietary protocol).
If the site wants to use department accounting a problem arises. Technically the department accounting within a Windows environment uses a special CPCA protocol to query the Canon device whether the account does exist before printing. With the Samba server in place, this does not work.
The MVIFilePlus solution consists in this case of a CPCA server program, which runs on the Linux server. It receives the CPCA jobs from Windows clients, who now print without department accounting.
But the server program has a data base which links Windows login or user names to department accounting user IDs and/or passwords. Thus the department accounting is done automatically, without any user intervention on the Windows side.
To be more precise the CPCA server program on the Linux server can:
- Redirect a job based on the Windows login or user name to a department account with a user ID (and possibly a password).
- Redirect a job based on the Windows login or user name to a specific mailbox.
- Redirect a job coming from a specific PC to a department account with a user ID (and possibly a password).
- Redirect a job coming from a specific PC to a to a specific mailbox.
If a job comes from an unknown user or PC, then either the job will be rejected (i.e. not printed) or the job will be redirected to a default account (or mailbox).
The CPCA server program is licenced with a software key based on the MAC or Ethernet address of the Linux server.
The server program works both for PostScript and PCL CPCA printer queues.
Both CPCA V1.0 and CPCA V2.0 are supported.
Also genuine PostScript printer queues (EFI controlled devices) are supported with the same mechanism.
The SICFilePlus solutions can be implemented either on a UNIX, Linux or MS Windows workstation or as a print server in a "black box" serving various laser printers at the same time..
The MVI Success Stories page gives some examples of other implemented solutions.
For a MVIFilePlus product you can contact your local
Canon sales representative who will make the link with MV-Informatique.
Otherwise you may always contact MV-Informatique directly: see the Contact Us page.