FreeNAS Print Server

[ipburbank]

Hello,

The seemingly definitive guide to using FreeNAS as a print server was published in 2009 and is compatible with 9.1 (some of the problem I had included not being able to execute the mv command). Is there an updated guide, plugin, or resource I can turn to?

Thanks, Istvan.

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah.. that guide is for the old FreeNAS project(renamed NAS4Free). There's no guide for the current FreeNAS project that I'm aware of.

 

[ipburbank]

Ah, makes sense. On the current version, would it be as easy as installing CUPS in a jail?

 

[cyberjock]

I don't have a clue to be honest. Never tried to set it up with FreeNAS.

 

[Yatti420]

Putting CUPS in a jail should work.. I wouldn't do anything at all off the freenas setup/install.. That could spell problems..

Make sure you read http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Installing_non-PBI_Software - especially installing packages properly..

http://www.freshports.org/search.ph...leted&start=1&casesensitivity=caseinsensitive

 

[Whattteva]

I've actually got a working print server setup.
Yes, all you need to do is to set up CUPS in jail.
Depending on whether or not your printer manufacturer has a PPD for it can make your life either easier or harder.

You may also want to set up SAMBA if you plan to print to it from windows boxes.

 

[Yatti420]

I may set this up for my parents to free up an Ethernet port.. CUPS will work with USB printers? That's a future project for me though..

 

[Whattteva]

CUPS will work with any printer if all you care about is sending raw spools to it (ie. client has all the necessary drivers).
If you want CUPS to actually do the printing processing, then you're at the mercy of the printer manufacturers (finding BSD drivers could cause you a lot of headache).

 

[KillerWee]

Just gonna bump this thread..
Been trying to make this work too..
So far, I've succesfully installed CUPS inside the jail.. I can access the webinterface, but I have no clue as to making my usb printer available to the jail..
Been reading a lot of guides ( most of them are talking about making edits to the "/etc/devfs.rules", that be inside the jail and on the host system.. But everytime I try and do that, it just gets reverted into default.
The guide I've had the most succes with is : https://sites.google.com/site/tux821/myfreebsdnotes , but that really doesn't help me when it comes to the whole "writeprotection" of freenas...
If anyone could help, that would be much appreciated...

 

[Dusan]

but that really doesn't help me when it comes to the whole "writeprotection" of freenas...

You can do​

1. mount -o noatime -uw /
2. do your changes
3. mount -r /

to make the changes stick. However, be careful you can easily break things...

 

[studer30]

I've got CUPS installed within a jail. But how do you access the web interface? I've tried the ip address of that jail and port 631 but no luck.

 

[jat255]

I was wondering if anyone has any further idea on how to get USB printing working from the jail. I'm using an HP Deskjet F4180, and have installed cups and hplip. I can access the web interface, and can choose to add the printer (shows up as "USB Printer #1" and "USB Printer #1 (no reset)". The first is listed as at usb:/dev/ulpt0, and the second is at usb:/dev/unlpt0.

I can add a printer at either location, going through and selecting HP Deskjet as the model, and it allows me to add the printers. When I try to print though, I get an error that says "Unable to open device file: Permission denied".

Following a tip I found on another site, I can chmod 666 both /dev/ulpt0 and /dev/unlpt0, which allows me to submit the jobs (until the next time I reconnect the printer). When printing a test page (either from the web interface, or from my laptop), the log reports that the job completes, but nothing ever happens with the printer, unfortunately.

I'm a little stuck here, and don't know what the next step would be to try to debug this. Are there any other log files that would give me more info? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here's my dmesg | grep ugen (in the jail):

Code:

ugen5.1: <ATI> at usbus5

Code:

ugen4.1: <ATI> at usbus4
ugen3.1: <ATI> at usbus3
ugen2.1: <ATI> at usbus2
ugen1.1: <ATI> at usbus1
ugen0.1: <ATI> at usbus0
ugen0.2: <HP> at usbus0
ugen3.2: <Lexar> at usbus3
ugen0.2: <HP> at usbus0

When I turn on the printer, I see the following in dmesg:

Code:

ulpt0: <HP Deskjet F4100 series, class 0/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 2> on usbus0
ulpt0: using bi-directional mode

And this is what I added to /etc/devfs.rules (in the jail):

Code:

[system=10]

Code:

add path 'unlpt*' mode 0660 group cups
add path 'ulpt*' mode 0660 group cups
add path 'lpt*' mode 0660 group cups
add path 'usb/0.2*' mode 0660 group cups

 

[Athanasios Kakargias]

Last time I had battled with cups I had added a
Sysctl variable vfs.usermount with value 1
Don't ask me why or source I don't remember.

 

[frankwang.au]

Hi, I have the same problem :-( Have you got it working?

Thanks,
Frank

 

[Robert Smith]

For Hewlett Packard USB printers make sure to disable the "Smart Install" feature on the printer; last time I checked it was incompatible with CUPS.

 

[frankwang.au]

Thanks Robert.

I have done that and CUPS is up and running, I can submit jobs but nothing happening.
Printer status: Paused

Any ideas?

 

[Robert Smith]

Are you trying to print from a Mac? I get something similar when somebody with a Mac tries to use the print server.

Works fine from Windows clients.

May have something to do with a print job having to traverse two CUPS servers...