Secure Global Desktop Administration Guide > Printing > Printing from a UNIX or Linux application server

Printing from a UNIX or Linux application server

To print from a UNIX or Linux application server, you have to manually configure at least one Secure Global Desktop printer on the application server. This printer redirects all print jobs to a Secure Global Desktop server. If your array contains more than one Secure Global Desktop server, you need to create a printer for each member of the array.

You configure printers with the Secure Global Desktop printer installation script. This script also installs replacement lp or lpr scripts. These are used instead of the standard scripts to ensure that print jobs contain enough information for Secure Global Desktop to be able to identify the user who printed them.

If you use the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS), follow these additional configuration steps.

Configuring a Secure Global Desktop printer on the application server

You configure a printer on the application server using the prtinstall.en.sh script. This script creates a printer, called tta_printer by default. This printer redirects print jobs from the application server to the printer on the Secure Global Desktop server (this is also named tta_printer).

Note If you use the Secure Global Desktop server as an application server, a printer is automatically created when you install the software.

You configure printers as follows:

Copy /opt/tarantella/bin/scripts/prtinstall.en.sh from a Secure Global Desktop server to a temporary directory on the application server.
Log in to the application server as root.
Change to the temporary directory.
Run the script.
If the array consists of a single Secure Global Desktop server, type:
```
sh prtinstall.en.sh
```
When prompted, type the full DNS name of the Secure Global Desktop server.

If the array contains more than one Secure Global Desktop server, create a printer for each member of the array. Type:
```
sh prtinstall.en.sh --ttahost DNS_name --appprinter printer name
```
The DNS_name is the full DNS name of a Secure Global Desktop server. The name of each printer (as specified by the --appprinter argument) can be anything you like but it must be unique.

Using the Secure Global Desktop lp or lpr scripts

The prtinstall.en.sh script also installs the Secure Global Desktop lp or lpr replacement scripts. Users must use these scripts when they print from the application server to ensure that print jobs contain enough information for Secure Global Desktop to be able to identify the user who printed them.

The Secure Global Desktop login scripts set the user's PATH to ensure that the replacement scripts take precedence over the system scripts. However, if the application uses a full pathname, for example /usr/bin/lp, or modifies PATH itself, you should reconfigure the application to use /opt/tarantella/bin/lp or /opt/tarantella/bin/lpr.

Users print with the replacement scripts as follows:

lp -d printer file
lpr -P printer file

If the -d or -P argument is omitted, the output goes to the client's default printer.

How you specify the printer depends on whether the user is printing to a Windows or a UNIX, Linux or Mac OS X client.

Note An alternative to the configuration described below is to use Secure Global Desktop PDF printing.

Printing to a Windows client

When printing to a Windows client, users specify the printer by using any of the following:

The universal naming convention (UNC) name of a network printer accessible to the client, for example:
```
lp -d '\\\\PRTSERVER\\HPLJ5' filename
```
A "friendly" name, for example:
```
lpr -P label-printer filename
```
A port on the client, for example:
```
lpr -P LPT1: filename
```

To use a UNC name, you must enclose the printer name in quotes and escape every backslash with an extra backslash (see the example above). As different shells process backslashes differently, you may need to experiment with the number of backslashes. Users can also use underscores instead of backslashes, for example:

lp -d __PRTSERVER_HPLJ5 filename

Note Using underscores only works if the first two characters of the printer name are underscores.

You can avoid problems with UNC names by using a "friendly" name. You configure "friendly" names in the /opt/tarantella/etc/data/printernamemap.txt file. The entries in this file map "friendly" names to UNC names, for example:

"label-printer"="\\PRTSERVER\HPLJ5"

Note You do not have to escape any backslashes.

Printing to a UNIX, Linux or Mac OS X client

When printing to a UNIX, Linux or Mac OS X client, users can specify any printer listed in the [UNIX] section of either the global /opt/tarantella/etc/data/default.printerinfo.txt file or the user-specific $HOME/.tarantella/printerinfo.txt file, for example:

lp -d A4-printer filename
lpr -P color-printer filename

See configuring printing for UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X clients for details of how to configure printer names.

Related topics
Introducing Secure Global Desktop printing The tarantella print command The prtinstall.en.sh script Users cannot print from applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop