Table of Contents
How to: PrintManager and non-unique iNEWS system names
Problem
The PrintManager identifies an iNEWS system by its name. Therefore if there are two different iNEWS system with the same name in a network that have to be served by a single PrintManager configuration this will cause trouble.
Solution outline
The first possible solution is of course to rename one of the iNEWS systems. If this is not possible the name of one iNEWS system in the PrintManager configuration must be changed. Take some virtual name and replace the name of one of the iNEWS systems in the PrintManager configuration with that virtual name. On the PrintServer this has to be done in the inewsconf.xml and the iNewsSystems.txt configuration files.
On the PrintClient this has to be done in the PrintClient registry entries. Printing a queue from the first iNEWS system can be done as usual. To print a queue from the second system the PrintClient has to be started with the following command line arguments:
printclient.exe -s <virtual_system_name> -q <queue_name>
Detailed solution
Let's assume there is a network containing two iNEWS systems with the name NRCS. To print from one of both systems there has to be a unique name for each system in the PrintManager configuration. The following steps describe how to change the name of the second iNEWS system in the PrintManager configuration to NEWS.
1. Changing the inewsconf.xml on the server
Go to the PrintServer installation directory and edit the inewsconf.xml configuration file. Insert a system entry for the second NRCS system and give this system the name NEWS. Now there are two systems.
The first named NRCS. The IP adresses or host names point to the iNEWS servers of the first iNEWS system. The second system is named NEWS. Its IP adresses or host names point to the servers of the second iNEWS system.
2. Changing the iNewsSystems.txt on the server
Go to the home directory of the PrintClient ftp user on the PrintServer (default: /home/printclient). In the status directory there is the iNewsSystems.txt file defining the available stylesheets for the different iNEWS systems. Add an entry for the NEWS system and add the stylesheets that should be available for this system.
[NRCS] style1.xsl First_Style style2.xsl Second_Style [NEWS] style1.xsl First_Style style2.xsl Second_Style
3. Restart the PrintServer
Restart the PrintServer. After restarting go to the home directory of the PrintClient ftp user on the PrintServer (default: /home/printclient). Open the status.txt file in the status directory. There should now be a status entry for the system NRCS and for the system NEWS.
4. Alter the PrintClient registry entry
Go to the PrintClient machine open the registry editor and navigate to the Printclient registry entries (HKLM/Software/Hmedia/PrintClient/Systems). Add an entry for the system NEWS. Now there should be an entry for NRCS and for NEWS. The value of both entries is the same.
5. Start the PrintClient
If the PrintClient is now started with
printclient.exe -s NEWS -q training.rundown
it will open the PrintClient GUI containing NEWS as the system to print from and training.rundown as the queue. A printstyle can be chosen and printing can be started.
The startup of the PrintClient can be made easier by creating buttons to copy the current queue into the Windows clipboard. How to do this is described in another PrintManager forum entry how-to-start-the-printclient-in-gui-mode-already-containing-the-current-queue.
Sebastian Lorenz, 06.08.2008 05:53:
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