Unit 4 Assignment: CUPS Printer Managment
Linux Networking Abstract
In an environment with multiple printers, each doing specific jobs or is capable of doing multiple jobs, have to handle management. In an office that contains ten or more computers with a like number of printers, it is pretty easy for things to get confusing for an administrator who doesn’t have the funds for a commercial print server. So the answer and solution can or maybe in the open source print management software CUPS. CUPS Printer Management
CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) is a fully open source solution for printer management. CUPS is capable of handling a few or hundreds of printers and CUPS has features that even expensive commercial options don’t have.
Here is a short list of some of those features:
• CUPS has the ability to send a print job to multiple printers so that if the first printer is not available, it can send the print job to the next printer down the line. This is great for rush print jobs in office environments.
• An administrator can create printer classes and create groups of printers that have certain job and access requirement. An example of this would be a printer that is on a network that only supervisors can use while others who are not supervisors must use less secure printers.
With just those two abilities mean is that a CUPS server can do what most commercial servers cannot do.
CUPS provides a mechanism that allows print jobs to be sent in a standard fashion. The data is sent to a scheduler, which then sends jobs to a filter system that converts the print job into a format which the printer will understand.
(CUPS Administrative Guide, 2008)

With a CUPS server an administrator can manage a printer within a network and what workstation computers can connect to the printer and what that workstation computer can print. This allows for greater