Manage the Print Quota DataBase with edpykota
Last modified on $Date$
edpykota is the main command line tool with which you will
maintain your print quota database.
You'll use this tool to create, manage or delete print quota entries for users
or users groups on printers or printers groups.
By default, before being allowed to print through PyKota,
an user must exist in the database and have a print quota entry on every printer
he should be allowed to use. The simplest way to add an user named jerome to the database is
to type :
$ edpykota --add --noquota jerome
The command above has created user jerome in the database, and has automatically
created print quota entries with no limit for this user on all existing printers. This means
that user jerome is allowed to print without limitation, but that full accounting
will still be done for this user : you'll know whenever he prints and how much.
You can apply two sorts of print quotas to users : page quotas, and account balance quotas.
Page quotas are defined for each user on each printer. This means that an user can be
limited to print more than 20 pages on printer HP2100 while still
being allowed to print 500 pages on printer TekTro.
Account balance quotas are defined once for each user. You give a number of credits
to an user, and whenever he prints on any printer, his number of credits diminishes
by the cost of the current print job, until his balance reaches 0.
In other terms, while page quotas are specific to a particular printer for a particular
user, account balance quotas are shared between all printers for a particular user.
This means that you have to choose which type of quota you want for each user.
The default mode is page quotas, but if you pass --limitby balance
as command line options to edpykota, the users onto which the command
will apply will be limited by the value of their account instead of by a number of
pages.
In addition to balance and quota, several other values
are allowed for the --limitby command line option :
noquota : the user or group can print without any limitation, but
accounting continues to be done.
nochange : the user can print without any limitation, but
accounting is not done.
This value is not supported for users groups.
noprint : the user can not print.
This value is not supported for users groups.
Here's an incomplete list of features :
Add printers (it's preferable to use the pkprinters command for this though) ;
Add and delete users and groups ;
Set users' account balances ;
Set users and groups print quotas on printers, eventually by using another user
or group as a template ;
Set price per page and price per job for printers (it's preferable to use the pkprinters command for this though) ;
Switch users or groups to or from account only
mode (no quota enforcement) ;
Define hard and soft limits for users ou groups quotas, on a per printer basis ;
Choose the way you will limit printing ;
Reset page counters ;
Etc...
For more details on the use of edpykota, please see this command's manual
page or help.