Installation
Before being able to use PyKota, you have of course to
install it first. But before installing, you must carefully plan your installation.
First you have to determine which machine will be the PyKotaStorage Server. The Storage Server is the host responsible
for keeping a centralized database of print usage for all your printers, users and groups.
Then you have to list all the Print Servers for which
you plan to use print quota facilities.
Now we will see what has to be done on all those servers.
Note
Of course, depending on the size of your network, you may very well
use the same machine as both a Print Server and a Storage Server.
This is especially the case if you've got only one server.
Storage Server Installation
Depending on PyKota's version number, different
types of storage backends may be supported, so we will see for each one of
them how to configure it.
PostgreSQLPostgreSQL is an Object Relationnal DataBase
Management System distributed under a Free Software
license from the
http://www.postgresql.org
web site. It certainely is the free RDBMS which has the most advanced
features, and is widely used all over the world.
To configure your Storage Server, you must have PostgreSQL already working.
The complete installation of PostgreSQL is not covered by
the present manual, please refer to your system's documentation or to
http://www.postgresql.org for
details.
One thing you have to check, though, is that every Print Server on which you
want to install the print quota mechanism, i.e. the print servers, must be able to connect to the
PostgreSQL server. In the default installation of
PostgreSQL this may not be the case for security reasons, except if both
servers are in fact the same machine. In any case, it is recommended that you
check the /etc/postgresql/pg_hba.conf and modify it if
needed. This file is self documented and its modification is straightforward.
You also have to make sure that PostgreSQL accepts TCP/IP connections.
To do so you either have to launch it with the option or
modify the /etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf, which is
self documented and easy to modify too.
Tip
Don't forget to restart PostgreSQL if you modify
any of its configuration files, in order for the changes to take effect.
Be careful, you may be unable to connect from a Print Server to the PostgreSQL
server even if the configuration is correct. Sometimes your connections may be blocked by
one or more network firewalls along the route from one machine to the other. If this
is the case, then the best thing you can do is to ask your Network Administrator
to not filter the IP port used by PostgreSQL, which is
usually port 5432/tcp.
Tip
The TCP/IP network port used by PostgreSQL may be different. When in doubt, ask your
System Administrator for the correct value. Actually
PyKota does not work if the port used is not the default one,
but this limitation will be removed in a future version.
TODO.
MySQL
A MySQL Storage Backend is planned, but it actually
doesn't exist.
LDAP
An LDAP Storage Backend is planned, but it actually
doesn't exist. Some people may already be working on this, though.
Berkeley DB
A Berkeley DB Storage Backend is planned, but it actually
doesn't exist. It seems that remote storage won't be possible with such a backend,
so in other terms this means that you will have a different quota database on
each print server. This may still prove to be useful for small configurations.
Print Server Installation
For each Print Server on which you plan to implement the print quota
mechanism, you have, of course, to have an already working printing environment.
Currently PyKota only works with the
CUPS environment,
but more may be added in the future.
TODO