Changeset 1154

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Timestamp:
10/09/03 22:04:51 (21 years ago)
Author:
jalet
Message:

New features list

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1 modified

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  • pykota/trunk/README

    r1153 r1154  
    2424==================================================================== 
    2525 
    26 PyKota is a complete Print Quota system for the Common Unix Printing 
    27 System (aka CUPS) or LPR Next Generation (LPRng), which works by directly  
    28 querying the printers for the number of pages they have printed. 
    29  
    30 Actual working features : 
    31  
    32         - Supports both CUPS and LPRng backends. 
    33          
    34         - Can store quota information either with PostgreSQL or with  
    35           OpenLDAP. 
    36          
    37         - Per printer user and group quotas. 
    38          
    39         - Automated email warning of users above quota to the 
    40           user himself and to the print quota administrator. 
    41          
    42         - Filter for quota accounting : pykota 
    43          
    44         - Command line print quota editor : edpykota 
    45          
    46         - Command line print quota report generator : repykota 
    47          
    48         - Command line print quota automated warning sender : warnpykota 
    49          
    50         - Command line print quote maker, to learn how much a print job  
    51           will cost in advance : pykotme 
    52          
    53         - Command line tools mimic the disk quota utilities for 
    54           easier mastering. 
    55          
    56         - Centralized storage of quotas : you can manage quotas for 
    57           different printers on different print servers and store them all 
    58           on the same quota storage server.  
    59                      
    60         - SNMP querying of any networked SNMP-enabled printer.  
    61          
    62         - Netatalk querying of any networked AppleTalk-enabled printer.  
    63          
    64         - External command querying of any printer : you can use 
    65           you own querying command, e.g. to query a printer via 
    66           the serial port, sending it a special PJL job and  
    67           reading the result. See the example scripts in the 
    68           "untested" directory and try to adapt them to your 
    69           configuration. 
    70            
    71         - External accounting methods : you can use your own accounting 
    72           method to compute each job's size. Just create a shell script 
    73           which reads the job's data from its standard input and prints  
    74           the job's size on its standard output, and you're done ! 
    75          
    76         - Special scripts included for a seamless integration of 
    77           PyKota on Debian machines. 
    78            
    79         - Complete job history is saved. This will allow more 
    80           complex reports in the future. This can be disabled 
    81           if preserving the history is of no interest or 
    82           makes the database grow out of control. 
    83            
    84         - Price per page and price per job can be defined for   
    85           every printer. A job's price is the sum of the 
    86           price per job for this printer plus the number of 
    87           pages multiplied by the price per page for this 
    88           printer. 
    89            
    90         - User's account balance and lifetime paid money are now 
    91           stored in the Quota Storage, and account balance can be 
    92           used to limit the user printing instead of a print quota. 
    93           Actually you can limit either by account balance OR by 
    94           print quota. Account balance is shared between printers 
    95           for an user, while quotas are define separately for 
    96           each printer the user prints on. 
    97            
    98         - Unknown users can be automatically added on first print. 
    99            
    100 All the command line tools accept the -h | --help command line option 
    101 which prints all the available options and show usage examples. 
     26PyKota features : 
     27----------------- 
     28 
     29    Operating systems : 
     30     
     31        - Any Unix-like system as print server. 
     32             
     33        - Any operating system as client. 
     34             
     35    Printing systems : 
     36     
     37        - Supports CUPS as the printing system. 
     38         
     39        - Supports LPRng as the printing system. 
     40             
     41    Databases : 
     42     
     43        - Supports PostgreSQL as the Quota Storage backend. 
     44          Complete database creation SQL script is included. 
     45         
     46        - Supports OpenLDAP as the Quota Storage backend. 
     47          Complete LDAP schema and sample tree are included. 
     48             
     49    Printers :         
     50     
     51        - Supports any printer which can report its internal 
     52          page counter. 
     53           
     54        - Supports any other printer via GhostScript. 
     55         
     56        - Can ask printers for their internal page counter 
     57          via SNMP, Netatalk, or any other mean of your 
     58          choice. This is completely configurable. 
     59           
     60        - External accounting methods are configurable   
     61             
     62    Quota systems :         
     63     
     64        - Supports user and groups quotas. 
     65         
     66        - Supports page quotas. 
     67          Page quotas can be set differently on a per printer 
     68          and per user/group basis. 
     69         
     70        - Supports account balance quotas in any currency. 
     71          Account balance quotas can be set on a per user  
     72          basis. The account balance is shared amongst 
     73          all printers. 
     74           
     75        - Experimental support for printer groups, so that 
     76          you can share quota between printers of the same 
     77          type but in different locations. 
     78           
     79        - Page quota and account balance can be set/reset 
     80          independantly. 
     81           
     82        - Limiting factor, page quota or account balance,   
     83          can be set on a per user or per group basis. 
     84           
     85        - Price per page and per job can be set differently   
     86          on any printer. 
     87         
     88        - Low level of page quota or account balance are 
     89          configurable. 
     90           
     91        - Both soft and hard limit with configurable grace delay   
     92          can be set for page quota. 
     93           
     94        - Possibility to disable quota enforcement for any user 
     95          or group, while still keeping page accounting. 
     96               
     97    Administration :         
     98     
     99        - Powerful administration tools can be used to 
     100          automate setting or resetting of quotas or 
     101          account balances at specific intervals. 
     102           
     103        - Administration tools can modify several users,   
     104          groups, or printers at once. 
     105           
     106        - Account balances can be set, incremented, or   
     107          decremented. 
     108           
     109        - Users can be automatically added on first print   
     110          in a completely configurable way. 
     111           
     112        - Quota report generator available either from the   
     113          command line or in any web browser. 
     114          The web-based quota report generator can be  
     115          user/password protected. 
     116           
     117        - Print quote generator can tell users how much   
     118          a print job will cost them in advance. 
     119           
     120        - Policy with regard to unregistered users can    
     121          be configured for each printer to either deny 
     122          printing, allow printing, or delegate the 
     123          decision to any external tool. 
     124           
     125        - Warning and error messages can be automatically   
     126          sent via email to the administrator, the user, 
     127          both, or none. 
     128           
     129        - Warning and error messages' content is completely  
     130          configurable. 
     131           
     132        - Configuration can be changed without needing to   
     133          restart the printing system. 
     134         
     135        - Complete print job history is kept. This can be 
     136          disabled if needed. 
     137           
     138        - Automated low quota or balance remainder can be  
     139          scheduled regularly or launched manually. 
     140           
     141        - All the command line tools accept the -h | --help  
     142          command line option which prints all the available  
     143          options and show usage examples. 
     144 
     145==================================================================== 
    102146         
    103147Planned features are described in the TODO file.