Printing from a web app
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If 1000 invoices are generated per month, they are probably not generated with an invoicing program from one person. They are probably generated automatically from something else, like subscriptions or maybe work reports or whatever.
Nobody would want to use a browser to print those manually one by one. You want those generated automatically and sent from the server to the printer directly.
IPP has been around for ages but I actually never used it. Basically the printer contains a small embedded webserver that can receive and print jobs. You give it a public IP through your firewall. Not rocket science. Maybe you want a proxy server (http or print server) in between. In either case, the printer is now accessible through ipp://printer:port/... and you can print from anywhere on the planet (with the right credentials and also assuming the firewall lets it trough).
If the web app has support for IPP I think that would work fine.
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@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
If the web app has support for IPP I think that would work fine.
Yes, all of that requires the VPN, though. That was my assumption as to why the VPN would be the solution, you need a way for the printing protocols to reach the printers. I suppose you could use IPP without a VPN, but that seems like a bad idea. But you could just port forward and IP lock.
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@scottalanmiller said in Printing from a web app:
@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
If the web app has support for IPP I think that would work fine.
Yes, all of that requires the VPN, though. That was my assumption as to why the VPN would be the solution, you need a way for the printing protocols to reach the printers. I suppose you could use IPP without a VPN, but that seems like a bad idea. But you could just port forward and IP lock.
A lot of printers have IPPS support, meaning IPP with SSL and so does CUPS, so there shouldn't be much need for a VPN actually.
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@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
@scottalanmiller said in Printing from a web app:
@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
If the web app has support for IPP I think that would work fine.
Yes, all of that requires the VPN, though. That was my assumption as to why the VPN would be the solution, you need a way for the printing protocols to reach the printers. I suppose you could use IPP without a VPN, but that seems like a bad idea. But you could just port forward and IP lock.
A lot of printers have IPPS support, meaning IPP with SSL and so does CUPS, so there shouldn't be much need for a VPN actually.
You feel that IPP directly on the Internet is good enough? I think most shops feel that IPP requires a VPN to be comfortably secure.
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@scottalanmiller said in Printing from a web app:
@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
@scottalanmiller said in Printing from a web app:
@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
If the web app has support for IPP I think that would work fine.
Yes, all of that requires the VPN, though. That was my assumption as to why the VPN would be the solution, you need a way for the printing protocols to reach the printers. I suppose you could use IPP without a VPN, but that seems like a bad idea. But you could just port forward and IP lock.
A lot of printers have IPPS support, meaning IPP with SSL and so does CUPS, so there shouldn't be much need for a VPN actually.
You feel that IPP directly on the Internet is good enough? I think most shops feel that IPP requires a VPN to be comfortably secure.
I would look at it the same way as a https server. Would you feel the need to use VPN to secure a https server with login?
BTW, it's a very valid comparison because if I understand correctly IPP uses http and IPPS uses https.
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@elegast said in Printing from a web app:
Hi everybody
it's been a while
A colleague is looking for a solution for cloud printing.
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Situation: +/- 1000 invoices are generated monthly in a web application. These must be sent to the printer in the office via an api to be printed there. According to my colleague, Google Cloud Print is not good enough.does anyone have good experiences with other cloud print services?
Thx in advance.
Does this web application have a REST/SOAP API? If so, can you connect to it to retrieve the print jobs from an on-prem PC or server that is connected to the printer? You can simply schedule a PowerShell or Python script (or whatever) on something on-prem to connect to the web app api, get the print jobs, and print them out.
Or the other way around, have a node.js server running on-prem with an available API, that allow the web app to connect to via API with functions that print.
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@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
BTW it's a valid comparison because if I understand correctly IPP uses http and IPPS uses https.
It is valid and you are correct (at least as far as my understanding as well.)
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@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
I would look at it the same way as a https server. Would you feel the need to use VPN to secure a https server with login?
If I had IPPS and it had a login, then I'd be fine with it under all but the craziest circumstances. Do they support IPPS and logins though, that would be the question? I think most systems do not, so the VPN would cover that. But if you had both of those things, then sure, I'd be on board with that.
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@scottalanmiller said in Printing from a web app:
@Pete-S said in Printing from a web app:
I would look at it the same way as a https server. Would you feel the need to use VPN to secure a https server with login?
If I had IPPS and it had a login, then I'd be fine with it under all but the craziest circumstances. Do they support IPPS and logins though, that would be the question? I think most systems do not, so the VPN would cover that. But if you had both of those things, then sure, I'd be on board with that.
It seems IPPS is common. At least I have it on the small HP MFP sitting next to me.
Or you could set up a VM with a CUPS server. Let the webapp print to the CUPS server using IPPS and then the CUPS server can send the job to the printer however you like.
PS. Looked at the specs on a few printers from other brands and it looks like they all have IPPS support.
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Thx for your help, you all.
I will check the possibilities!
