CirrusPrint for AWS Marketplace

Welcome, and thank you for using CirrusPrint for the AWS Marketplace. CirrusPrint is designed to streamline printing and other document transport tasks between a cloud server such as this one, and your local devices, users, and file systems.

The manual contains a great deal of useful information, and should be used as a reference guide when working with CirrusPrint. There are many features you can learn about over time, but below is a simple guide to help get you started quickly.

Getting Started

• The main portal page provides links to each element of CirrusPrint, including the adminstration pages, user browser client, system client downloads, documentation, and more.
• Login to the administration interface with the user "admin" and your instance ID as the password. Once logged in, use the Site, Users option to change the password if desired. Like many options, this presents a list of records. Double click the admin line, and edit the password field to one you prefer, then save the record using the toolbar Save icon.
• Update the software if an update is available. There may have been CirrusPrint updates since the Marketplace entry was published. The Site, Status, System Info tab will display any available update next to the server version value. To update the software, connect to the instance and enter sudo cp30s -update.
• Create a new company record. Use a short concise value for the company, and its Name field for more detailed information. ID values are used in email addresses and other places where it is more convenient or even necessary to keep values short. Once a new company record is created, you'll see the navigation panel show options for the new company.
• Add a location in this company. A location represents a site where printers and other output devices are. A system client must run at that location.
• A system client must be installed on a Windows or Linux system at that site. Install that next, using the system client download links on the main portal page. Once a client is installed, access its browser interface on port 27084 and configure it to connect to the server, using either http or https, with a login of location-id@company-id and the password you defined for this location. Use the test button to verify the connection works, and save it.

  There is a second type of 'location' which configures a user who can receive documents in the Browser Client. Browser users run the client on their desktops and mobile devices, and can receive documents sent in the same manner used to send documents to a printer. The difference is that there is single device named "browser", and the documents are viewed rather than printed. Once documents are received, they can be printed by the browser or forwarded to other output devices configured in the company.

• The client uploads known local printers whenever it connects, so at this point you can use the Output Devices option to enable those printers you wish to work with. You can enable them one at a time as needed, or you can select a batch from the device listing and click the Plus icon on the toolbar. You can also copy/rename these known printers, and add additonal output devices.
• With active devices configured, you can now use the Testing option to send sample files to printers.
• These printers are now available for printing via the API, the server command line, or the client command line.
• You can also define Input Sources that support these output devices. For example, you can set up file path input source to send documents to a printer by dropping a compatible file (such as PDF or plain text) into the path. Other input types include network ports, which look like a raw network printer port to spoolers, and email through either an IMAP account or direct through the internal receive-only SMTP server. Input Sources are mapped to specific target devices.

  Email sources are unique in that one mailbox can support any output device based on aliases, plus-addressing, or mail group settings. The address must contain the string location-id.device-id, which is one reason to keep those ID values concise. To enable this type of device targeting, don't select any target device for an email input source.

  Path and port input sources can reside on the CirrusPrint server or at any system client location. This enables virtual printers to be defined in one location that physically print in another location.

More Information

• In addition to printers, output devices can include files using flexible naming methods, and command-line programs executed with files that have been transported to system client locations.
• High Availability is easy to configure in AWS environments with the EFS file system and AWS load balancers.
• Assigning a public domain or sub-domain name to the machine enables certain features, including email receiving settings and SSL support. Use the External URL configuration setting to provide public domain information to the system.
• Email-based printing can be configured with Email Receiving Settings in the server's configuration, and also via email input sources.
• Email notifications, such as client deployment letters and MFA login authentications, are sent using a SMTP server defined in the server's configuration, or in company configuration. SendGrid accounts are also supported.
• SSL certificates, both those you supply and those obtained from LetsEncrypt, can be managed with command lines. There is a default self-signed SSL certificate automatically configured for https access with security warnings.
• If you are upgrading from CirrusPrint 2.0, you can convert your 2.0 configuration to 3.0 in two simple steps documented here. If you are interested in the enhancements offered in Version 3, those are documented here.