PDF Handshake 2.0 has a new feature to automate the PDF creation of any PostScript job. This is done by creating a new printer queue in the EtherShare Admin with the connection type
Create PDF. This queue prints the PostScript job over TCP/IP to dedicated Macintosh-based server(s). The Macintosh server is used to create the PDF file. After a PDF file is successfully created, the Macintosh will return the PDF to the EtherShare printer queue.
The benefits of "Create PDF Server" are:
- Server-based automatic PDF creation from any UNIX, Macintosh, or Windows client by printing to an EtherShare "Create PDF" print queue.
- The "Create PDF Server" works without any local configuration of the Macintosh server, the Distiller settings are attached to the EtherShare printer queue.
- PDF creation requires a lot of computing which will be off-loaded from the UNIX server to a dedicated Macintosh server, e.g. an iMac DV with a FastEthernet connection.
Note: Currently there is no speed up for the Adobe Distiller from Dual-CPU Power Macintoshs.
- There is no temporary PostScript file stored on the Macintosh "Create PDF Server".
- There is only the spooled job stored on the EtherShare server. Font or OPI resolving is done on-the-fly and does not use additional disk space on the EtherShare server.
- Error Messages will be saved into the EtherShare printer accounting log file and sent back to the user by e-mail.
- The created PDF document will be attached to the hold queue, similar to HELIOS' Print Preview application.
- The created PDF document can be saved to any EtherShare/PCShare volume, or into a subfolder which can be created for each user name.
- Job distribution to the next available "Create PDF Server" - EtherShare supports balance queues which allow to have a cluster of Macintosh servers which are used to distill many print jobs in parallel.
- Distiller security settings can be specified individually for each queue with the EtherShare Admin.
To benefit from the new "Create PDF Server" feature of PDF Handshake 2.0, the following setup is required:
- A dedicated Power Macintosh running Mac OS 9, with a working TCP/IP network and min. 64 MB RAM
- Adobe Acrobat 4.0.5 (Acrobat 4.0 will not work!)
- A UNIX server running EtherShare 2.6 and PDF Handshake 2.0
In order to ensure troublefree Macintosh server operation it is most important that the server is not employed with other tasks than to run the "Create PDF Server" process.
15.1.2 Macintosh Server memory requirements
The dedicated Power Macintosh that hosts the "Create PDF Server" needs at least 64 MB RAM. The performance of PDF creation with the "Create PDF Server" depends on the size of the PostScript print job in relation to the memory assigned to the application (compare chapter
15.1.3 "Performance" below). Hence, for excellent performance, the memory assigned to "Create PDF Processor" should slightly exceed the size of the largest print job which will be converted.
- Our experience shows that the Distiller can process PDF files from PostScript between 20 kB/s and 2 MB/s. This depends on the job data: images are faster, text and a lot of objects are slower; downsampling means additional workload and therefore increased processing time. The "Create PDF Server" can receive and send data up to 10 MB/s, but the Acrobat Distiller is not able to process PostScript this fast. There is no loss of performance creating the PDF on a remote Macintosh Server.
- The performance of the application "Create PDF Server" increases the more memory it is assigned. This can be modified in the Macintosh Get Info > Memory dialog, the default is 24 MB and can be increased to the largest memory block available, which is shown in the Macintosh Finder's About This Computer dialog (please keep at least 8MB left over for the Largest Unused Block).
- The Macintosh should be connected with 100Mbit Ethernet or faster. A 10 Mbit network will work but will not keep the "Create PDF Server" busy.
- On the average, the Distiller needs more than 90% of the time for processing, the network transfer duration of the PostScript and PDF data is insignificant.
15.1.4 Macintosh Server installation
The applications "Create PDF Server" and "Create PDF Processor" need to be copied from the "Create PDF Server" folder on the "EtherShare Applications" volume into the "Distiller" subfolder of the "Acrobat 4.0.5" application folder (compare Fig.
55). If "Create PDF Server" and "Create PDF Processor" are not located in the Distiller directory the "Create PDF Server" queue will not work. However, it is possible to create an Alias of the "Create PDF Server" application which can be stored in the Macintosh "Startup Items" folder (which is located in the "System" folder) to allow an automatic startup of the "Create PDF Server" application.
Fig. 55: Installation of "Create PDF Server" modules
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Using the "Create PDF" function requires the "Create PDF Server" to be up and running on the dedicated Macintosh host. After the "Create PDF Server" has been started (by double-clicking the icon or due to an Alias in the "Startup Items" folder), the following window appears on the screen indicating that it is idle and ready to receive print jobs:
Fig. 56: Create PDF Server window
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15.2 Setting up a "Create PDF" printer queue with EtherShare Admin
15.2.1 Setting up a "Create PDF" printer queue
Note: Creating or editing printer queues with the EtherShare Admin, which is essential for the following, is described in detail in the chapter "EtherShare Admin" in the HELIOS EtherShare manual. In this chapter, the focus is on the "Create PDF" printer queue only.
Setting up the printer queue
A "Create PDF" printer queue can be set up as follows:
Activate the
Printers list and choose
New from the
File menu (compare Fig.
57).
Fig. 57: Creating a new printer entry
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The EtherShare Admin then opens a new printer data window (see Fig.
58), which - to some extent - is already filled out with default values from the
Preferences window.
For all printer types, the window shows the logical (UNIX)
Printer Name for the printer queue, the AppleTalk (NVE) name and the printer's
Spool Directory. The NVE name is the name by which the printer queue is known to the AppleTalk network (the
Chooser Name).
Fig. 58: Create PDF printer configuration window
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First type in the required logical UNIX name for the printer queue (
Printer Name), and also the associated AppleTalk name (
Chooser Name).
When specifying the
Printer Name, a suggested
Spool Directory is automatically filled into the corresponding field. The default suggestion can be changed if required.
The
Spool Directory field specifies the directory in the UNIX file system where print jobs are to be temporarily stored before they are sent to the "Create PDF Server". Note that the spool directory must be unique for each printer queue and that it is recommended to check whether there is enough free space in the directory you choose.
Note: Make sure a directory path already exists since the EtherShare Admin will only create the last subdirectory, e.g. "createpdf-spooler".
You can then assign a
Hold Queue and/or an
Error Queue for your current printer queue.
If
Create PDF in the
Connection pop-up menu is selected, a new set of fields appears in the printer queue configuration window (see Fig.
58):
In the
Host Name field, the IP Address of your Macintosh server where the "Create PDF Server" and the Acrobat Distiller are installed is entered, as specified in the
TCP/IP control panel (see Fig.
59).
Fig. 59: "Create PDF Server" Macintosh TCP/IP configuration window
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The directory path to the place where the processed PDF print jobs should be saved must be specified in the
UNIX Directory field. If
Create Folder for each user is checked a subfolder for each print job "owner" is created in the directory path where the print jobs are stored. The user name is either the
Owner Name as stored in the
Network Identity section of the Macintosh client's
File Sharing control panel (see Fig.
60) or as stated in the "%% For ..." string inside the PostScript job.
Fig. 60: Network Identity dialog
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Note: In case the user name is not known to the EtherShare server, the PDF will be stored inside a folder "nobody".
If desired, you can enter a
Name Prefix and a
Notify Program. The prefix serves to identify the files that are coming from this specific printer queue (in case you have several
Create PDF queues which print to the same destination). The
Notify Program option lets you enter a path that leads to a specific UNIX program. This program will be started automatically after printing has been finished successfully.
Click
Save to finally install the new printer queue.
Once you click
Save, the Admin prompts to select a PPD file for the new printer queue (see Fig.
61). A Macintosh dialog window opens automatically for this purpose.
Select a PPD from the list and click the
Select button to assign a suitable printer description file to the queue.
In case you want to assign the PPD later (e.g. you have to install a suitable PPD first), you can also cancel the process and select the PPD file later (using the
Select PPD... item from the
Printer menu). You will get a warning message
on every login if there are printer queues on the server that have not yet been assigned a PPD file (The PPD needs to be available to every client that selects the queue in the Apple
Chooser).
For information about how to edit the PPD see
Edit PPD in the chapter "5.11 Printer menu" of the HELIOS EtherShare manual.
The Print Server needs to have a list of resident fonts (fonts that the Distiller can access) for each installed "Create PDF Server". The printer's resident font list (the "FONTS" file in the printer's spool directory) is created automatically by the Administration Server by interrogating the printer when you first set it up. The "Create PDF Server" must be up and running for this to work. A warning is displayed if the Administration Server is not able to make the font list for some reason, for example because the "Create PDF Server" is offline or busy with another job at the time (see Fig.
62).
Fig. 62: Missing font list warning
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If the font list is missing, you should start the "Create PDF Server" and select
Update Fonts in the
Printer menu manually (see
Update Fonts in the chapter "5.11 Printer menu" of the HELIOS EtherShare manual).
Select Distiller
Settings
Now you should set up the preferred Distiller parameters for the "Create PDF" printer queue with the
Job Options dialog. Subsequently you save this options file (to e.g. the Distiller settings folder) in order to make it later available for the "Create PDF" printer queue:
Start the Distiller and open
Job Options... in the
Settings menu. After specifying the preferred job options in the Acrobat Distiller
Job Options dialog, save the settings by clicking the
Save as... button. Then highlight your "Create PDF" printer queue in the
Printers window of the EtherShare Admin, open
Select Distiller Settings... in the
Printer menu, state the destination where your stored job options file resides (see Fig.
63) and confirm by clicking the
Open button.
Fig. 63: Select Distiller Settings... dialog
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Now your job option settings have been saved to the "Create PDF" printer queue on the UNIX host and are stored in the "SETTINGS" file of the spool directory (in our example: "/var/spool/createpdf-spooler/SETTINGS").
You can display and edit the Distiller settings for the "Create PDF" printer queue from within the EtherShare Admin:
Select
Edit Distiller Settings from the
Printer menu and the
SETTINGS window appears on the screen (see Fig.
64). Apply your changes directly in the window and - after you have finished - click
File > Close in the menu bar.
Fig. 64: Edit Distiller Settings dialog
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A dialog window will open and ask for confirmation of the applied changes (see Fig.
65).
Fig. 65: Confirm changes to Distiller settings
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Note: If you want to edit the "SETTINGS" file we recommend to use the Acrobat Distiller Job Options... dialog, save the options anew, and follow the instructions given in Select Distiller Settings. Editing the "SETTINGS" file manually can introduce syntax errors.
Select Distiller Security
You may want to protect your created PDF documents against unauthorized use, e.g. from being opened, printed, changed or edited.
The "Create PDF Server" can tag PDF documents which it creates with security settings, e.g.:
- opening the document
- printing the document
- changing (i.e. editing) the document
- selecting text and graphics
- adding or changing notes and form fields
The different types of protection can be set in the
Security (
Settings > Security...) window of any Acrobat Distiller. The "Create PDF Server" then obtains the security information from the "Distiller Preferences" file.
Fig. 66: Acrobat Distiller Security dialog
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In order to use security settings with the "Create PDF Server", proceed as follows:
Start the Acrobat Distiller and go to
Settings > Security.... In the
Security window (see Fig.
66) specify the required options, and finally confirm your entries by clicking the
OK button. Open the EtherShare Admin and highlight the "Create PDF" printer queue in the
Printers window. Then go to
Select Distiller Security... in the
Printer menu and open it. Choose the "Distiller Preferences" file which you want to apply to the "Create PDF Server" (see Fig.
67), and confirm your choice with
Open.
Fig. 67: Select "Distiller Preferences" file
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Now the "Create PDF Server" produces PDF files which behave according to the specifications in the "Distiller Preferences" file. You can check the settings in the
SECURITY window (
Printer > Show Distiller Security), as displayed in Fig.
68.
Fig. 68: Acrobat Distiller Security window
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Note: If no security settings are set at all, the "Create PDF Server" provides no restrictions.
15.3 Printing to the "Create PDF" printer queue
Printing to a "Create PDF" printer queue is almost the same as printing to any other EtherShare printer queue. The only difference is that here a Power Macintosh with Acrobat Distiller acts as "Create PDF" printer. So any (authorized) user on the network can benefit from the functionality of the "Create PDF Server".
Go to the page setup menu in the application you want to create a PDF file from, and choose the "Create PDF" printer queue. There, specify the required settings (e.g. paper size and PostScript options) and proceed to the print dialog. Here again, set the parameters you need and start the job.
The "Create PDF Server" on the Power Macintosh then starts processing the jobs - one at a time - according to their order in the spool queue. You can monitor the process and the state of each print job in the
Create PDF Server window.
Fig. 69: Create PDF Server window
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In case there should arise a problem during the print processing, a warning message appears in the
Create PDF Server window specifying the cause of the problem (see Fig.
69).
While idling, the window states with a "Welcome" message that the server is ready to receive print jobs (see Fig.
56). When a print job is being processed the window displays information about where the job comes from and via which port, as well as the total print job size and the transfer rate. After the "Create PDF Server" has completed the job and the PDF file has been created the window shows the size of the PDF file and the transfer rate (see Fig.
70).
Fig. 70: Create PDF Server window
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After that, the "Create PDF Server" is idle again and ready to accept new print jobs.
There are two ways to obtain the printed PDF file: from the "hold" queue of the EtherShare Admin, provided that the "Create PDF" printer queue is configured to pass printed jobs to the "hold" queue.
Fig. 71: "Create PDF" print job on the "hold" queue
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Double-click the "hold" queue in the
Printers list to access the file in the job window (see Fig.
71). The PDF icon in front of the file name indicates that PDF generation has been successful. Double-clicking a job's PDF icon in the "hold" queue automatically starts your Acrobat application. Also, you can select the job in the "hold" queue window and go to
Save as... in the
File menu of the EtherShare Admin.
Another possibility to obtain the created PDF file is to mount the EtherShare volume (which should be described by path in the
UNIX Directory entry, compare Fig.
58) and get access to the file there, or, if you checked
Create folder for each user, in the directory's subfolder.
Note: Please note that the PDF file still remains in the EtherShare directory even if the print job is erased from the "hold" queue. This is because the printer queue only references the PDF file.
15.3.1 Balancing "Create PDF" print jobs (Balance Queue)
If you want to enhance the performance you may group two or more "Create PDF" queues to one balance queue. The user then prints to this "balance" queue
where the print server distributes the job to the next "Create PDF" queue which is ready to accept jobs.
For comprehensive and more detailed information about how to set up an EtherShare balance queue see chapters "5.10 Printers list" and "11.6.8 Balancing print job loads" in the HELIOS EtherShare manual.
Activate the
Printers list and choose
New from the
File menu. The EtherShare Admin then opens a new printer data window, which - to some extent - is already filled out with default values from the
Preferences window.
In the pop-up menu
Connection: select
Balance Group and fill out the
Printer Name: and
Chooser Name: fields. If desired, assign "hold" and "error" queues to the balance queue. From the
Printers list drag the "Create PDF" queues you want to group for load balancing, and drop them into the
Printers: field (see Fig.
72).
Fig. 72: Grouping "Create PDF" queues for balance queue
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Important: It is most important that the "Create PDF" printer queues which form the Balance Group have the same Distiller and Security settings (compare Select Distiller Settings and Select Distiller Security).
Also select the same PPD for the "Balance Queue" which is already assigned to the "Create PDF" printer queues in the Printers: field. Otherwise the printing results may not be predictable.
The Acrobat Distiller sometimes produces strange error messages if it is running out of memory. Sometimes there is an error message "no PDF file created" or a PostScript error message. Please verify the failed PostScript job by dropping it on the Distiller application icon, maintaining the same
Memory and
Distiller settings.
If no PDF file is created the reasons could be:
- PostScript errors in the print job
- not enough memory for the Acrobat Distiller
- missing "DistillerLib" file in Distiller directory
- missing fonts
The status in the
Printer window gives out the message
Waitung for printer-. The possible cause is:
- the Macintosh or the "Create PDF Server" is not up and running
Important: The "DistillerLib" file is only created if the Acrobat Distiller was installed in "Default" mode. If you chose the Acrobat Distiller 4.0.5 "Custom" installation, this file will be missing.
