[ubuntu-uk] Sharing printer with Cups on Ubuntu server

[Andrew Oakley]

Rob Beard wrote:
> (possibly 7.10 to start with and then 8.04 when it's released in a  

8.04 is as stable as damnit right now. I've been testing it since 
December, and as of about two weeks ago (Beta), I have had no instabilities.

> Is there any web interface built into CUPS that I can install the  
> printer and setup sharing with?

Lucy wrote:
 > The CUPS web interface is installed by default at http://localhost:631

That means it can't be accessed from another machine on the network, 
only from the server itself. This can be changed to listen to all 
network interfaces (ie. so you can configure it from your laptop 
elsewhere on the network) by changing /etc/cups/cupsd.conf from:

# Only listen for connections from the local machine.
Listen localhost:631

to:

# COMMENTED OUT: # Only listen for connections from the local machine.
# COMMENTED OUT: Listen localhost:631
# Listen to all interfaces
Listen *:631

You also need to add:

   Allow @LOCAL

...to the following sections:

<Location /admin>

<Location /admin/conf>

...then restart the service with /etc/init.d/cupsys restart . Then 
something like http://192.168.whatever.whatever:631 will work from 
another machine on the LAN.

Note that this gives admin access to everyone on the LAN, which most 
people would consider as insecure. You'll probably want to return it to 
Listen localhost:631 and remove Allow @LOCAL from the admin and 
admin/conf sections once you have configured the system.

Alternatively you could use an SSH tunnel to achieve remote access to 
localhost, without needing to change the conf file.

-- 
Andrew Oakley