Chapter 6. Advanced User Management

Table of Contents

Groups in PaperCut NG
Setting up quota allocations
Custom Quota Scheduling Periods
Advanced User Quota Management
Automated Quota Allocation Example
New User Creation Rules
Bulk User Operations
Using Overdrafts
Batch User Data Import and Update
Batch User Import File Format
Batch User Card/Identity Update
Batch User Card/Identity Update File Format
Looking up card/ID numbers from an external database
Database lookup configuration
Testing
Disabling user printing with time latches
User Management Quick Reference

This section covers some of the more advanced user management tasks. On large networks managing users on an individual basis is not practical. Management needs to be handled either via a level of automation, or manually at group level. Some common user management tasks that typically consume time on a large network include:

PaperCut NG offers a number of features to help automate these tasks.

Groups in PaperCut NG

Groups are collections of users. PaperCut NG uses the network domain or computer's groups, meaning administrators can take advantage of the existing network structure. Groups in PaperCut are used in the following ways:

  1. To control how quota/credit is allocated to users on a regular basis.

  2. To automate the addition of new (future) user accounts.

  3. To assist with making modifications to user accounts by group.

  4. For group based reporting.

PaperCut NG mirrors (caches) domain network group memberships for performance reasons. Hence changes in group membership made at the domain level may not be immediately reflected in PaperCut. The group membership can be refreshed at any time via the User/Group Sync option under the Options section. Groups are mirror/cached for two reasons:

  • For fast reporting and search performance.

  • To ensure PaperCut NG is a good network application and does not overload domain controllers with group membership requests.

Many large networks may contain hundred of groups and/or organizational units. In many cases only a small percentage of these groups are pertinent to PaperCut NG management. To ensure administrators are not overwhelmed with all groups, PaperCut NG only lists the groups selected as relevant by the administrator.

To add a group to PaperCut NG:

  • Navigate to the Group section.

  • Select the Add/Remove Group link at the bottom of the groups list.

  • Select the group(s) required on the left-hand-side and click the Add arrow.

  • Click the OK button to add the group(s).

Adding/removing groups

Figure 6.1. Adding/removing groups

PaperCut NG includes one built-in group called the [all users] group. This group is not related to any existing network group and simply is a "catch all" group that represents all users list in the PaperCut system. It is similar to the "Everyone" special group in Windows.

Note

PaperCut NG sources groups and group members from your selected directory/domain source. There are however some situations where maintaining groups within the network directory source is not possible. For example, may you only have read-access to the domain. If for technical reasons it's not possible to define the required groups in your network directory, groups may also be defined via a text file (e.g. a tab-delimited file). Simply place your group definition file at the location [app-path]/server/data/conf/additional-groups.txt. See the template file additional-groups.txt.tmpl in the same directory for an example and further information.