PaperCut Mobility Print on ChromeBooks

[timbo343]

We have an issue where none of the published printers are showing on the Chromebook.

 

I have Mobility print working for windows devices which i configured but due to the way it works, we cannot use it for Staff however i was hoping mobility print would work for our students who have chromebooks.

 

I can get to the printserver:9163 and the papercut client printserver:9191 but can i heck get the printers to appear on the chromebooks.

[DGardiner]

We have an issue where none of the published printers are showing on the Chromebook.

 

I have Mobility print working for windows devices which i configured but due to the way it works, we cannot use it for Staff however i was hoping mobility print would work for our students who have chromebooks.

 

I can get to the printserver:9163 and the papercut client printserver:9191 but can i heck get the printers to appear on the chromebooks.

 

Do you have any multicast "enhancements" or other multicast limiting settings ticked on the wifi? pretty sure this blocked it on one of our schools networks

[timbo343]

Do you have any multicast "enhancements" or other multicast limiting settings ticked on the wifi? pretty sure this blocked it on one of our schools networks

 

Nope nothing like this configured on our ruckus system.

[DGardiner]

Nope nothing like this configured on our ruckus system.

 

do your chromebooks have network ports on them? worth trying a cabled one just to be sure!

 

our mobility print just worked in all school excep the one where we had network optomisation/multicast filtering enabled.

 

If its on another subnet to the mobility server you will need to configure it on a DNS level using the known hosts method.

 

 

Windows is configured to connect direct to the mobility server instead of discovering it

[timbo343]

If its on another subnet to the mobility server you will need to configure it on a DNS level using the known hosts method.

 

 

AH! this might be the issue. Where's that configured if you don't mind me asking.

[timbo343]

If these articles are what you are referencing to then i have configured these already.

 

https://www.papercut.com/support/resources/manuals/mobility-print/mobility-print-server/topics/discover-printers-known-host.html

 

https://www.papercut.com/support/resources/manuals/mobility-print/mobility-print-server/topics/discover-printers-known-host.html#set-up-gsuite

[DGardiner]

AH! this might be the issue. Where's that configured if you don't mind me asking.

 

If you open the mobility admin panel it will say discovery method, click that and select known hosts and it will give you some commands to run on your dns server to create the required records.

 

 

If possible you can also just give the print server a connection to the wifi vlan and it will broadcast on that too if youd rather not mess with the dns stuff

[DGardiner]

Ooops its not known hosts its the DNS option.

 

the plugin should query the dns server for them and "just work" It is also possible to push a config to the chrome plugin that might get around it, dont think google auth works if you do that tho - if they use AD though that will cover you

[timbo343]

If you open the mobility admin panel it will say discovery method, click that and select known hosts and it will give you some commands to run on your dns server to create the required records.

 

 

If possible you can also just give the print server a connection to the wifi vlan and it will broadcast on that too if youd rather not mess with the dns stuff

 

As a test all ports and services are open on the firewall between the Wifi VLAN and the Print Server IP address.

 

Should the papercut extension be installed via User or Device? I currently have it set via user.

[DGardiner]

User.

 

Did you try configuring the settings in google admin to preconfigure trhe plugin?

 

https://www.papercut.com/support/resources/manuals/mobility-print/mobility-print-server/topics/troubleshooting-mob-print-mDNS.html

 

 

 

[color=#8E959E][font=monospace]{ "MobilityPrintServerHosts": {[/font][/color]
[color=#8E959E][font=monospace]"Value": ["http://:9163"][/font][/color][color=#8E959E][font=monospace] } } 

[/font][/color]

[timbo343]

i *think* i know where the issue is, the print server (VM) needs to tagging on the WIFI VLAN. At the moment, i have DNS forwarding rules and interVlan routing via the Smoothwall so when a user browses to http://printserverIP:9163 the smoothwall pushes the client to the correct IP address.

[DGardiner]

i *think* i know where the issue is, the print server (VM) needs to tagging on the WIFI VLAN. At the moment, i have DNS forwarding rules and interVlan routing via the Smoothwall so when a user browses to http://printserverIP:9163 the smoothwall pushes the client to the correct IP address.

 

yeah sounds like you might get away with switching it to MDNS mode and adding another network adapter to the VM then restarting the mobility service

that should advertise it to the chromebooks

[timbo343]

so, i might have found something:

 

Check the client can connect to the Mobility Print server

Try opening a web browser on a client, and make sure you can browse to each one of these URLs in the order provided:

 

http://:9163/printers

 

This tests that you can access the Mobility Print server over the network and that port 9163 is open. The correct output is a list of printers, or a JSON file containing a list of printers.

If this is inaccessible, then it suggests that the client cannot access the port or IP of the Mobility Print server due to network configuration or firewall rules.

http://:9163/printers

 

This tests the same thing, but ensures that DNS is able to resolve the hostname of the Mobility Print server.

If this is inaccessible, then check the client DNS settings to confirm that the client pointing to the correct DNS server.

http://rpc.pc-printer-discovery.:9163/printers

 

This tests to ensure that the pc-printer-discovery record is set up correctly in DNS.

If this is inaccessible, then make sure that the DNS records are set up properly. Take a look at Configure printer discovery using DNS.

 

When i run any of the listed URLs, the result i get is:

 

[ ]

 

I guess that means that no printers / devices are being pushed out to clients yet the client can connect to the server.

[DGardiner]

so, i might have found something:

 

 

 

When i run any of the listed URLs, the result i get is:

 

 

 

I guess that means that no printers / devices are being pushed out to clients yet the client can connect to the server.

did you open up the mobility admin http://mobilityserverip:9164/admin/ click select printers and tick the ones you want broadcasted right?

Edited November 16, 2020 by DGardiner

[timbo343]

did you open up the mobility admin http://mobilityserverip:9164/admin/ click select printers and tick the ones you want broadcasted right?

 

Yup, i selected them all to cover all bases

[timbo343]

Just to add to this, when on the domain network i'm able to run http://printserverip:9163/printers and the list of all the printers published is shown in a text file between the [ ].

[thimon]

Could you try the Cloud Print version of Mobility Print? It works for ChromeOS and Windows. We’re deploying that instead of the standard Mobility Print client, also means staff can submit print jobs from home and release them when they come into work. Edited November 16, 2020 by thimon

[timbo343]

Still working on this issue however i might have made a step forward.

 

I have restored to installing the Papercut Mobility Print Extension on my office PC and i am now starting to see what is happening (or not as the case may be).

 

I think our Smoothwall proxy is blocking the connection as i am seeing a lot of 503 (service unavailable) errors in the papercut extension developer console option.

 

If i disable the proxy on my machine or add http://rpc.pc-printer-discovery to the Bypass proxy list within the main Internet settings of my machine, the printers that are available show up fine. As soon as i turn on the proxy, i get errors.

 

I will have to go back to Smoothwall regarding this one i think and make sure i get this working on the domain first but i think this is where the first issue is yet when i go to http://printserveripadddres:9163/printers the text file of the printers are shown. Very weird - Gah!!

[timbo343]

I've not had much luck with this but something that has come to light is the issue trying to get mobility print through the smoothwall's webproxy.

 

We are getting 503 errors when the chrome extension is running through the proxy, but take the proxy out or add rpc.pc-printer-discovery to the proxy bypass and it works as expected.

 

Anyone got any tips on how not to get the 503 issues.

[SpaceInvader83]

I have this working , I needed to add my papercut server hostname to the proxy bypass in Smoothwall and add 9164 and 9163 (I think these were the ports from memory) into the allowed ports. This is using known host mode .

[timbo343]

I have this working , I needed to add my papercut server hostname to the proxy bypass in Smoothwall and add 9164 and 9163 (I think these were the ports from memory) into the allowed ports. This is using known host mode .

 

I've had smoothwall look at this issue and they too are struggling with the 503 error that the Papercut client is giving when the proxy is in use on the client machines.

 

I had already added ports 9163 and 9164 to Web Proxy > Settings > Advanced > Allow access to web servers on these additional ports.

 

Where is the proxy bypass in Smoothwall as i have everything listed in Web Proxy > Automatic Configuration > Global Options > Built-in > Exception domains and IP Addresses. The IP address of the Print server and the host name and Aliases are listed in there too.

[PaperCut]

Hey Timbo!

 

Are you still having this issue? It's quite specific so I'll ask you to open our ticket with our support champions over at https://support.papercut.com/hc/en-us . Let us know if you have any more questions too!

 

- Mikaela

[timbo343]

Hey Timbo!

 

Are you still having this issue? It's quite specific so I'll ask you to open our ticket with our support champions over at https://support.papercut.com/hc/en-us . Let us know if you have any more questions too!

 

- Mikaela

 

Hi

 

Yeah i'm still having this issue. I've asked Smoothwall and our papercut provider to help, both of which have drawn a blank to this issue.

 

I will raise a ticket on your site - thanks!

[DGardiner]

I've had smoothwall look at this issue and they too are struggling with the 503 error that the Papercut client is giving when the proxy is in use on the client machines.

 

I had already added ports 9163 and 9164 to Web Proxy > Settings > Advanced > Allow access to web servers on these additional ports.

 

Where is the proxy bypass in Smoothwall as i have everything listed in Web Proxy > Automatic Configuration > Global Options > Built-in > Exception domains and IP Addresses. The IP address of the Print server and the host name and Aliases are listed in there too.

 

if youre using a transparent proxy the exception you want is under guardian > exceptions > destination exceptions chuck in the papercut server ip.

 

this should stop anything going via the proxy on that port, though not sure if thats transparent only

 

I

[timbo343]

if youre using a transparent proxy the exception you want is under guardian > exceptions > destination exceptions chuck in the papercut server ip.

 

this should stop anything going via the proxy on that port, though not sure if thats transparent only

 

I

 

Thanks, but the IP Address of the print server is already listed in there.