Configuration

These settings control how the server operates and manages itself.  All settings are stored in the server's configuration file, config.ini, and can be maintained there manually or via the browser interface.

After editing, press the Save button to store your changes.  Some settings require a server restart to take effect, including any settings related to the private Apache instance, the SCGI server, or logging.  To restart, you can use the Restart button in the toolbar, or use the system-level server manager tool, /usr/bin/cp20s or cp20s.exe.

HTTP Server

Enable a private Apache or Nginx web server instance.  If checked, the following section applies.  If not checked, you must configure name space or virtual hosting in a web server so that it can access the SCGI server provided by CirrusPrint.  Note that you can have both the private instance and other web servers running on the same machine, as long as the ports and virtual hosting configurations do not conflict.  For information about configuring an external web server to work with CirrusPrint, see External Web Server Configuration.

CirrusPrint comes with default configuration templates for either Apache or Nginx, named apache.tpl and nginx.tpl.  These template files form the basis of a runtime config file for the active http server each time CirrusPrint is started.  If you need to customize the configuration, for example to increase worker or thread capacity, you can copy the standard *.tpl file to *.custom.tpl (i.e. apache.custom.tpl).  The next time CirrusPrint is started, it will use the custom file instead of the standard file to generate the Apache or Nginx config file.  This feature was added in 2.0.18.

HTTP Port is the port that the internal web server listens for connections on.  It can optionally be prefixed with a IP address and colon to bind to the specified address.  The default is 8482 or 80, depending on the install selection.  To bind to just 192.168.1.99, for example, change this to "192.168.1.99:8482".  If blank, no HTTP listener is started.

HTTP Access is a list of IP addresses, or address prefixes and bitmasks, that are allowed to access the HTTP port.  List multiple entries separated by spaces.  The default setting for this non-secure port is all standard local network addresses, 127.0.0.1 10.0.0.0/24 172.16.0.0/20 192.168.0.0/16.

HTTPS Port is the port that the internal web server listens for SSL connections on.  It can optionally be prefixed with a IP address and colon to bind to the specified address.  The default is 8483.  To bind to just 192.168.1.99, for example, change this to "192.168.1.99:8483".  If blank, no HTTPS listener is started.

HTTPS Access is a list of IP addresses, or  address prefixes and bitmasks, that are allowed to access the HTTPS port.  List multiple entries separated by spaces.  If left blank, any browser that can connect to the machine is allowed.

SSL Certificate File is the path name of an SSL certificate file in PEM format.  If no file is entered, then a default self-signed certificate is used.  Browser users will get warnings about the certificate, but may still access the server.  This file may contain the private key as well as the certificate.  If not, you must also enter the SSL Key File value.  Both Apache 2.4.8+ and Nginx support a certificate chain in this file, if intermediate certificates are provided by the certificate authority.  For Apache versions lower that 2.4.8, the chain file must be supplied separately in the Chain File field.

SSL Certificate Chain File is a path name of an SSL certificate chain file.  If there is an intermediate certificate file required (such as with LetsEncrypt or several other certificate authorities), and the intermediate certificate is not embedded in the main certificate file (as is supported by Apache 2.4.8 and higher and required by Nginx), then specify the chain file here.

SSL Key File is the path name of a private key associated with the above certificate file.  Note that if this value is not filled in, then the certificate file must contain the private key at the top of the file.

Namespace, if defined, will cause additional configuration files to be managed for use by an external Apache web server.  This enables CirrusPrint services to be supplied within the context of a separate web server managed at a system level.  The configuration files are created within the "apache" subdirectory and can be included in the external servers configuration with an Include /path/apache/*.conf command.  CirrusPrint services can then be accessed by the public domain and a /namespace path.

Public Host Names is a list of public URL values that can be used to access this server. These are typically maintained in a third party DNS service, and are important to setting up SSL access with public certificates.  When links to the server are sent out to users, they will use one of these names, selected by the user at the time of submission.  In addition, the server will use these names to look for automatic LetsEncrypt configuration for public SSL certificates.

Service Options

SCGI Server is an internal, localhost-bound port used when the Apache server communicates with the CirrusPrint server.  This port defaults to 8484.

Print Ports is a range of port numbers, such as 9100-9999, which is used when auto-assigning a port number for a Local Source definition.  Note that if non-local printers or programs will be submitting jobs to these ports, you may need to unblock them in the system firewall.  You can also set company-specific port ranges, so that auto-assignment for a company's port sources is taken from that range rather than this range.

Session Hours is the number of hours a login session to the admin interface lasts.  Users must login again after this many hours.

Ghostscript is the path to the Ghostscript program on the system.  Ghostscript is used when printing to browser users, to convert Postscript print data to PDF format.  For information about installing Ghostscript, see the Ghostscript Installation page.

Image Magick is a path to the Image Magick convert (or magick at their 7.0) programs on the system.  Image Magick is used when converting image data to print formats.

GhostPCL is a path to the GhostPCL progrram on the system.  GhostPCL is used to convert PCL print data to other formats, such as PDF for browser users.

Updates enables automatic download of updated versions of CirrusPrint.  These can be installed from the Status, Updates function, or via the operating system.  The updates are downloaded into the 'installers' subdirectory.

Auto Repair enables a file repair function to run each time the server is started.  This function is identical to the one run by the command line cp20s -repair.  This option adds a small amount of overhead to the server start time, though unless there are very large active job files, the time is trivial.

Local SMTP Server

If there is no other mail server on the CirrusPrint server, and port 25 (standard SMTP) is open, it is possible to submit jobs by email directly to output devices using a specific format in the To address.  The CirrusPrint server can listen for SMTP connections and start jobs with the emailed attachments (typically PDF files).  This provides a performance benefit over the IMAP inbound source method by reducing the number of mail servers an email must pass through.

Once this is enabled, each company can be configured to accept email submissions via this mail server.

Note that the internal SMTP server is not a full-featured mail server, and does not relay mail to outside addresses.  It is designed to only accept mail to known company output devices.  It should not be used in place of a standard mail server.

Email

CirrusPrint utilizes a mail server configuration for several tasks, including notifications that should be sent to a site administrator, as well as to users for password recovery, one-click access, and product testers.

SMTP Server names the mail server to connect to when sending emails.  The server may contain a "ssl:" prefix to indicate the server uses SMTPS rather than plain or enhanced SMTP.  It may also contain a :port suffix if the server's port is not 25 for SMTP or 465 for SMTPS.  Many servers use port 587 in conjunction with STARTTLS protocol.

Login and Password must be filled in if the mail server requires authentication.

From is the address that will appear in the From header of the email.

Notify Address is an email address to send important notifications to.  You can optionally also CC the publisher to ensure wider awareness of certain issues.

When you've configured email settings, you can use the Send Test button to send a test email to the To Address value.  A message will indicate success or failure, and after the test, a detailed SMTP log is available with the Test Log button.  Note that the Send Test button does not save the configuration settings, so be sure to Save once the test is successful.

Purge

Job Purging defines how many days job history is kept and also how long undelivered job files are kept, before automatic deletion.  If a remote location fails to pick up a job immediately, the job data file is retained until the location successfully connects and picks up the job, or until this amount of time passes.  Note the system will not purge jobs younger than 31 days regardless of this setting, in order to preserve records for usage reporting.

Log Purging defines how many days log files are kept.  A log file is created for each day.

Workfile Purging defines how many days work files are kept.  Work files are normally cleaned up automatically as jobs are processed, but if jobs terminate abnormally, files can be left behind.  Work files should generally be cleaned up quickly unless needed for debugging purposes.

Cache Purging defines how many days a cache entry can remain unused before purged.  Object caching is used to increase performance of job delivery to remote locations.  However, if a cache entry is unused, it occupies space for no reason, so it can be removed to free that space.

Debug History defines how long debug files (copies of job files) are kept for analysis and debugging purposes.

Connection Links defines how many days a connection link is valid before expiring.  Connection links can be sent to browser users from the Locations/Users page.

Logs

Log Path defines the directory or folder where log files are kept.  There is a log file for each day.  The default is the "logs" directory under the server installation directory.

Log Details defines how much detail is maintained in the log files for job transactions and for HTTP (browser) access.  There are three levels of detail: Normal, Detailed, and Very Detailed.  Detailed and Very Detailed settings are used primarily for analysis and debugging purposes, as they generate a large amount of data.