Mac OS X Lion Server For Dummies®

Lion's Print Management Software

Mac OS X provides two choices of software that you can use to start and manage network printer sharing. The simpler and easier of the two is System Preferences, and it may be all that you need. System Preferences is the first place you'll go to turn on print sharing. The more powerful is the web interface to the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS).

You can use either shared printers connected to the Mac, or you can share network printers. For the latter, it means hosting the print queue on the server instead of the printer. Although it is limited in abilities, you can use System Preferences to restrict usage of print sharing to certain users or groups who are in the network directory. You can also use Workgroup Manager to further limit which users and groups can access specific printers.

Using System Preferences for printer sharing

System Preferences is the equivalent of the Control Panel in Windows. It's found in the Dock by default and accessible from the Apple menu. Found on all Macs, clients, and servers, System Preferences generally is the place for user settings on a local Mac. (It's also the place to configure local user and group accounts, if your server isn't using a shared network directory.)

To set up printer sharing, you access two areas: the Sharing pane and the Print & Scan pane, shown in Figure 10-1. I have more on System Preferences ...