7 HELIOS Admin

HELIOS Admin is a client application which allows easy administration of the HELIOS software. Due to its Java-based design it can be used cross-platform on Windows, OS X, Linux, and UNIX.

Advantages of HELIOS Admin:

Cross-platform administration
All necessary configurations can be made in a GUI
Administration over the Internet (HTTP)
No terminal application required

7.1 General remarks

This chapter describes the use of the application HELIOS Admin by the system administrator or other designated persons in order to perform configuration from any connected client in a convenient and secure way. It can also be used to set up regular users, groups, and printers on the server. In a multi-host environment, you can establish several HELIOS Admin connections simultaneously, to copy certain configuration data between hosts.

In order to use HELIOS Admin, the HELIOS Admin server must be running on the host you wish to configure. The service is started automatically when the system is booted. The HELIOS Admin server communicates with HELIOS Admin via an HTTP connection which allows managing multiple servers remotely.

Other chapters in this manual describe how administrative work can be carried out directly on the host, e.g. via setting preferences. However, most of these tasks can be carried out much easier using HELIOS Admin from one of the client workstations.

The HELIOS Admin application offers a high degree of convenience to the system administrator: server users, groups, volumes, printers, and all server settings can be configured from any workstation using HELIOS Admin. You can also interrogate each PostScript printer for available resident fonts and install downloadable fonts to the server.

Information about which windows are open (and about their positions and sizes) are stored in the preferences file “.heladmin.prefs” which is located in the user home directory. This allows you to arrange windows according to your individual taste, and have the arrangement retained between sessions.

HELIOS Admin accesses and modifies the “Preferences” configuration file just as if the changes were made manually. However, HELIOS Admin and the HELIOS Admin server have built-in safety checks to avoid conflicting or invalid configuration settings.

HELIOS Admin has the additional advantage that almost all changes are immediately effective, without having to restart the involved service.

Applying any changes e.g. to Extension Mappings via HELIOS Admin does not require a new file server login.

Benefits:

Any new extension mappings will be available immediately
Any new HELIOS volumes will be available immediately
Any changes to HELIOS volumes, e.g. setting “Groups” membership, will be available immediately

Potential drawbacks:

Any changes to HELIOS volumes, e.g. removing, changing mount points, switching characteristics to “Read Only” or changes in “Groups” membership may result in side effects for connected clients. This may range from write errors to volumes getting dismounted(!). Especially removing volume access rights for clients that still have documents open on that volumes might cause damaged or only partially saved documents.

Note:

You can verify with “Lists > Online” which users have certain volumes in access. Just open this menu before you save any settings to volumes and it will list the currently logged-in clients. The “Online” list will be updated automatically every 15 seconds.

Security – who can use HELIOS Admin?

HELIOS Admin is available to all HELIOS users, to allow them to inspect the current configuration and printer queues, but only the system administrator and members of three special groups are allowed to make any configuration changes or delete and re-schedule print jobs:

Members of the System Administrator group (default group name “SysAdm”) can do all tasks that the system administrator can do with the exception of changing user data for any users with a user ID < 100 (the system administrator has the user ID = 0).

Members of the Printer Administrator group (default group name “PrnAdm”) can perform print job related tasks:

delete a job
move a job to another queue
change a job’s priority
set a queue to Spool only/Spool & Print
restart a printer queue (with Lists > Printers, select queue and then go to Printer > Restart Queue)

The additional Queue Administrator group (default group name “QueueAdm”) can change queue settings, i.e. perform all tasks which are related to printer queue configuration and printer queue management:

perform any task “PrnAdm” is allowed to do
create/change/remove printer queues
update fonts for queues
download fonts to the HELIOS server
adjust PDF settings for the printer
adjust OPI and ICC settings for the printer
specify PPDs for queues

7.1.1 System requirements

See the client requirements for HELIOS Admin in 4.1.3 “Client requirements”.

7.2 Start HELIOS Admin

During the HELIOS Base installation, the “installer” program automatically creates the directory “public”, which is published as the “HELIOS Applications” volume. This directory is used to store HELIOS applications such as HELIOS LanTest or HELIOS Admin.

Windows

Start HELIOS Admin from a Windows workstation on the network by opening the “Windows” folder in the network volume “HELIOS Applications” and performing a double-click on the HELIOS Admin program icon. Alternatively, you can copy the application to your local harddisk and start it from there.

OS X

Start HELIOS Admin from an OS X workstation on the network by opening the “MacOS” folder in the network volume “HELIOS Applications” and performing a double-click on the HELIOS Admin program icon. Alternatively, you can copy the application to your local harddisk and start it from there.

Note:: During the server installation on OS X, HELIOS Admin is copied to the “Applications” folder, and can be accessed directly from there.

UNIX/Linux

Copy “/usr/local/helios/public/Java/HELIOS Admin.jar” to a UNIX/Linux workstation and enter the command: java -jar <path>/HELIOS\ Admin.jar

7.3 Log on to the HELIOS Admin server

After starting the program, HELIOS Admin opens a window which lets you specify the HELIOS host you wish to connect to (Fig. 7.1). If you are already connected to the selected host or if the Save Password option (Fig. 7.3) is checked for the selected host – this requires the AllowSavePassword preference to be set on the server – the option Force Password Dialog becomes available. If checked, it enforces the login dialog irrespective of the Save Name and Save Password options.

: Enter the HELIOS host name or IP address or select the Admin server via the Browse... button. Activate Use Proxy, to establish the connection to the HELIOS Admin server over a proxy server. Check the Force Password Dialog option to enforce the login window to open, even if the Save Name and Save Password (see AllowSavePassword) options are activated. Then click OK.

Fig. 7.1: Selecting a HELIOS Admin server via TCP/IP

HELIOS Admin opens an authorization window to allow you to log on to the server (Fig. 7.2)

Fig. 7.2: Login dialog

If an individual user name is not yet configured you must log in as “root” (UNIX based system) or “Administrator” (Windows).

Note:: Remember that after the installation of the HELIOS software on the host, the user “root” has an empty HELIOS password entry. See also chapter 4.5.2 “Set passwords”.

If you check Save Name, HELIOS Admin makes a note of your name and the IP address of the Admin server you want to use. The next time you start HELIOS Admin, you only have to enter your password.

You can configure the server to save the login password, too. For this to work, you must set the preference AllowSavePassword, which is described in 19.14 “HELIOS Admin server preference keys”. After restarting “heladmsrv”, the checkbox Save Password becomes available (Fig. 7.3). You can also log on to more than one host at the same time – see 7.10 “Multiple HELIOS hosts”.

: Click OK when all inputs have been made.

Login dialog (<code>Save Password</code> option available)

Fig. 7.3: Login dialog (Save Password option available)

7.4 Local preferences

HELIOS Admin allows defining personal preferences for operating the application. You can e.g. specify:

Hosts to which you want to connect automatically at startup
Proxy connection
Display refresh delay timings

: Open Edit > Preferences... (Windows) or HELIOS Admin > Preferences... (Mac), respectively.

Connections

This dialog (Fig. 7.4) allows you to specify whether connections to available hosts should be established automatically. In addition, you can activate the Use Proxy checkbox on a per-host basis. This setting corresponds to the Use Proxy checkbox in the “Connect To Server” dialog (Fig. 7.1).

Fig. 7.4: HELIOS Admin local preferences – Connections

Proxy

In this dialog (Fig. 7.5) you may specify the name or IP address and the port number of the HTTP proxy server you want to use for establishing a connection to the HELIOS Admin host.

Fig. 7.5: HELIOS Admin local preferences – Proxy

Timing

The status of HELIOS printer queues and printers is automatically refreshed every 6 and 2 seconds respectively. You may specify custom values, but note that too short a time interval may slow down the machine considerably because of constant refreshing actions on the server (Fig. 7.6).

Fig. 7.6: HELIOS Admin local preferences – Timing

Locale

This dialog (Fig. 7.7) allows you to specify an interface language for HELIOS Admin. By default, the language of the client operating system is used. However you can switch to one of the other supported languages by selecting it from the pop-up menu.

HELIOS Admin must be restarted to make changes in the local “Locale” preferences valid.

Fig. 7.7: HELIOS Admin local preferences – Locale

7.5 Lists menu

Window titles always show the name or the IP address of the chosen HELIOS Admin server (usually the host). List tabs are available for users, groups, volumes, printers, scripts, syncs, and (users) online. Log and message files, as well as the “Versions” file are available in their own windows (Fig. 7.8).

If the required tabs do not appear immediately after logging in, use the Lists menu to open the required lists manually.

Fig. 7.8: HELIOS Admin Lists menu

Select multiple entries from a list

HELIOS Admin is generally compliant with standard conventions (e.g. keyboard shortcuts) for selecting multiple entries (such as users) from list boxes. This saves time if you want to open multiple windows.

Use hsymShiftKey -click to select a range of entries and use hsymCommandKey -click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows) to select/deselect individual entries from a list.

7.5.1 Users

The Users list (Fig. 7.9) shows all users known to the host. The HELIOS Admin server automatically creates this list by inspecting the host’s system file “/etc/passwd” (or the appropriate NIS file, see 10.3 “Configuration with NIS”).

Fig. 7.9: HELIOS Admin Users list

Changing user data

: Select the required user from the list and choose Open from the File menu (or double-click the user name).

Fig. 7.10: User data for user “mailman” on host “ankh”

The window title shows the name of the HELIOS Admin server, the window type User, and the user name.

The window comprises the fields User Name, Password, Full Name, Home Directory, Start Program, Primary Group and the list of Group to which the user belongs. Note that the latter also includes the primary group.

The Password field shows always 6 placeholder characters, even if the password field is empty. It is only used when the system administrator needs to change or define a user password.

Note:: We recommend not to use special characters (e.g. umlauts) in the User Name, Home Directory or Start Program fields. It is best to avoid them in the Password and Full Name fields, too.

The HELIOS Admin server gets the user information from “/etc/passwd”, with the exception of the list of groups to which the user belongs, which is obtained from the file “/etc/group”. If NIS is installed, the information is obtained from the appropriate files instead.

It is now possible to edit any of the fields as required. Note that a start program and a primary group are obligatory. If the user should not receive the rights to access the UNIX shell, “/bin/date” can be entered in the Start Program field. If the user Home Directory field is left blank, no private user volume will be provided by the file server.

Note:: “/” as HELIOS volume is not allowed at all. Use another directory if “root” needs a private volume.

: In order to assign an additional group to the user, activate the Groups list and click on the desired group name. Without releasing the mouse button, drag the name away from the list and release the mouse button over the user’s list of groups.

Provided that the user is not already a member of this group, the group is assigned to the user.

Note:: Some UNIX systems allow at most 16 groups per user (see table at the end of 10.1.10 “HELIOS PDC Logon”).

This procedure is also possible for users and groups on different hosts, as long as user and group are of the type “NIS” (see 7.10 “Multiple HELIOS hosts”).

: To delete a group from the user’s assignments, select the group and choose Clear from the Edit menu.

This operation should not be confused with deleting a group from the Groups list. Only the membership of the user in the group is deleted, which is not the same as deleting the group from the system. Any user must be a member of at least one group. So, if you delete all entries from the user’s list of groups, the user will always remain member of their primary group.

If you apply any changes in the user data window, they are only valid after clicking Save and only take effect with the next user login. Provided that the changes have not been saved, the Revert button can be used to recall the original data. If an attempt is made to close the window without saving or reverting changes, HELIOS Admin will ask whether to save or to ignore the changes.

Changing user passwords

When amending and saving user data, the password is only changed if an entry has been made in the Password field. Note that the Password field shows always 6 bullets, even if the user has no assigned password. On changing the password, HELIOS Admin prompts for the new password to be entered once again, to ensure that no typing mistakes have been made.

A changed password is entered e.g. in the file “/etc/passwd” and in the HELIOS user list (“HELIOSDIR/var/conf/passwd”). It is immediately valid, but only takes effect with the next user login. If NIS is installed, the information is changed in the appropriate files instead.

Creating users

A new user is created as follows:

: Activate the Users tab and choose New from the File menu.

HELIOS Admin opens a user data window which already contains some default values from the Server Settings menu (Fig. 7.46). For example, when typing in the user name a suggested home directory is automatically filled into the corresponding field. The default suggestion can be changed if required.

After filling in the user data window and clicking on Save, a new user is added to the list. If the user data window is closed without saving, the new user entry is discarded.

If you wish to create a new user that should adopt most of the settings of an already existing user, a very convenient way is to duplicate the user data by copying a user entry from the Users list and then pasting it into the list. A user data window opens to adjust the settings for the new user. Instead of copying/pasting the user entry you may also highlight it in the Users list and drag and drop it with the mouse within the list.

On saving the new user, a new entry with the corresponding user data is created in the “/etc/passwd” file. The user ID will be assigned automatically, but can be changed as follows:

: Click on the … button (compare Fig. 7.10) and enter the new user ID. Then confirm the changes.

Delete users

: Highlight the user name in the Users list and select Clear from the Edit menu.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgement of deletion, to allow it to be cancelled if required.

If deletion is confirmed, the entry is removed from the list, and the corresponding entries are deleted from the files “/etc/passwd” and “/etc/group”. Files in the user’s home directory are not deleted. They must be removed by the system administrator.

If NIS is installed, the information is changed in the appropriate files instead.

Important:: Never delete OS provided users like “bin”, “daemon”, etc. This may cause serious problems!

7.5.2 Groups

The Groups list (Fig. 7.11) shows all groups known to the host. The HELIOS Admin server automatically creates this list by inspecting the UNIX system file “/etc/group” (or the appropriate NIS file, see 10.3 “Configuration with NIS”).

Fig. 7.11: HELIOS Admin Groups list

Changing group data

: Select the required group from the list and choose Open from the File menu (or double-click the group name).

Fig. 7.12: Group data for group “docs” on host “ankh”

The window title shows the name of the HELIOS Admin server, the window type Groups and the group name.

The window shows the Group name and the list of the group members (User). The HELIOS Admin server gets the group information from the “/etc/group” and “/etc/passwd” files or from the appropriate NIS file.

It is now possible to change the group name and the members of the group.

: In order to assign an additional user to the group, activate the Users tab and select the desired user name. Without releasing the mouse button, drag the name away from the Users list and release the mouse button over the User list of group members.

Provided that the user is not already member of this group, they will be added to the list of members now.

This procedure is also possible for users and groups on different hosts, as long as user and group are of the type “NIS” (see 7.10 “Multiple HELIOS hosts”).

: To delete a user from the User list of group members, select the user name and choose Clear from the Edit menu.

This operation should not be confused with deleting a user from the user list. Only the membership of the user in the group is deleted, which is not the same as deleting the user from the system.

If you apply any changes in the group data window, they are only valid after confirmation and only take effect with the next user login. Provided that the changes have not been saved, the Revert button can be used to recall the original data. If an attempt is made to close the window without saving or reverting changes, HELIOS Admin will ask whether to save or to revert the changes.

Creating groups

A new group is created as follows:

: Activate the Groups tab and choose New from the File menu.

After filling in the group data window and clicking on Save, a new group is added to the list. If the group data window is closed without saving, the new group entry is discarded.

If you wish to create a new group that should adopt most of the settings of an already existing group, a very convenient way is to duplicate the group data by copying a group entry from the Groups list and then pasting it into the list. A group data window opens to adjust the settings for the new group. Instead of copying/pasting the group entry you may also highlight it in the Groups list and drag and drop it with the mouse within the list.

On saving the new group, a new entry with the corresponding group data and member list is made in the “/etc/group” file (or the appropriate NIS files). The group ID will be assigned automatically, but can be changed as follows:

: Click on the … button (compare Fig. 7.12) and enter the new group ID. Then confirm the changes.

Delete groups

: Highlight the group name in the Groups list and select Clear from the Edit menu.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgment of deletion to allow it to be aborted if required.

If deletion is confirmed, the group is removed from the list, and the corresponding entries are deleted from “/etc/group”. The file “/etc/passwd” is checked for users who were assigned that group as their primary group; if any are found, the ID for the primary group in the user’s entry in the “passwd” file is changed by convention to the group ID of the group “nogroup”. The user must then be assigned a new primary group before they can log in anew. Also, make sure that the group is not used for the volume Group list of any of the volumes.

If NIS is installed, the information is changed in the appropriate files instead.

Important:: Never delete OS provided groups like “bin”, “daemon”, “lp” or “mail”. This may cause serious problems!

7.5.3 Volumes

The Volumes list (Fig. 7.13) shows all HELIOS volumes known to the host. The HELIOS Admin server automatically creates this list by inspecting volume related entries in the “Preferences” file (see 19.2 “Volume preference keys”).

Fig. 7.13: HELIOS Admin Volumes list

Changing volume settings

Before changing any volume settings, make sure that the volume is not in use. All users should unmount the volume, because changes take effect immediately and this could lead to strange effects, e.g. when changing the volume name.

In order to change the settings for a particular volume, open the data window that displays all available information about the selected volume (Fig. 7.14).

: Select the desired volume from the list and choose Open from the File menu (or double-click the volume name).

The General tab is always displayed first. The settings which are available in the tabs Spotlight, Mac, Windows, and OPI are detailed in the respective HELIOS user manuals (Index Server, EtherShare, PCShare, and ImageServer).

Fig. 7.14: Volume data for volume “/demovol” on host “ankh”

The IP Access tab allows you to choose an IP access file for the volume which is different from the general access file “ipaccess”, which is published as DEFAULT (see 7.8.6 “IP Access”).

The window title states the name of the HELIOS Admin server (usually the host name), the window type Volume and the volume path (here “/demovol”), which reflects the entry in the Directory field.

It is now possible to change the volume directory path and the checkboxes for Exchangeable, Read Only, Guest Access, and Hide “dot files”. The volume User and Group lists are described later in this chapter (see Volume users and groups).

Only check Exchangeable for removable media attached to the host which are normally changed while the host is running (e.g. a CD-ROM).

Important:: Do not check Exchangeable for local volumes and for storage mounted remotely, e.g. through NFS! The latter is usually mounted automatically on booting UNIX.

Please read the section Mounting removable volumes for instructions on how to mount removable media.

Read Only must be checked for exchangeable media which are write-protected. Otherwise you will not be able to mount them.

Note:: Read Only should not be used to enforce read-only access to read/write drives. Use appropriate file permissions for this purpose.

If the option Guest Access is checked, an EtherShare “guest” user can access the volume with the rights of the UNIX user “nobody”.

Note:: The AFP server preference enableguest must be active to enable guest access at all (see HELIOS EtherShare manual).

Unicode/UTF8 is active and cannot be turned off so the character set encoding for the specific volume is set to Unicode. This provides a correct cross-platform file name transfer (particularly if the names contain special characters such as umlauts) between Mac clients, Windows clients (provided that PCShare is installed), and UNIX servers. On all machines, file names are displayed in the same way.

If the Hide “dot files” option is checked, the HELIOS AFP and SMB servers pass files that start with a dot (“.”) in their file name as “hidden” to the connected client.

If you apply any changes in the volume data window, they are only valid after confirmation and only take effect with the next user login. Provided that the changes have not been saved, the Revert button can be used to recall the original data. If an attempt is made to close the window without saving or reverting changes, HELIOS Admin will ask whether to save or to revert the changes.

Creating volumes

A new volume is created as follows:

: Activate the Volumes tab and choose New from the File menu.

The volumes’ directories must not overlap or include the directories of other HELIOS volumes, so choose the volume mount point carefully. However, HELIOS Admin will issue an error message if you try to specify a path which is overlapping the directories of other volumes. Furthermore, the directory tree of each HELIOS volume should not be split among more than one file system. Otherwise, the values for used and free space would not reflect the correct status.

Important:: Symbolic links pointing to directories would confuse the file server. For example two directories in one volume might have the same directory ID and double-clicking one of the folders then could open the other. To prevent this, the HELIOS file servers do not follow symbolic links on folders. If you need links, use the client’s “Alias” function instead. If HELIOS file servers detect overlapping volumes they will not mount them and issue an error message instead (see Desktop auto-rebuild in 13.2 “The desktop server program”).

Finally, the volume directories should not be “cross-mounted” through NFS, because HELIOS will not allow you to mount the same volume concurrently from different hosts. As soon as the volume is mounted by a user from one host, it will not be available anymore for users of other hosts. The volume will be released again automatically when it is unmounted. However, you can always mount the volume by logging on to the host from which it is already mounted.

Note:: If the same NFS data is accessed from multiple HELIOS servers, the check for cross-mounting can only work if both HELIOS servers are installed from the same software release.

If you wish to create a new volume that should adopt most of the settings of an already existing volume, a very convenient way is to duplicate the volume data by copying a volume entry from the Volumes list and then pasting it into the list. A volume data window opens to adjust the settings for the new volume. Instead of copying/pasting the volume entry you may also highlight it in the Volumes list and drag and drop it with the mouse within the list.

After filling in the volume data window and confirming the changes, a new volume is added to the list. If the volume data window is closed without saving, the new volume entry is discarded.

On saving the new volume, a new entry with the corresponding volume data is made in the “Preferences” file.

Volume users and groups

Especially if you store a large number of files on the HELIOS server or if the server is used by several different departments in your company, you may want to subdivide the hard disk(s) of your host into several different logical volumes. You can then set access permissions for each volume (and for individual folders in the volume) via the client permissions option. To provide additional security, you can also make specified HELIOS volumes visible to selected users and groups only, by using the volume User and Group lists.

: Click on the Volumes tab to view and select the desired volume. Then activate the General tab. Now click the Groups tab of HELIOS Admin to view the Groups list. Select the desired group name, and without releasing the mouse button, drag the name from the Groups list to the volume “Group” window.

: To make specified HELIOS volumes visible to selected users only, take the same steps as described above, but drag and drop users from the Users list to the volume “Users” window.

: To add AD/PDC or LDAP users to these lists, refer to 7.6 “Volume menu”.

Delete volumes

: Highlight the volume name in the Volumes list and select Clear from the Edit menu.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgment of deletion, to allow deletion to be aborted, if required.

If deletion is confirmed, the entry is removed from the window and the corresponding entry is deleted from the “Preferences” file.

Note:: If the volume still contains files and folders, they are not deleted. However, they are no longer accessible to client users.

7.5.4 Sharepoints

The Sharepoints tab is described in the HELIOS WebShare manual.

7.5.5 WebShare Users

The WebShare Users tab is described in the HELIOS WebShare manual.

7.5.6 Printers

The Printers list (Fig. 7.15) shows all printer queues known to the host. The HELIOS Admin server creates this list from the contents of the “printcap” file and printer related entries in the “Preferences” file.

Fig. 7.15: HELIOS Admin Printers list

Each printer queue is shown in the list under its own unique host printer name (Printer Name) as specified in “HELIOSDIR/var/conf/printcap”. Each queue can also have a TCP Name (Mac) or an SMB Name (Windows), which is usually not the same as the host printer name. If SMB Name or TCP Name appear gray, the respective name is defined but not published to the clients. However, if the Printer Name appears gray, no PPD or font file has been assigned to that printer queue.

Note:: A right-click with the mouse in the column title area of the Printers tab window allows managing the availability of columns.

Which of the names are available on the workstations depends on the protocol the client is connected to the server. We recommend that you name your printer queues by adding an extension to the name of the physical printer. So you can easily distinguish between queues and printers.

You should always select the printer queue (spooler) rather than selecting the physical printer for printing. Due to print job spooling, it is not only much more efficient to access printers through the printer queues, it also avoids the problem of long waiting periods that may occur if you try to access a printer both directly and through the spooler.

Usually, each printer queue is associated with a single physical printer. However, you may wish to allocate more than one printer queue to a printer, for example to be able to select different printer settings for the same printer (see later).

Note:: The term “printer” is meant to encompass all aspects of setting up a particular printer, not only the configuration of the printer’s network connection but also the configuration of the associated printer queues.

Changes in the printer configuration affect the “Preferences” and “printcap” files, and the printer queue entries in “HELIOSDIR/var/spool/qmeta/”.

Changing printer data

To change the settings for a particular printer queue, you must open the Printer window (Fig. 7.16).

: Select the desired printer from the list and choose Settings from the Printer menu.

The window title shows the name of the HELIOS Admin server, the window type Printer and the UNIX printer name as entered in the Printer Name field.

When typing in the Printer Name, a suggested Spool Directory path is automatically stated in the corresponding field, and can be changed if required.

Fig. 7.16: Printer data for printer “ljet”

Edit Initialization is used to create or change a PostScript printer initialization sequence (“INIT”) for the selected printer. You can use this, e.g. to define a PostScript filter sequence to remove unwanted single and double “Ctrl-D” codes generated by some MS-Windows applications. A suitable filter for this is shown in the example in Fig. 7.17.

Usually, each physical printer is associated with a single printer queue. However, you can allocate more than one printer queue to a printer, which allows you to have different printer initialization strings for the same printer and to select between them via different queues.

Fig. 7.17: Printer initialization string

Note that writing INITs requires some knowledge of the PostScript language. PostScript INITs must not contain the “exitserver” operator because if so, the following print job will not execute properly (see C.4 “PostScript RIP inits in HELIOS Admin”).

Another way of defining a specific behavior during printing is to edit the PPD file which has been assigned to the queue:

If the Select PPD option is checked, an additional section becomes available in the window, allowing you to specify a PPD for the printer queue. If a queue has a PPD assigned, you can display the contents of that file in a text window, and root and members of the “SysAdm” or “QueueAdm” group can edit it:

: Click the Edit PPD... button.

You can use this feature for information purposes at any time, e.g. to find out which PPD file is currently valid in a specific queue. However, you should be very careful as far as the “edit” functionality is concerned. Editing a PPD file requires some knowledge about the structure and syntax of PPD files. Also, your changes may have different effects when printing with different applications.

The Spool Directory field specifies the directory in the UNIX file system where print jobs are temporarily stored before they are sent to the printer. If required, the spool directory can be set to swap out the spool files to other file systems (hard disks), but you should avoid NFS-mounted spool directories because of the performance loss. Note that the spool directory must be unique for each printer. It is recommended to check that there is enough free space in the directory of your choice. The Browse... button allows you to select a spool directory manually.

Note:: Make sure a directory path already exists because HELIOS Admin will only create the last subdirectory, e.g. PrintToDisk in “/var/spool/PrintToDisk”.

You should then define a Hold Queue and an Error Queue for your current printer queue.

Usually, print jobs vanish after they have been sent to the output device. Hold and error queues act as a kind of archive: All print jobs that have been sent to a specific printer queue are printed, and then stored for a given period of time in the connected hold or error queue. They can be restarted even if the application that has initially launched the job has already been closed. All “correct” print jobs automatically proceed to the hold queue after printing. Whenever an error has occurred during printing the print job will be shifted to the error queue (provided that hold and error queues have been specified). This holds true for technical mistakes, e.g. if the connection to the printer has been interrupted, and for errors that occured due to a specific configuration (e.g. the Check Images flag is set for an OPI printer queue and the print server cannot find that image file that has been placed in the document by reference).

The Hold Queue setting is normally used to route a completed job to an actual Hold queue to await further action. It is also possible to use the Hold Queue setting to route the completed job to another printer queue, to set up sequential printing. This is also known as “job pipelining”. For example, if a job prints successfully to the printer, it could then go to another queue where the job is optimized for archiving or for internet use. If it is routed to a Print to Disk queue or a Create PDF queue, the output can be saved to a specified directory or user folder. For simultaneous output, a Clone queue can be used, see 7.5.7 “Connection type”.

The Banner Page option determines whether the printer will print a title (banner) page before outputting the print job. The title page contains information about the print job such as the user name, the time and the document name. It is useful when sorting out a pile of pages if a number of users have been printing at the same time.

“psof” is the output filter program, which is responsible for generating the title page as a PostScript job (a banner is not generated for non-PostScript printers). “psof” is automatically called by the UNIX program “lpd” at the start of each print job, and generates a banner if one was specified with the Banner Page option in the printer configuration. The banner page is generated from a PostScript file which is compiled into the interface programs “*if” (e.g. “tcpif”) or from “BANNER” in the printer’s “qmeta” subdirectory. If existing, the latter takes precedence.

To create a banner page, you may prepare a text in ASCII and convert it to PostScript by use of the HELIOS “pstext” program. Then copy the PostScript file into the printer’s subdirectory in “qmeta”:

Example:

# pstext < text.txt > HELIOSDIR/var/spool/qmeta/cpdf/BANNER

Important:: “BANNER” must be a PostScript file!

The following special sequences (“variables”) in the banner file are replaced automatically by information about the print job:

^U   The user who created the print job (set by “%%For”)
^T   The current time
^N   The file name of the document
^C   The number of pages in the print job
^P   The logical (“printcap”) name of the printer
^H   Host name
^n   UNIX job title
^u   UNIX user ID (login name)

Do not confuse ^U in the above list with Ctrl+U, it means caret followed by an uppercase U With the Banner Page option in HELIOS Admin (which sets the appropriate preference) you can determine whether the printer prints a title page before outputting the print job.

The Accounting File option determines whether the print server will write print job details (e.g. user name and the number of printed pages) to the printer log file. The job will be assigned to “root” if no name is specified or if the name specified is unknown to the HELIOS Admin server. See User and document names in print jobs in C.1 “Printer log file structure” for more information.

The HELIOS print services have a built-in pagecount functionality, which is based on PostScript code:

%!PS-Adobe-2.0 Query 
%%Title: Query for page count 
%%?BeginPageCountQuery
(%%[ pagecount: ) print
statusdict /pagecount known {
statusdict begin
pagecount 10 string cvs print
end
} {
(-1) print
} ifelse
( ]%%) print
flush
%%?EndPageCountQuery: %%[ pagecount: -1 ]%%

If you want to use your own custom PostScript code save it to a file “PAGECOUNT” and copy it into the printer’s subdirectory in “qmeta”.

Note:: You should be familiar with PostScript if you plan to set up your own pagecount PostScript code.

Sometimes you may want the client application to include all needed fonts in the print job, in order to make sure that the exact fonts from the application are used for printing. The Hide Server Fonts option causes the server to “pretend” to not have any fonts installed, which would induce the client application to include all needed fonts.

: Choose the Connection type for the printer queue. The different types are explained in 7.5.7 “Connection type”.

If you apply any changes in the printer settings window, they are only valid after confirmation. Provided that the changes have not been saved, the Revert button can be used to recall the original data. If an attempt is made to close the window without saving or reverting changes HELIOS Admin will ask whether to save or to revert the changes.

The Mac tab is described in the HELIOS EtherShare manual, the Windows tab in the HELIOS PCShare manual, and the tabs for OPI and ICC in the HELIOS ImageServer manual.

Creating printers

A new printer is set up as follows:

: Activate the Printers tab and choose New from the File menu.

If you wish to create a new printer that should adopt most of the settings of an already existing printer, a very convenient way is to duplicate the printer data by copying a printer entry from the Printers list and then pasting it again into the same list. A printer data window opens to adjust the settings for the new printer. Instead of copying/pasting the printer entry you may also highlight it in the Printers list and drag it with the mouse within the list.

After filling in the printers data window and confirming the changes, the new printer is added to the list. If the printer data window is closed without saving, the new printer entry is discarded.

Changes made when you create a printer

When you create a printer queue with HELIOS Admin, the following changes are made on your host:

A new entry in “HELIOSDIR/var/conf/printcap”, and new entries in the “Preferences” file with the key:
```
Printers/<printer queue>/<Preference>
```
A link to the interface program is created from “HELIOSDIR/var/spool/qmeta/<printer queue>/if”
The printer spool directory is created and the “lock” file is created in this spool directory
The printer FONTS file and the PPD file are placed in “HELIOSDIR/var/spool/qmeta/<printer queue>”. Privileges are defined by HELIOS Admin in case a new directory is created. Otherwise the privileges that have already been defined, are used. They must be set up properly, otherwise it may happen that – for instance – jobs are not deleted after printing and remain stuck in the spool directory

Delete printers

The spool directory is usually removed when deleting a printer queue. We recommend that you clear any existing print jobs and wait until the printer queue is idle before deleting it.

Note:: The spool directory is not deleted if it contains files which are unknown to the LPR printing system.

: For deletion, activate the Printers list, select the printer queue, and choose Clear from the Edit menu.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgement of deletion, to allow it to be aborted, if required.

If deletion is confirmed, the entry is removed from the window and the queue on the host is stopped. HELIOS Admin deletes the configuration entries in the “Preferences” file and in “HELIOSDIR/var/conf/printcap”, and the corresponding link for the interface program will be removed.

7.5.7 Connection type

The Interface tab in the Printer window (Fig. 7.16) allows selecting and configuring the printer output interface for a queue. These settings specify where the output of the printer queue is sent. The various interface types are described below.

TCP

TCP (Fig. 7.18) connects a printer to the network via the TCP/IP stream protocol. Enter the name (or the IP number) of the TCP/IP printer (or terminal server) in the Host Name field. Enter the service port name (or service number) in the Port field. There should be a PostScript interpreter listening at this address. TCP/IP stream printers must be compatible with the HELIOS TCP/IP stream implementation – contact your printer manufacturer or HELIOS supplier if you are not sure about this (see www.helios.de/web/EN/contacts/distributors.html).

You can specify a TCP/IP stream printer either with host internet number and service port number or with host name and service port name. The latter method requires corresponding entries in the local host’s “/etc/hosts” and “/etc/services” files.

Fig. 7.18: TCP printer connection

The Ctrl-D for job end option causes that a “Ctrl-D” character is sent to the printer at the end of each job. This is only necessary if the TCP/IP printer is connected to a TCP/IP terminal server via a serial interface. If the PostScript Printer option is switched off the job will be printed “as is”; tasks that are usually accomplished during printing, e.g. font inclusion or image replacement (for OPI only), will be skipped.

Note:: Please do not confuse the described output TCP connection with the input HELIOS TCP printing feature for Mac clients, which is described in the chapter “Client configuration” in the HELIOS EtherShare manual.

Remote LPR

Note that “Remote LPR” is another TCP connection type, but it is not identical to the TCP/IP stream. Remote LPR (Fig. 7.19) connects a PostScript printer queue to another remote host on the network via TCP/IP. Enter the name (or the IP address) of the remote host to which the printer is attached in the Remote Host field. Enter the remote printer’s UNIX name in the Remote Printer field. The service port name is set to “BSD Remote LPR” (port 515). The entry can be checked in the UNIX file “/etc/services”.

For Remote LPR, the local host must be defined on the remote host, in the “/etc/hosts” and “hosts.equiv” (or “hosts.lpd”) files.

Note:: Remote LPR printers require more spooling space (the size of the resolved job) on the local host than TCP/IP stream printers, and they do not return status messages or answer font queries.

If the PostScript Printer option is switched off the job will be printed “as is”; tasks that are usually accomplished during printing, as e.g. font inclusion or image replacement (for OPI only), will be skipped.

<code>Remote LPR</code> printer connection

Fig. 7.19: Remote LPR printer connection

Print To Disk

Print To Disk (Fig. 7.20) induces the print server to print to a file.

A destination for the file (Directory) must be specified and you may enter a Name Prefix and a Notify Program, if desired. The prefix serves to identify the files that are coming from this specific printer queue (in case you have several “Print To Disk” queues that print to the same destination). The Notify Program option lets you enter a path that leads to a specific program. This program will be started automatically after printing has been finished successfully. Job information (user, title, pages, etc.) is exported as environment variables, for its use. See notifyprog in 19.4 “Printer preference keys”. Furthermore, you can select a Compression mode for the destination file. If the option Create Folder for Each User is active, a subfolder for each print job “owner” is created in the directory path where the print jobs are stored. If the Send Notification checkbox is activated, the “Print To Disk” interface reports events to all listening services.

<code>Print To Disk</code> printer connection

Fig. 7.20: Print To Disk printer connection

Note:: Note that with the option Send Notification activated, layouts are generated if the target volume is configured to create layouts.

If the PostScript Printer option is switched off the job will be written to the file “as is”; tasks that are usually accomplished during printing, as e.g. font inclusion or image replacement (for OPI only), will be skipped.

Balance Group

Balance Group (Fig. 7.21) is used to set up a group of printers for load balancing – that is for shifting print jobs to a second or third printer in a group whenever the first printer is busy with a huge job.

Fig. 7.21: Balance Group printer connection

OPI settings for “Balance Queues” can be specified in HELIOS Admin. This enables printer queues in the “Balance Group” that have no OPI settings specified to use those defined in the “Balance Queue”. See ForcePrintEnv in 19.4.6 ““balanceif” preference keys”.

: Highlight a group of printers for the balance group in the Printers list, and “drag” them into the respective field in the Printer window.

Note:: We recommend to select the same PPD for the “Balance Queue” which has already been assigned to the printers in the Printer field. Otherwise the printing results may not be predictable. See section Changing printer data in 7.5.6 “Printers”.

Hold Queue

Hold and error queues can be defined using the Hold Queue connection as shown in Fig. 7.22.

Printer queues of type “Hold” are usually hidden, because users should not be allowed to print directly to a hold or error queue. For this to work, the TCP Name and SMB Name fields must remain empty.

<code>Hold Queue</code> printer connection

Fig. 7.22: Hold Queue printer connection

You can specify an individual Hold Time. The default value is 3 hours. If you set the hold time to 0 days and 0 hours this would mean “on hold forever”. Print jobs in such a hold or error queue will be stored until you move them to another queue or delete them manually.

Print Preview

The Print Preview connection type is only available if you have the PrintPreview product installed and licensed. This connection type is described in the HELIOS PrintPreview manual.

Create PDF

The Create PDF connection type is only available if you have the PDF HandShake product installed and licensed. This connection type is described in the HELIOS PDF HandShake manual.

Clone

By use of a “Clone queue” print jobs can be duplicated into multiple queues which are defined in a group of printers. To clone a print job to a group of printers the Clone connection type must be selected (Fig. 7.23).

Fig. 7.23: Clone printer connection

: Highlight a group of printers for the clone queue in the Printers tab, and “drag” them into the respective field in the Duplicate to Printer window.

Note:: We recommend to select the same PPD for the “Clone” connection which has already been assigned to the printers in the Duplicate to Printer field. Otherwise the printing results may not be predictable. See section Changing printer data in 7.5.6 “Printers”.

Windows printer

The Windows connection type is only available if you have the PCShare product installed and licensed. This connection type is described in the HELIOS PCShare manual.

Time queue

The Time connection immediately forwards print jobs to the Hold Queue (which for this use is most likely a printer queue to a physical printer) during the specified day/time. Outside the defined times the jobs remain in the time queue until the next date/time specification is reached. In the example in Fig. 7.24 print jobs are immediately forwarded to the Hold Queue on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 3:00 PM, for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Fig. 7.24: Time printer connection

A click on the Advanced button opens a window which allows specifying several print time setups in more detail (see Fig. 7.25). In the image below, print times are defined for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays on the days 1-14 of a month. From day 15 until the end of the month, print times are defined for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Both print time definitions are valid throughout the year, and run 1:30 hours, starting at 3:00 PM (15:00).

<code>Time</code> printer connection (advanced settings)

Fig. 7.25: Time printer connection (advanced settings)

Fonts list

The print server needs to have a list of resident fonts for each installed printer. The printer’s resident font list (the “FONTS” file in the printer’s spool directory) is created automatically by the HELIOS Admin server by interrogating the printer when it is first set up. The printer must be connected and online for this to work.

If the HELIOS Admin server was not able to query the font list for some reason, e.g. because the printer is offline or busy with another job at that time, the Printer Name entry in the Printers list appears gray.

For all output devices where no fonts can be queried, e.g. Remote LPR, Print To Disk or Balance queues, the HELIOS Admin server will rely on the font information provided in the PPD files specified for these printer queues. Make sure to select proper PPD files which contain current information for your output device.

If the font list is missing, you should connect the printer, put it online, and select Update Fonts in the Printer menu manually (see Update Fonts in 7.7 “Printer menu”).

Required software product licenses for interfaces

The overview in 15.2 “Printer output interfaces” states which additional HELIOS software product must be installed and licensed in order to make the respective printer interface available.

7.5.8 Scripts

See the chapter “HELIOS Script Server” in the HELIOS Image Server manual.

7.5.9 Syncs

Note:: The “Syncs” tab is not available on Windows platforms.

Fig. 7.26: HELIOS Admin Syncs list

The configuration of sync jobs (see dt sync in 8.10 ““dt” tools”) as well as the sync process itself can conveniently be done in HELIOS Admin (Fig. 7.27).

Create or configure sync jobs

: Activate the Syncs tab and choose New from the File menu.

Enter a Job Name for the sync job and specify Source Path and Destination Path. Set additional preferences for the sync job in the Options section:

Scan Only

Only scan for syncable files.

Verbose Logging

Switch on more detailed logging.

Preserve Removed Files

Do not remove files in the destination path that no longer exist in the source path.

Send Notifications

Send update events to the Spotlight index and other notification based services.

Activate Disk Cache

Enable this option to make use of the OS disk caching.

Note:: By default disk caching is turned off for all sync jobs. For details see -C in “dt sync” (8.10.1 “Command descriptions” section).

: Optionally enter a Start Time, e.g. as “0am-2am” or “00:00-02:00” – the system will change the notation to “0, 1, 2” upon saving the configuration (if left blank, the default is every hour). Also specify the day(s) for the synchronization. You may enter one or more E-Mail addresses to which the sync job report is sent after each sync process, and a Comment.

: Check the Enable option to activate the synchronize service.

If there is already an existing sync job you can change the configuration, or adjust sync options:

: In the “Synchronize” window change the configuration according to your needs and confirm your changes. Otherwise click Revert.

Fig. 7.27: “Synchronize” window

Delete sync jobs

: Highlight the sync job name and select Clear from the Edit menu.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgment of deletion, to allow deletion to be aborted, if required.

If deletion is confirmed, the entry is removed from the list of sync jobs and the corresponding entry is deleted from the “Preferences” file.

Synchronize job

There are additional items available in the “Synchronize Job” window:

ICON Open synchronization log file

ICON (Scan Only option switched on) Do a sync scan now

ICON (Scan Only option switched off) Sync now

7.5.10 Online

Online shows all users currently logged-on to HELIOS services (Fig. 7.28).

: Open Lists > Online.

Selecting one or more users and then choosing Delete from the Edit menu will terminate their current server connection. Note that only the user themselves, members of the “SysAdm” group or “root” are allowed to clear a connection. The Online option gets its information from the file “HELIOSDIR/var/run/stmp”. See also 8.6 “swho” for related information.

Fig. 7.28: HELIOS Admin Online list

7.5.11 Printer log files

Note:

The “Printer Log Files”, “Server Log Files”, and “System Messages” windows all have in common that column settings (e.g. changed horizontal order of columns) are preserved on closing and are restored upon the next opening.

Also, the sorting order of entries in columns can be changed by clicking on the column header. If a column header is double-clicked, the column sorting order is cancelled.

The printer log file shows print job accounting details for the selected host such as job status, printer name, result, user name, document name, starting date/time, duration of job, number of printed pages, used printer fonts, and messages. The job status can be: OK or Error.

The exact printer status codes are detailed in C.1 “Printer log file structure”.

The messages section, which belongs to each entry in the log file, contains even more information, e.g. the total size of the print job and whether you have printed composite or separations. If you are working with ImageServer the printer log messages file also provides information about image replacement. This information is especially useful for print jobs in an error queue because you will get details about the errors that have occurred.

: Select Printer Log Files from the Lists menu and specify the desired day.

Every night at midnight the “cron” tool, or the Windows “Task Scheduler” respectively, start automatically in the background and cause the renaming of the log file information of the last seven days. The file “Today” becomes the file “Yesterday”, “Yesterday” becomes “2 Days Ago”, etc. You can then select, for instance, the printer log file of “3 Days Ago”. Log files which are older than seven days are deleted automatically.

Fig. 7.29: Printer log file and corresponding message file

From within the printer log file you can display the related messages files with a click on the respective item (Fig. 7.29). This is especially helpful in case of errors that might have occurred.

: Choose Save as... from the File menu to save the whole printer log file as a text file.

You can then read this information into a word processor or spreadsheet program for billing purposes or to prepare job statistics.

Export vs. save printer log files

Printer log files can also be exported into a “.csv” file. However, when the whole printer log information is required, e.g. for troubleshooting purposes, it is recommended to use Save as... to save the complete printer log information into a file.

Note:: If you select File > Export... with active filtering (see the 7.5.17 “Filtering log file entries” section below), only the filtered part of the printer log file is saved.

The user name assigned to the job is the user name specified in the HELIOS Admin Users list window. The job will be assigned to “root” if no name is specified in the Users list or if the name specified is unknown to the HELIOS Admin server. HELIOS Admin gets its information from the files “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/printer.acct” (which contains the data of “Today”) to “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/printer.acct.6” (“7 Days Ago”). See C.1 “Printer log file structure” for more information.

7.5.12 Server log files

The server log file content depends on the operating system. Usually, the log file shows messages from all HELIOS servers such as status (OK and Unsuccessful or illegal login), server name, IP address, result, PID, user name, starting date/time, duration, CPU time, memory, and disk I/O (Fig. 7.30).

The exact server status codes are detailed in C.2 “Server log file structure”.

: Select Server Log Files from the Lists menu and specify the desired day.

Fig. 7.30: Example of a server log file

: Choose Save as... from the File menu to save the server log file as a text file.

Note:: If the filter option is active (see the 7.5.17 “Filtering log file entries” section below), only the filtered part of the server log file is saved.

You can then read this information into a word processor for further use. HELIOS Admin gets its information from the files “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/server.acct” (data of “Today”) to “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/server.acct.6” (“7 Days Ago”). See C.2 “Server log file structure” for more information.

7.5.13 Script Server log files

Script Server is part of the ImageServer software. For a description of the Script Server log files and the Script Server log file structure read the respective chapter in the HELIOS ImageServer manual.

7.5.14 Sync log files

The sync log file contains all sync information of a HELIOS server such as date/time of the synchronization, the sync job name, and the synchronization message.

The exact sync status codes are detailed in C.3 “Sync log file structure”.

: Select Sync Log Files from the Lists menu and specify the desired day.

Fig. 7.31: Example of a sync log file

: Choose Save as... from the File menu to save the sync log file as a text file.

Note:: If the filter option is active (see the 7.5.17 “Filtering log file entries” section below), only the filtered part of the sync log file is saved.

You can then read this information into a word processor for further use. HELIOS Admin gets its information from the files “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/dtsync.log” (data of “Today”) to “HELIOSDIR/var/adm/dtsync.log.6” (“7 Days Ago”). See C.3 “Sync log file structure” for more information.

7.5.15 WebShare log files

For a description of the WebShare log files and its structure read the respective chapter in the HELIOS WebShare manual.

7.5.16 System messages

The system messages file displays all logged server messages (Fig. 7.32).

: Select System Messages from the Lists menu.

Fig. 7.32: System messages file on host “ankh”

: Choose Save as... in the File menu to save the system messages file as a text file.

Note:: If the filter option is active (see the 7.5.17 “Filtering log file entries” section below), only the filtered part of the system messages is saved.

You can then read this information into a word processor, or send it e.g. to your host manufacturer in case you have a system problem.

HELIOS Admin gets its information from the system messages files. The location of these files is specified in “/etc/syslog.conf”, e.g. “/var/adm/messages”.

The system messages can grow quite large. They cannot be cleared using HELIOS Admin – the UNIX operating system is usually responsible for keeping them at a manageable size. See the description of the “cron” program in your UNIX documentation for details. If a HELIOS application writes a syslog message, you are immediately notified and the System Messages window is automatically updated. The auto update of system messages can be stopped with Options > Stop Updating. Syslog messages logged by non-HELIOS applications will automatically be checked every 30 seconds, and displayed if new messages are available.

7.5.17 Filtering log file entries

You can filter all log files as well as the system messages with several options:

: Select Options > Filter from the menu to get access to the filter options (alternatively, select ToolBar from the Options menu, and click on ).

Filtering according to the specified criteria is toggled on/off via the menu item Filter or the filter icon ( ICON ). In the example in Fig. 7.33 the server log file has been filtered to display only entries that were issued from “pcshare” (see Fig. 7.33).

Important:: If you have a filter applied in the system messages window, and receive a message that does not match the filter criteria, the filter is automatically toggled off so the message becomes visible in the list! This is not the case if in addition the Stop Updating option is set.

The filter pane can be toggled visible/hidden with the triangle above the filter pane, at any time the filter is active.

Note:: This logic applies to the Server Log File, Printer Log File, and System Messages window.

Fig. 7.33: Filtering server log files

7.5.18 Versions

HELIOS is continuously improving all its software and releases updates every now and then. Besides the program versions, the “Versions” window also provides information about your licensed HELIOS products, interfaces, and system messages configuration.

: Select Versions from the Lists menu to list the versions of all HELIOS server modules and client programs (Fig. 7.34).

Fig. 7.34: Program versions

Note:: The “Versions” window content will be recreated on call for “root” and members of the “SysAdm” group. Therefore, it may take some time to open the window. The existing “Versions” file (created upon the last startup of HELIOS services, or upon access by a SysAdm user) will be displayed for other users.

For this feature the content of “HELIOSDIR/var/run/Versions” is displayed.

7.5.19 Server File

The “Server File” window offers a text editor functionality (Fig. 7.35) within HELIOS Admin, which allows displaying and editing text, e.g. the “printcap” or “license” file.

: Select Server File from the Lists menu.

Fig. 7.35: “Server File” text editor window

The example above shows the HELIOS printer configuration file “printcap”. A pull-down menu allows selecting the encoding for the displayed text. The selection contains a number of encodings, e.g. UTF-8, MacRoman, Shift_JIS.

: To display a file specify the path to the file in the URL field, or click the Browse button. To edit the file, the Options > Read Only menu item must be unchecked (can only be done by the system administrator).

: After editing the file confirm your changes or click Revert if you do not want your changes to be applied.

7.6 Volume menu

If you have selected a volume from the Volumes tab an additional menu item Volume is available in the menu bar at the top of the screen (Fig. 7.36). Multiple selections are possible. The functions in the Volume menu only apply to the volume(s) that you have selected.

Fig. 7.36: The Volume menu item

Rebuild desktop

HELIOS volumes contain a special, invisible file – the volume desktop database (“.Desktop”) – which is internally used by all HELIOS server products. It contains organizational information such as the icons you see in the Finder. See 13 “The desktop server” for details.

: To rebuild the desktop of a HELIOS volume make sure that all users unmount the respective volume. Then select the volume(s) from the HELIOS Admin Volumes tab and choose Rebuild Desktop from the Volume menu (Fig. 7.37).

Fig. 7.37: Rebuilding a volume desktop

Important:: You cannot rebuild read-only volumes – in this case Rebuild Desktop will be grayed out in the Volume menu. The Read Only option can temporarily be deactivated for magneto-optic cartridges to allow the desktop to be rebuilt. See 13 “The desktop server” for related information.

Note:: You can optionally select several volumes and thus rebuild several desktops at the same time (each rebuild has its own messages window). If the volumes to be rebuilt are being concurrently indexed, the rebuild will not start, likewise, if a rebuild process is already running. In either case, a warning is issued.

During a HELIOS desktop rebuild, missing resources for directories and files are automatically created for all directories in the HELIOS volume, and file IDs are created (or verified if a matching resource file already exists).

Rebuild Spotlight index

Each HELIOS volume for which the Spotlight Index option has been activated (see Fig. 7.14 in 7.5.3 “Volumes”) contains a Spotlight index database. It is comprised of all indexed full text and PDF form field as well as EXIF, IPTC and XMP metadata. See also the HELIOS Index Server manual.

: To rebuild the Spotlight index database of a HELIOS volume select the volume(s) from the HELIOS Admin Volumes tab and choose Rebuild Spotlight Index from the Volume menu (Fig. 7.38).

Fig. 7.38: Rebuilding the Spotlight index of a volume

Note:: You can optionally select several volumes and have them indexed at the same time (each indexing process has its own messages window). If the volumes to be indexed are being concurrently rebuilt, the indexing will not start, likewise, if an indexing process is already running. In either case, a warning is issued.

Empty Trash (Mac OS 8/9)

HELIOS server volumes contain a special, invisible folder called Network Trash Folder which is used internally by the operating system. It stores files that you have deleted, until you choose to empty the trash and thus delete the files physically. (Note that Mac OS X and Windows delete files immediately, without a prior trash backup!) In the case of network (shared) volumes, the trash folder actually contains multiple trash cans, which are maintained separately for each user connection.

Unlike local volumes, if you unmount network volumes, the trash is usually emptied automatically, and its content is no longer available the next time you log on. Thus, make sure you have not trashed something by mistake before you unmount a network volume.

However, this auto-clearing mechanism fails in case you shut down the client without first unmounting the network volumes. This can cause problems because of the way the file server allocates trash cans. Users do not have the same trash can every time they log in, but they receive a trash can number that corresponds to the number of user connections currently established. The first user who mounts a volume receives Trash #1, the second one receives Trash #2, and so on. Now, if user number 20 leaves their trash unemptied, and if this trash can is not allocated again (because there are always less than 20 users who mount the respective volume simultaneously), the trash will never be emptied.

If you notice a lot less free space in the volume than you expected (knowing the total size of the files stored there), this may be because one of the users switched off the workstation without emptying a very full trash can. Your system administrator can check this easily, with a server login by looking at the total size of the Network Trash Folder. The file info dialog only shows the trash can size of the current user.

: To empty the trash of a HELIOS volume completely, select the volume from the Volumes tab of HELIOS Admin and choose Empty Trash... from the Volume menu (Fig. 7.39):

Fig. 7.39: Emptying Trash

This operation empties all trash cans for the volume, including the trash can of those who are currently using the volume. Accordingly, you should warn logged-on users before calling this function (use the Online tab to see who is using a specific volume).

Note:: You can optionally select several volumes and thus empty several volume trash cans at the same time.

Mounting removable volumes

Removable media such as CD-ROMs or DVDs must be mounted on the server with a UNIX command or, preferably, by using HELIOS Admin, before they can be connected as a volume on the desktop.

: To mount a removable volume, select the volume in the Volumes list of HELIOS Admin and choose Mount from the Volume menu.

Note:: Removable media must be compatible with the HELIOS UTF-8 file name format.

Mounting causes the HELIOS Admin server to execute a UNIX mount by calling the “HELIOSDIR/sbin/mount-afp” script. The script accesses the host file system table (e.g. “/etc/fstab”) for mounting information. After the UNIX mount the HELIOS volume can be mounted on the desktop. You will only see the correct application icons if the medium has a desktop file in valid HELIOS format. Otherwise you will see generic host icons only or alternatively the icons that have been defined in your extension mappings table (see 7.8.5 “Extension Mappings”). Unmount indicates that the volume is currently mounted (Fig. 7.40).

Unmounting removable volumes

Before you can eject the medium from the drive again, all HELIOS users of the volume must first unmount it by trashing the volume desktop icon (use Online to see who is using a specific volume). PCShare users should use the Disconnect Network Drive... menu item or log out to free up network volumes. You must then do a UNIX unmount by selecting the volume in the Volumes tab and choosing Unmount from the Volume menu. You will get an error message from HELIOS Admin if you try to unmount a drive which is still in use.

Note:: A removable “read-only” volume , e.g. a CD-ROM, has no “.Desktop” file. You can unmount it without getting any error message, as long as no file is still in use.

Fig. 7.40: Unmounting a CD-ROM

Adding users or groups

As described in 7.5.3 “Volumes”, you can make specified HELIOS volumes visible to selected users and groups only, by dragging user and group names into the respective lists in the “Volume” settings window. However, if the authentication server is configured to use AD/PDC or LDAP, those users and groups will not be listed in HELIOS Admin.

: To add such users to the User or Group lists for a volume, open the settings window for that volume.

When the volume settings window is open and selected, two additional menu items will be available on the “Volume” menu: Add User... and Add Group... (see Fig. 7.41).

Fig. 7.41: Enter user and group

Here you can type in the user or group name for that volume. Names must be added one at a time. Once again, these entries are used to hide the volume from all but the specified users or groups.

7.7 Printer menu

If you have selected a printer from the Printers tab additional items become available in the Printer menu (Fig. 7.42). The functions in the Printer menu only apply to the printer you have selected.

Fig. 7.42: HELIOS Admin Printer menu

Settings

Settings is used to open the printer setting window for a specific printer (see Changing printer data in 7.5.6 “Printers”). You must highlight the printer you wish to set up before choosing this item from the list.

Update Fonts

Update Fonts is used to update the print server’s resident font list for the selected printer. Because this is done via printer interrogation, the printer must be connected and online for this to work. You need to do this if new fonts have been installed on the printer.

Note:: Do not confuse the resident font list with downloadable fonts, which have been installed by the HELIOS software in the print server, and which are available to all printers on that host, and which can be viewed by clicking Fonts in the Settings menu.

Each printer’s resident font list is created automatically by the HELIOS Admin server when you set it up for the first time. The list is stored in the “FONTS” file in “HELIOSDIR/var/spool/qmeta/<printer queue>”.

Show fonts

The Show Fonts entry lists the resident fonts of the selected printer (Fig. 7.43).

Fig. 7.43: Resident font list for printer “cpdf”

Restart queue

Restart Queue is used to stop and restart printing on the print job queue, and to re-initialize the server “lpd” program for the selected printer. This may be necessary if a fatal error or network connection fault occurs while printing. You will be asked for confirmation.

Spool only/Spool & Print

Spool only (Fig. 7.44) causes print jobs to be spooled to disk but not sent to the printer. This can be useful if it is required to hold back some jobs, e.g. for processing during the night shift rather than during daytime. Printing is restarted with the Spool & Print option (see below). If you switch back from Spool & Print to Spool only, the current print job will be finished on the output device, and the printing will then be stopped again.

Fig. 7.44: Choosing Spool only

7.8 Settings menu

The Settings menu allows configuring Server Settings, Security Settings, ImageServer, Script Server, and PDF HandShake Settings as well as Spot Colors, Color Labels, Fonts and Extension Mappings. In addition, the menu provides access to the IP Access lists, PDF Internet Printing, and all HELIOS Server Preferences (Fig. 7.45).

Fig. 7.45: HELIOS Admin Settings menu

WebShare Server Settings is included in the menu if WebShare is installed and licensed. Likewise, the items ImageServer Settings and Script Server Settings are only available if you have installed ImageServer. PDF HandShake Settings requires PDF HandShake to be installed and licensed. PDF Internet Printing also requires PDF HandShake to be installed and licensed AND must be initialized. Spot Colors is grayed out unless you have installed either ImageServer, PDF HandShake or Print Preview. WebShare, ImageServer, PDF HandShake, and PrintPreview related items are described in the corresponding manuals.

7.8.1 Server Settings

The “Server Settings” window from the Settings menu allows you to change various standard settings according to your individual needs (Fig. 7.46).

Fig. 7.46: “Server Settings” dialog

Note:: (For system integrators): The default spool directory is “/var/spool”. Depending on the operating system and configuration, “/var/spool” may reside on root “/”, “/var” or on another file system. You should always verify the free space in the spool directory you choose because the space requirements may be high during printing. To verify the free space available, go to “/var/spool” and issue df . on a command line. Compare the free space value to other file systems by using the “df” command. If necessary, establish a separate file system for spooling.

General

Three of the default parameters which are assigned when creating a new user can be specified here: the user’s Starting Program (after login), the User Home Directory, and the Primary Group. Setting appropriate defaults can save time when creating new users, since these three fields are generally configured with similar entries.

Use the Spool Directory field to configure the default spool directory to be used when creating a new printer. Setting appropriate default values can save time because this field is generally the same for all printers. If required, the spool directory can be set to swap out the spool files to other file systems (hard disks), but you should avoid NFS-mounted spool directories because of the performance loss.

Important:: Make sure a directory path already exists because HELIOS Admin will only create the last subdirectory!

Minimum User ID and Minimum Group ID specify the lowest number allowed for user numbers (user IDs) and group numbers (group IDs). This parameter is provided as an additional security feature.

The desired access list can be selected from the IP Access pull-down menu. See IP Access for details.

Mac

See “Mac server settings” in the HELIOS EtherShare manual.

Note:: If your HELIOS server platform is OS X, and you wish to enable the native OS X AFP file sharing, in addition to the HELIOS EtherShare AFP volumes, then the HELIOS server must be assigned a server name that is different from the OS X host name.

Windows

See “Server settings” in the HELIOS PCShare manual.

WINS

See “Server settings” in the HELIOS PCShare manual.

MDNS

This dialog (Fig. 7.47) allows specifying the mDNS Server Name by which the services are registered and which can be queried via the HELIOS “mdnstool” (see 16.9 “mdnstool”).

The HELIOS mDNS proxy server (see 16.7 “mDNS proxy server”) can be configured in the MDNS Proxy section. By default, Primary is activated, which means that the host itself acts as mDNS proxy server.

<code>MDNS</code> tab in the “Server Settings” dialog

Fig. 7.47: MDNS tab in the “Server Settings” dialog

If another host should act as an mDNS proxy server, Secondary must be activated instead. In such case the host name or IP address of the primary mDNS proxy server must be entered in the then enabled Remote Proxy field.

Important:: Host names or IP addresses entered in this field are not verified for validity but only for syntactical correctness!

The Forward Proxy option becomes available if more than one network interface card (NIC) is attached to the host. With two NICs built-in, the proxy server forwards requests from one subnet to the other and vice versa. If two or more NICs are available, a right-click with the mouse shows the IP address of all available NICs. These can be selected and unselected respectively (Fig. 7.48).

Selecting NICs in the <code>MDNS</code> tab

Fig. 7.48: Selecting NICs in the MDNS tab

Note:: Tooltips allow a quick view on the IP addresses of selected NICs (Fig. 7.49).

Fig. 7.49: Tooltip displaying selected NICs

If the option Remote Telnet Registrations is active, services can be registered remotely via telnet, e.g. from outside the local network.

The desired access list can be selected from the IP Access pull-down menu. See 7.8.6 “IP Access” for details.

Third-party mDNS services can be registered on the HELIOS mDNS server by clicking the Add... button. The “MDNS Service” window (Fig. 7.50) allows entering the registration data in the General tab. For details on Name, Host, Type, etc. see 16.9 “mdnstool”.

Fig. 7.50: Registering new mDNS services

The Environment tab allows you to specify custom value pairs, depending on the mDNS service.

SMTP

Allows specifying SMTP Host, SMTP Sender and SMTP Domain for all components that send messages via email, e.g. WebShare or the HELIOS printer interfaces.

Fig. 7.51: Defining SMTP settings

SMTP Host

Example 1:: (Fully configured mail server on the same network with SMTP relay permissions):
SMTP Host: mailserver hostname (or dotted decimal notation)

Example 2:: (Fully configured mail server on the same host):
SMTP Host: localhost

Example 3:: (Authentication with a service provider on SMTP port 25):
SMTP Host: username:password@smtp.myprovider.com

Example 4:

(Authentication with a service provider using SMTP via an SSL SMTP host):
SMTP Host: username@gmail.com:password@smtp.gmail.com:465

Note:: Some mail providers may use the full e-mail address as user name (as shown in this example).

SMTP Sender
If a default mail sender address or name (e.g. “WebShare”) is specified the mail server may append the mail server's default domain. It is also allowed to use a fully qualified mail address, e.g. “WebShare@mydomain.com”.

SMTP Domain
Specifies the e-mail domain name (e.g. “mydomain.com”) which will be appended to the user name. If only a basic user name is known, e.g username, it will become “username@mydomain.com”.

DHCP

See 12 “DHCP server”.

If you made any changes in the Server Settings window, they are only valid after confirmation. Revert will set the window back to the last saved setting.

7.8.2 Security Settings

The Authentication tab of the “Security Settings” window is described in detail in 10.1 “The authentication server program”. Changes to this tab require an “authsrv” service restart to take effect.

In the IP Access tab you can choose the general IP access list and in addition, a platform-bound access list for Mac or Windows. See 7.8.6 “IP Access” for a description of how to set up and modify IP access lists.

The Volumes tab shows all defined HELIOS volumes on the host. They are listed with their directory, the names under which they are published in the AFP Name (Mac) and SMB Name (Windows) environment, and the selected IP Access list.

Note:: Clicking on an entry in the IP Access column opens a pop-up menu which allows choosing another IP access file from the list.

7.8.3 Color Labels

Mac operating systems up to Mac OS 9.x, and then again from OS X 10.3 on, allow the tagging of files and folders with “labels” in the Finder, e.g. in order to assign different levels of importance. Apple supported this feature up to Mac OS 9. In OS X 10.1 and 10.2, there was no such support. With OS X 10.3 or newer this feature is available again. The HELIOS Meta shell extension for Windows, which is part of PCShare, allows setting color labels from Windows clients. WebShare can also display and change color labels.

HELIOS also provides this feature and offers built-in default color labels which resemble Apple’s color scheme (Fig. 7.52). Since Mac OS 9 uses other color schemes than OS X 10.3, HELIOS provides both color schemes, which are accessible by clicking the respective link in the window. However, the label names and color definitions are arbitrary and can be edited to meet your requirements.

: To use the Mac OS 9 or OS X default color labels, click on the corresponding button or edit a default color name and/or value to customize the color labels. Confirm changes.

Fig. 7.52: “Color Labels” window

7.8.4 Fonts

Fonts in the Settings menu shows PostScript printer fonts which have been installed on the host with HELIOS Admin. They are available to all printer queues on that host. HELIOS Admin gets the print server fonts list from the file “HELIOSDIR/var/spool/psfonts/FontDirectory”.

Do not confuse this item with Show Fonts in the Printer menu, which displays the list of resident fonts of the selected printer.

: Highlight a font in the list and go to File > Open or just double-click on the font name to inspect the manufacturer’s coded font header (Fig. 7.53).

Fig. 7.53: Fonts list

HELIOS Admin can install Adobe “Type 1” and “Type 3” printer fonts (but not screen fonts or TrueType fonts) on the print server, directly from the font manufacturer’s original font disks or another depository.

: Open the Fonts window from the Settings menu and choose New in the File menu. Then select the drive and folder. Select individual fonts for copying or choose -click to load more than one font from the folder that is currently opened.

Storing printer fonts on the server reduces the network load caused by font downloading from the client.

Important:: The PostScript fonts that come with the Base product cannot be copied between different servers!

7.8.5 Extension Mappings

The AFP server usually simulates Mac Finder info (such as file type and creator) automatically for files without Mac resource. The file type is determined by inspecting the file contents. This allows about 20 different icons to be shown for non-Mac files (see the “Generic file types” section in “Directory and file formats” in the HELIOS EtherShare manual).

For files that were created by DOS/Windows applications, the file type is typically indicated by adding a suffix to the file name, the file name “extension”. The HELIOS file services can display appropriate icons for such files by specifying the extensions in the “extension mapping table” (the default file name is “HELIOSDIR/var/conf/suffixes”). See the suffixes preference in “AFP server preference keys” and Automatic extension mapping in “Public and private volumes” in the HELIOS EtherShare manual for related information.

Important:: The mapping specified in the mapping table will only be applied to files that do not yet include resource information!

: Select Extension Mappings from the Settings menu to view the extension mapping table (Fig. 7.54).

For each entry in the “suffixes” file, Extension Mappings lists the configured file name extension alongside the chosen application and document type.

Fig. 7.54: Extension mappings table

: To enter new extension mappings, specify the file type, the file creator and the required extension in one line each. Then confirm your changes.

Note:: To toggle edit/read-only, use the Options > Read Only menu item or the lock icon on the ToolBar.

Note:: Make sure that you specify file type and creator in the 4-character syntax, e.g. “8BIM” for type “GIFf”. See the example in Fig. 7.54.

7.8.6 IP Access

To protect your site against unwanted access, you can set up an IP access list to restrict access to HELIOS volumes, printers, and services on your host. Though you may create such a list manually on your host (see B “IP configuration – Reference Part”), it is much easier to use HELIOS Admin instead. It offers all options that are required for a standard access control configuration.

HELIOS provides three levels of IP access control:

General access

During the installation the access lists “ipaccess” and “ipaccess.local” are automatically created. The latter is a template access list that should not be edited.

: Go to Settings > Security Settings and open the IP Access tab. From the General IP Access pull-down menu choose the desired access list and confirm your selection.

Access on a server basis

Access to “afpsrv” or “pcshare”, irrespective of the general access setting, is granted by assigning an IP access list that provides the appropriate configuration.

: Go to Settings > Security Settings and open the IP Access tab. From the Mac – IP Access pull-down menu choose the desired access list and confirm your changes.

Note:: The IP access settings for servers can also be viewed and selected in the IP Access pull-down menu in the Mac or Windows tab of the Server Settings.

Access on a volume basis

Access to a certain volume, irrespective of the general access setting, is granted by assigning an IP access list that provides the appropriate configuration.

Note:: The IP access settings for volumes can also be viewed and edited in the Volumes tab of the Server Settings.

: Open the Security Settings > Volumes dialog and choose the desired access list from the IP Access column.

Create a custom IP access list

: Select Settings > IP Access > NEW from the HELIOS Admin menu and type in the desired file name (or select an already existing entry from the pop-up list).

: Then click the Add Entry... button in the access list to open the dialog.

Fig. 7.55: Setting up the IP access list

Fig. 7.56: Setting up an entry for a network

: Click the respective radio button to specify whether you want to Allow or Deny either a host (IP Node, see Fig. 7.55) or a network (IP Net). For host entries you only have to enter the correct IP address. For IP Net entries enter both an Address and a Mask (Fig. 7.56). You may also enter a comment, e.g. for explanatory reasons. Click OK to transfer the setting to the new IP access list. Do this for each new entry in the IP access list.

Note:: There will be rudimentary consistency checks, so you will have to be familiar with IP net/mask structuring and conventions. See your TCP documentation if you have questions.

Fig. 7.57 shows the new IP access list. The list is sorted. The sorting order depends on the specified IP range: the more general, the lower in order. At the end, it contains a Deny any other entry that denies server access to all computers/networks that do not appear in the list before. The representation of “any other” is 0.0.0.0 (for Address) and 0.0.0.0 (for Mask). If the Deny any other entry is missing, access would – by default – be granted to anybody on the internet whose address had not yet been entered in the “Deny” section. Please note that the Deny any other entry cannot be deleted.

Fig. 7.57: Example of an IP access list

The order can be changed via “drag and drop”. With the Sort Entries button the logical order of the list can be restored. This allows the program to go through the list from top to bottom and react very quickly. E.g., if an IP address is denied, the program can send the respective message after going through the “Deny” section only. The checking mechanism is illustrated below.

Note:: If domain and net entries overlap, the correct sorting order is not guaranteed.

Delete an IP access list

: Open the IP access list that you wish to delete.

: In the HELIOS Admin menu bar select File > Delete.

The columns in the access list contain the following information (Fig. 7.57):

Access specifies whether access is denied or allowed.

IP specifies whether the entry is meant for a single computer (Node) or a network (Net).

Address contains the IP address of the host/network. An IP address consists of 32 bits (4 groups of 8 bits). This number of bits allows well over 2 billion unique numbers to be used to identify a node on a network. When specifying an IP address, it is required to use a dotted decimal representation of four numbers between 0 and 255 divided by a period, e.g. 192.168.4.40.

Mask is only meaningful for network entries. The mask is structured like an IP address and specifies the number of bits that are relevant to the network identification. It filters out the logical network address. The mask 255.255.255.0 for example specifies that 24 bits are to be compared with the IP number. The remaining 8 bits (that identify the individual computers of a given network) are not relevant.

Comment contains a description or name that may help you find out the owner of the respective computer or network.

The Deny any other entry cannot be removed. For security reasons, it is always kept at the end of the list.

7.8.7 Server Preferences

This feature gives an overview of all server preferences which have been specified on the host. Preferences are classified by their key (see 19 “Preferences”).

: Select Server Preferences from the Settings menu to view the server preferences (Fig. 7.58).

Fig. 7.58: HELIOS Admin “Preferences” window

7.9 Printer Jobs window – moving, restarting, and deleting jobs

Printer Jobs window

“Printer Jobs” windows display the current jobs in the printer queue of the selected printer. Due to the HELIOS print job event notification feature the window updates are event-driven. The list shows the total number of jobs in the selected queue, the document name, the user name, the job size in the spool queue, the print starting time and the job sequence number (Fig. 7.59). For further information, see also 7.5.11 “Printer log files”.

: Open the “Printer Jobs” window for a specific printer queue by double-clicking it in the Printers tab or by highlighting the queue name and choosing Open from the File menu.

Fig. 7.59: List of jobs for printer queue “hold” on host “ankh”

A line at the window bottom shows the printer status and the amount of data already sent to the printer for the currently printing job. Due to font inclusion etc. the quantity of data sent to the printer can be larger than the job size in the spool queue; if ImageServer is also installed it may be considerably larger than this, due to image inclusion. The Options item in the menu bar of the “Printer Jobs” window allows toggling the toolbar.

The user name assigned to the job is the name specified in the HELIOS Admin Users list window. The job will be assigned to “root” if no name is specified in the Users list or if the name specified is unknown to the HELIOS Admin server. See User and document names in print jobs in C.1 “Printer log file structure” for more information.

Open PDF of selected job

Print jobs that appear with a PDF icon in the hold queue list are jobs that have run through a “Print Preview” or “Create PDF” queue. To get PDF previews of a print job, you must install and license PrintPreview or PDF HandShake (Create PDF).

Note:: The application that is used by default to view the PDF document depends on the settings in the Mac Finder and Windows Explorer respectively.

: Double-click the PDF icon in the Jobs column, or highlight it and choose Open PDF from the File menu, to open a PDF document of the printed job.

: Double-click the print job Document name or highlight it and choose Show Printer-Messages from the File menu, to open the printer messages window of the printed job.

Print jobs are listed in the order they are handed over by the printing system. However, the order of the print jobs in the queue can be changed manually by selecting one or more print jobs and shifting them via “drag and drop” to the desired position. Another possibility is to highlight the print job(s) and use the Cut and Paste function from the Edit menu or the ToolBar. The job is pasted right after the (first) selected job. If you have several printer queues, you can simultaneously open printer job windows for each queue; non-active (background) windows are also updated.

Note that “heladmsrv” does interpret octal backslash escape sequences in PostScript “%%Title” comments. This means that e.g. Japanese job titles can be displayed in a job window on your Mac.

Delete print jobs

: Select the print job you want to delete in the printer job window and choose Clear from the Edit menu.

You may choose multiple jobs for deletion using standard keyboard shortcuts (see Select multiple entries from a list in 7.5 “Lists menu”). You are only allowed to delete your own jobs, unless you are “root” or a member of the “SysAdm”, “QueueAdm” or “PrnAdm” groups.

HELIOS Admin will prompt for acknowledgment of deletion, to allow deletion to be aborted if required. You can suppress the warning by holding the hsymAltKey or hsymOptionKey key when choosing Clear.

Moving/Copying and restarting jobs

If you have more than one printer queue running on the same host, you can open two or more printer job windows simultaneously and move jobs between queues (printers) via “drag and drop”. You may want to do this if one of the queues is too long or a printer needs to be stopped for cleaning. You can do this without stopping the printer queues. Holding down the hsymOptionKey (Mac) or Ctrl key (Windows) during “drag & drop”, the print job is copied rather than moved. You may also use the HELIOS Admin “Copy” (or “Cut”) and “Paste” feature for copying/moving print jobs between queues. Hold and error queues are usually not connected to a physical printer. Thus, in order to restart a job from a hold or error queue, you must drag it to the printer job window of a queue that will execute the job.

Hold time in a Hold Queue window

The remaining hold time, which is displayed in the bottom line of the printer job window, can be specified in the Hold Queue connection interface (see Hold Queue in 7.5.7 “Connection type”).

7.10 Multiple HELIOS hosts

In networks with more than one HELIOS host, HELIOS Admin can access several hosts at the same time, for example to allow configuration data to be copied from one host to another.

: Choose Login from the File menu, log on to a host, and repeat this procedure for each required host.

Copying configuration data from one host to another

You can copy the configuration for users, groups, volumes, extension mappings and printers from one host to another.

Note:: While copying printer configurations from one host to another is supported, print jobs in a printer job queue can only be moved between printers on the same host.

: Select one or more items in the list of one of the hosts with the mouse. You can choose multiple entries using standard keyboard shortcuts (see Select multiple entries from a list in 7.5 “Lists menu”). Move the items via “Drag and Drop” to the corresponding list of the other host.

A new data window is automatically opened for the item on the target host. Please note that the default values entered in the fields of the new data window are those of the copied object, and are not the default values from the target host’s HELIOS Admin server.

Important:: When copying users from one host to another, the password cannot be taken over. The user on the new server is created with an empty password, which is a serious security risk! So make sure to specify a password manually.

: Confirm the new entry for the target host.

Upon saving the new entry, HELIOS Admin tries to preserve the old user ID if it is not already assigned otherwise.

Please note that it is not possible to assign a user to a group of another host. Similarly, you are not allowed to assign a group to a user of another host. Furthermore, it is not recommended (and normally not necessary) to copy user and group data to another host if your installation uses NIS (Network Information Service).

If you copy items between servers that have different software products installed you will possibly not be able to save the items on the target server. For example, if you have set up a “Print Preview” queue on a server and intend to copy this queue to a second server on which the PrintPreview product is not installed, the buttons for saving settings in the queue’s configuration window will appear grayed-out on the target server.

7.11 Logging off from the HELIOS Admin server

: To log off from a HELIOS Admin server, choose Logout from the File menu.

HELIOS Admin then closes the connection to the HELIOS Admin server of the selected host, and therefore all associated windows on the screen.

: Choosing Quit HELIOS Admin from the File menu (Windows), or Quit HELIOS Admin from the HELIOS Admin menu (Mac), will terminate the HELIOS Admin program and will – at the same time – close all connections.

7.12 Retrieving information about the software

In some situations – e.g. if you contact your dealer for administrative or support matters – you may need information about your HELIOS software copy, such as serial number, machine ID or activation key. There are different ways of retrieving these information:

You may display the complete machine ID for example by using HELIOS Installer.

Another possibility to retrieve product information is to use the HELIOS Admin Versions option. This feature is described in 7.5.18 “Versions”.

7.13 FAQ

I get a “java.lang.OutOfMemoryError” when working with HELIOS Admin. What can I do to avoid this?
By default, the maximum memory usage of HELIOS Admin is limited to 1/4 of system memory for the Java “.jar” and Windows versions, and 512 MB for the OS X application.

You can increase this value by starting the HELIOS Admin program with your own Java parameters (see your Java documentation for details).

Increase the memory limit to 2048 MB with Oracle Java:
# java -Xmx2048m -jar "HELIOS Admin.jar"

The example above applies to UNIX and when starting the HELIOS Admin program via command line on Mac or Windows. However, on Mac and Windows, we recommend to modify the corresponding starter programs to maintain client specific functionality of HELIOS Admin.

Windows:

Note:: The “VMOptions” key at first does not exist in the HELIOS Admin (Windows) utility and hence must be created as “multi-string value”.

: Open the Windows Registry Editor (“regedit”).

: Open “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > HELIOS Software GmbH > HELIOS Admin” and double-click the “VMOptions” entry.

: Edit the corresponding entry to the desired value, e.g. “-Xmx2048m” and click OK.

Mac:

: Right-click on the “HELIOS Admin” program icon and select Show Package Contents from the menu.

: Open “Contents > Info.plist” in a text editor, e.g. TextEdit, and locate the “<key>VMOptions</key>” entry.

: Edit the corresponding entry to the desired value, e.g. “-Xmx2048m” and save the document.

HELIOS Manuals May 27, 2021