11.9. Printing to a SMB (MicroSoft) Printer

Microsoft use the SMB (Simple Message Block) protocol to transfer files and print jobs to hosts and printers. SMB can be used over TCP/IP, NetBEUI, IPX, and other lower level network protocols.

Unfortunately, most printers do not provide detailed status or error reports when using the SMB protocol. There are a very large number of printers that have deficient SMB support that causes problems when used in a high traffic or high throughput environment.

It is highly recommended that this protocol not be used unless there is no alternative.

If you have a printer or a remote print spooler that supports SMB You can use the SAMBA smbclient program to send a print job to an SMB client. The following is a sample Shell Script script which you can use:

#!/bin/sh -x
# This script is an input filter for printing on a unix machine. It
# uses the smbclient program to print the file to the specified smb-based
# server and service.
# The 'smb' printcap entry below shows how to configure LPRng
# for printing
#
# smb:
#  :lp=|/usr/local/samba/smbprint
#  :sd=/var/spool/smb:
#  :filter= ... filter ...
#
# The /var/spool/smb/.config file should contain:
#   server="PC_SERVER"
#   service="PR_SHARENAME"
#   password="PASSWORD"
#
# Set PC_SERVER to the server, PR_SHARENAME to the printer,
# and PASSWORD to the password for this service.
#
# E.g.
#   server=PAULS_PC
#   service=CJET_371
#   password=""
#
#
config_file=.config
if [ -f $config_file ] ; then
    eval `/bin/cat $config_file`
fi
#
# NOTE You may wish to add the line `echo translate'
# if you want automatic
# CR/LF translation when printing.
(
#   echo translate
    echo "print -"
    /bin/cat
) | /usr/local/bin/smbclient "\\\\$server\\$service" \
   "$password" -U "$server" -N -P 1>&2

If the above script was in /usr/local/libexec/filters/smbprint, the printcap entry for this printer would be:

pauls_pc:
  :sd=/var/spool/lpd/%P
  # we filter the output
  :lp=|/usr/local/libexec/filters/smbprint
  # you can add filters if you want to do specific actions
  :ifhp=model=hp4
  :filter=/usr/local/libexec/filters/ifhp