pcnfsd(1M)

Authentication

When pcnfsd receives a PCNFSD_AUTH or PCNFSD2_AUTH request, it will "log in" the user by validating the user name and password, returning the corresponding user ID, group IDs, home directory, and umask. The PCNFSD protocol supports user names up to 32 characters for authentication requests.

pcnfsd will also append a record to the wtmps data base (see wtmps(4)). If you do not want PC "logins" recorded in this way, add a line to the /etc/pcnfsd.conf file in the form:

By default, pcnfsd will only allow authentication or print requests for users with user IDs in the range 101 to MAXUID. To override this, add a line to the /etc/pcnfsd.conf file in the form:

where each range is a user ID number in the form

or an inclusive range of user ID numbers in the form

NOTE: pcnfsd will deny authentication if the /etc/shells file is incorrectly setup.

Printing

pcnfsd supports a printing model that uses NFS to transfer print data from the client to the server. The client system issues a PCNFSD_PR_INIT or PCNFSD2_PR_INIT request, and the server returns the path to a spool directory that is exported by NFS for use by the client. pcnfsd creates a subdirectory for each client. By default, the parent directory is /var/spool/pcnfs, and the name of each subdirectory is the same as its client's host name. The PCNFSD protocol limits the length of the absolute path of the client's spool directory to 64 characters. To use a different parent directory, add a line to the /etc/pcnfsd.conf file in the form:

Once a client has mounted the spool directory using NFS, and transferred print data to a file in that directory, it will issue a PCNFSD_PR_START or PCNFSD2_PR_START request. pcnfsd handles most print-related requests by constructing a command based on the printing services of the server's operating system, and executing that command using the identity of the PC user. Because this involves set-user-ID privileges, pcnfsd must be run as root. The PCNFSD protocol supports user names up to 64 characters for print requests.

Every print request from a client includes the name of the printer to be used. This name corresponds to a printer that has been configured into the line printer spooling system using the lpadmin command. The PCNFSD protocol only supports printer names up to 64 characters. Any printer configured using the lpadmin command with a name greater than 64 characters will be ignored by pcnfsd.

To process print data in a special way (for example, to print it in landscape mode, or to print it in duplex mode), define a new printer and arrange for the client to print to that printer. There are two ways to define the new printer:

Reconfiguration

By checking the modification time (and contents) of the file /var/spool/lp/pstatus, pcnfsd will detect when printers have been added or deleted, and will rebuild its list of valid printers. However, pcnfsd does not monitor the file /etc/pcnfsd.conf for updates; if you change this file, you must kill and restart pcnfsd for the changes to take effect.