filePro Printing from SCO Openserver 6 directly to an SMB share

[Mike Schwartz]

> This is so complicated it brings tiers to my eyes :-)
> 
> It sounds like the quintessential question is how to "push" filePro/Unix
> print jobs into a Windows environment. There are many ways to do this that
> DON'T involve SMB. Here are some different ways (not a sequence of
> steps):
> 
> 1) Passthrough print (PFPT) print jobs out of fP:
>     a) to FacetWin (FW) if it can handle them;
>     b) to AnzioWin to print them, render them into PDFs, add overlays...
> 
> 2) Use Zmodem or a similar protocol to push files from SCO to the
emulator.
> But this is difficult to tie into the fP print channel.
> 
> 3) Use AnzioWin in SSH mode; pull the files from SCO using SFTP (which
> does not require a separate firewall hole or connection)
> 
> 4) Print through the SCO Unix spooler, via "remote printing" (lpr/lpd) to
a
> Windows lpd (as Brian suggests), and out to printer. I predict
difficulties in
> matching print file format with printer type.
> 
> 5) Print through SCO Unix spooler to Print Wizard Service Edition, on one
or
> more Windows boxes, to print device independently, or create PDF's etc.
> 
> Your best choice largely depends on the full list of what kinds of files
you
> want to transfer and what you want to do with them once they're in
> Windows.
> 
> Call me to discuss, if you'd like.
> 
> On Fri, 31 Mar 2017, Mike Schwartz via Filepro-list wrote:
> 
> >    One of my filepro customers asked me if they could spool their
> > filePro reports, forms and spreadsheets directly to SMB shares on their
> local
> > network from their SCO Openserver 6 box.   They want to do this because
> > their staff wants to work remotely from home more days each week and
> > they want to make the remote experience as seamless as possible.
> >
> >
> >
> >     They are running filepro 5.7.03.03D4.  They are also running
> > Facetwin terminal emulator on their Windows workstations (mostly Win 7
> > yet, some Win 10).
> >
> >
> >
> >    Their Windows techs gave me a sample SMB path to the Windows Server
> > 2012 box that runs the RDP sessions for their home (remote) users:
> > \\internal.xyzcorp.com\Users\Mike\Reports
> >
> >
> >
> >     If there is an issue using the FQDN, the static IP for
> > internal.xyzcorp.com Windows Server 2012 is 172.16.104.20
> >
> >
> >
> >     They also gave me a user name and password for Mike's share.
> >
> >
> >
> >     Currently each user can choose to spool reports to their user
> > subdirectory (IE; /usr/Mike/Reports) on their SCO server.   The reports
end
> > up with unique names like "statement-JonesCorp-98765" where the 98765
> > is the "$$" process ID.
> >
> >
> >
> >     When the users want to pull all their forms over to their Windows
> > Desktop to review and print them, they have an icon on their desktop
> > that uses a little FTP script that I wrote to pull only the new report
> > names (those reports not already in a folder on their desktop) off of
> > the Unix server and onto their RDP desktops.
> >
> >
> >
> >     This system works OK and the users are happy with it.  However,
> > the 3rd party guys who maintain their Windows network keep badgering
> > me about why the users have to FTP the reports to their desktops.
> >
> >
> >
> >     This FTP thing was a work-around I came up with several years ago
> > to enable their staff to work from their homes.  The users connect to
> > the main office via a Fortinet VPN, then log into an RDP session of
> > Windows 7.  From there, the FTP script I wrote works just fine to
> > connect to to their SCO server at 172.16.104.18 and pull their files
> > over to their RDP workstation session.  I converted some of the most
> > used reports to PDF's to eliminate viewing and printing problems with
> > the different printers each staff person has at home.
> >
> >
> >
> >     The Windows guys refuse to open a port on their firewall so I can
> > do Facetwin Remote printing.  (Even the SP encrypted version of
> > Facetwin isn't secure enough for them.)  Also, occasionally when
> > printing Facetwin reports and the user wants to cancel a report, the
> > print spooler was getting jammed up.
> >
> >
> >
> >     I'm hesitant to open Samba shares on the server because of all the
> > recent ransomware attacks.  I've always told them that their SCO Unix
> > machine is pretty well protected against ransomware attacks.  I know
> > Facetwin is also capable of making SMB shares.  Both Facetwin SMB and
> > Samba are disabled right now...
> >
> >
> >
> >    Can I even do what they are asking?  Can I just make an entry on
> > the /etc.hosts file and in the SCO print spooler system and 'print"
> > things to an external network share?
> >
> >
> >
> >     Bob Rasmussen:  If you  think you have an Anzio solution, I would
> > be interested in that.  I could probably talk them into buying Anzio
> > licenses; at least for their remote users.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
> > Mike Schwartz
> 
> Regards,
> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
> 
> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
>   company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>            voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
>              fax: (US) 503-624-0760
>              web: http://www.anzio.com
>   street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>                   10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
>                   Portland, OR  97223  USA

     Thanks, Bob.  This gives me some more options to think about.

Mike