Share FAX Modem on OS X Server

Once I got this to work, I found that the shared fax can dissapear if I mess around with cupsd.conf or some (???) other settings. Once I have everything else I want, I've gone back and resetup the shared fax. As long as I leave it alone after that it has remained available.

I made some changes to the settings. The shared fax from the server went away and my printers were not being served. Went back to where you seem to be now as far as settings and the printers came back (visible in the print dialog in "shared Printers" but the shared fax was gone.

*I made sure that the printers were being served to a client
*Deleted the fax in Printer Setup Utility at the server
*rebooted
*made sure the printers were being served on a client
*recreated the shared fax by telling the server to fax something somewhere
*found the shared fax on a client now (not sure why now and not before)
*changed the name of the shared fax on the server as discussed earlier
*in time the changed name showed up in the client

On the client I found you can watch to see if the shared items are available easily by being in Printer Setup Utility and having both the printer list and fax list showing.

"On the client I found you can watch to see if the shared items are available easily by being in Printer Setup Utility and having both the printer list and fax list showing."

Sorry this is not entirely accurate, looking at the default browser after selecting "add printer" will show all available network items. Showing the printer list and fax list only works once you have added the networked items to your client machine.

Here is where I am right now with the off local subnet sharing:

Simple change for ease, add Allow From All to <location />

Tried editing cupsd.conf - changes not retained for <location /> items
Tried editing cupsd.conf.default - no impact on print service
Tried editing cupsd.conf.O - changes not retained for <location /> items

Tried editing both .conf and .conf.O and locking with chflags. No change to files now but printers are still not distributed to an off subnet client browsepoll of the server. Local subnet still works fine.

Log return for print service startup with both .conf and .conf.O locked
I [29/Sep/2005:09:04:37 -0400] Installing config file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"...
E [29/Sep/2005:09:04:37 -0400] Unable to remove backup config file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf.O" - Operation not permitted

Log return for the off subnet poll request after above startup, at the client error 403 is clarified as "forbidden"
192.168.2.11 - - [29/Sep/2005:09:21:21 -0400] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 403 0
192.168.2.11 - - [29/Sep/2005:09:21:21 -0400] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 403 0
192.168.2.11 - - [29/Sep/2005:09:21:22 -0400] "POST / HTTP/1.1" 403 0

I just watched the server's cups folder with attention to when files were updated. Each time SA is used to start or stop print service both cupsd.conf and cupsd.conf.O are updated.

Based on all of the above I really have no idea where to go next because the server still changes both files everytime the print service is started or stopped and I cannot tell where the original settings are coming from.

Tried editing cupsd.conf.default - no impact on print service

Well, this is normal... after all, it is not the "actual" (used by cups) config file.

E [29/Sep/2005:09:04:37 -0400] Unable to remove backup config file...

Surely coming from the chflag operation. To remove it manually:
sudo rm -f /private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf.O

If (note: the various steps must be taken in that order)
- you stopped the print service, then quit SA.
- you edited cupsd.conf.default.
- then edited cupsd.conf manually (probably irrelevant, but you never know...).
- then launched and used SA again to start the service.

... but "now" cupsd.conf still misses the "Allow" directive, this means that SA gets its template from some other source (that is, not from cupsd.conf.default)... and finding it may not be so easy (probably buried inside the SA bundle itself? in a framework?). Bad news, but I don't know where it could be...

Or avoid using SA if you can: use it to configure what you need and start the service, then edit cupsd.conf manually, and reboot. If you must use SA again (print services), remember that you'll have to redo your edits every time (and reboot the server)...

Another option may be to administer the service with serveradmin (command line tool): maybe it will not rewrite cupsd.conf as SA does.

Nicola,
I will continue to play further...however my hopes are not high. If I come up with anything I'll of course post back but I think that we have reached the end of my level of comfort playing in the depths of the OS of the only server I have.

Your conclusions and suggestions have all been good and given me sensible direction. I just wish Apple might have used a "standard" implementation of CUPS so that your first suggestion would have been the answer. Thanks for your time.

Erich... were you successful in getting OS X Server to share the fax modem? We've followed the various steps throughout this post and I think that we've really messed things up. Somehow managed to get everything back to its original state.

Any continued information from you or anyone else who has posted would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Catherine

Catherine,
Yes. I have been successful in sharing the fax modem. Since I last played with the settings for this, the modem has successfully sent faxes for local subnet clients and received faxes from the outside.

Beyond the information in the various posts, I really don't know what else to suggest. As I have said here, I'm not 100% sure what the mechanism is for all of this.

If you have not, one thing to try is to make sure that the modem is simply on as a choice in System Preferences>Network. Originally I had shut it off since it was unused. While I was playing with the setup for this, I turned it on and it has been on ever since. The modem is not set to call anywhere, its just on as a network option. Another thing to try is to fully shut off the server. Start it up. Then follow the procedure I outlined in one of the longer posts. I have repeated that procedure several times with a successful result. Make sure you have Server Admin>Print service turned on and that you have clients that can see a shared printer queue hosted by the server. If your client can see a shared printer it will be able to see the fax. It does appear that the Print service is the one sharing the fax, so it must be running.

Can your clients see server hosted print queues?

I tried this exact procedure and it worked like a charm. Now I can fax from my iBook without problems. No more transfering documents from the iBook to my trusty Sawtooth. Now the Sawtooth serves everything but my scanner. I guess I'll have to look into this one eventualy...

Thanks for sharing !

Yes! SUCCESS! It´s SOLVED!
Erich I love you so much!
Fax sharing on Mac OS X Server is working now !!
Perfect !!

The following steps finally solved my problem:

After switching to IPP I just had to delete and recreate the fax queue!
Then the Fax Server Modem appeared on my clients.


*I made sure that the printers were being served to a client
*Deleted the fax in Printer Setup Utility at the server !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*rebooted
*made sure the printers were being served on a client
*recreated the shared fax by telling the server to fax something somewhere !!
*found the shared fax on a client now (not sure why now and not before)
*changed the name of the shared fax on the server as discussed earlier
*in time the changed name showed up in the client


There is a browser accessable Fax protocol front-end at:

Completed jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/InternalModem?whichjobs=completed

Active jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/Internal_Modem


Also for the other guys make sure:

Share at least one PostScript printer via IPP on OS X Server.
I switched the printer protocol to IPP only. Do not use Apple Talk, LPR or Bonjour! Now the Bonjour submenu is gone and there´s shared printers instead.


---------------------------------------------------------------

I can not share the FaxServer in Server Admin because the modem called FaxServer isn´t listed at Printserver > Setup > queues. "

It is not for me either. I did not actually tell the server to share the fax. As I mentioned in the posts above, it appears to do that on its own. It appears that Server Admin > Print Services > allows you to see items in the fax queue but you cannot actually set up any of the details for the shared fax.

"In the Tiger client version there is a share this fax button in system preferences. "

I agree, there is a share button for the fax in the client 10.4 System Preferences > Fax and Print. As mentioned in previous posts it appears that ANY 10.4 machine can "serve" a fax. 10.4 Client can do it presumably by simply setting fax sharing on in system preferences.

"I can NOT see the FaxServer on any client in the print > fax panel. There are no shared printers and no shared faxes in the drop down menu."

Do you have printers that are shared by the server that you cannot see on the local subnet? If so your server may not be serving any Printers/Faxes.

Just for clarity, this is where I find things: At the client, in the print dialog box, under the printer pop up you will have "Shared printers >" as a sub menu ONLY IF the client can see shared printers. The same happens in the Fax dialog box for me. If I shut off print service on the server the shared sub menu does not appear.

Bottom line. I am not confident about what mechanism is controlling this...however, you seem to have the same appearance as I do as far as where the 10.4 SERVER's fax appears in Server Admin. With all of the playing around I did with this I am not sure when, but I definately performed a restart to clear things out. Try that. After I got this to work once, I deleted everything and redid the procedure as listed in earlier posts to make sure. In retrospect I may have had the same problem, no shared fax. Restarted server, waited for complete boot, restarted client and then the "shared fax" submenu was available on the client.

Where we differ currently is that I am not using Bonjour to share printers. I have shared printers via IPP. Bonjour is NOT where my shared fax is showing up. Both printers and fax are shared in a submenu called "Shared printers" or "Shared faxes" as appropriate to the dialog window. The "Shared printers" or "Shared Faxes" submenu appears just above "Bonjour printers" if and only if it is needed.

Try sharing the printer you set up with IPP. Server Admin>Print>Queues>select your queue>select IPP under "protocol."

IPP is how my printers are shared. Possibly this will kick on sharing of the fax since I see it the same way as I see the printers when they are shared by IPP. As far as I can tell the fax and printers are shared in the same manner on my system. I am using only IPP to share the printers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


There is a browser accessable Fax protocol front-end at:

Completed jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/InternalModem?whichjobs=completed

Active jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/Internal_Modem


Thank you for your help!
Björn

Hi,
there is the Keyspan USB Server which allows you to plug in any usb device like a usb scanner and share it over a network. I´m using it to share my canon usb scanner on the network - it work´s and it´s simply.

Same here. It works. Finally!!! Thanks so much!

I'm still having problems activating the Shared Fax on my OS X Server 10.4.(3-4) Amazing it's so easy to activate it on a client and a nightmare on the server-variant.

I have done most if not all the suggestions in this topic and I'm stuck at the /etc/cups/printers.conf which has a very nice 'Shared No' for my <Printer Internal_Modem> section.

As stated: ServerAdmin resets this keyword to No when I change it to yes, it regenerates all cups config files on restart/editing. When I set it to yes in /et/cups/printers.conf and restart cupsd manually, I have a working FaxServer!

So.... I'm still struggling with this question: from where is ServerAdmin fetching the 'Shared' state for regenerating the printers.conf file? I've already tried adding ShareFax = Yes to /Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.FaxPrefs.plist , but this doesn't help. (this is the flag which is set on the client when you share your fax.



Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Fax sharing on Mac OS X Server is working now !!


It´s not necessary to change the /et/cups/printers.conf file !
You don´t have to edit anything there!

The following steps finally solved my problem:

After switching to IPP I just had to delete and recreate the fax queue!
Then the Fax Server Modem appeared on my clients.


*I made sure that the printers were being served to a client
*Deleted the fax in Printer Setup Utility at the server !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*rebooted
*made sure the printers were being served on a client
*recreated the shared fax by telling the server to fax something somewhere !!
*found the shared fax on a client now (not sure why now and not before)
*changed the name of the shared fax on the server as discussed earlier
*in time the changed name showed up in the client


There is a browser accessable Fax protocol front-end at:

Completed jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/InternalModem?whichjobs=completed

Active jobs:
http://hostname.local:631/printers/Internal_Modem


Also for the other guys make sure:

Share at least one PostScript printer via IPP on OS X Server.
I switched the printer protocol to IPP only. Do not use Apple Talk, LPR or Bonjour! Now the Bonjour submenu is gone and there´s shared printers instead.


---------------------------------------------------------------

Q & A:

I can not share the FaxServer in Server Admin because the modem called FaxServer isn´t listed at Printserver > Setup > queues. "

It is not for me either. I did not actually tell the server to share the fax. As I mentioned in the posts above, it appears to do that on its own. It appears that Server Admin > Print Services > allows you to see items in the fax queue but you cannot actually set up any of the details for the shared fax.

"In the Tiger client version there is a share this fax button in system preferences. "

I agree, there is a share button for the fax in the client 10.4 System Preferences > Fax and Print. As mentioned in previous posts it appears that ANY 10.4 machine can "serve" a fax. 10.4 Client can do it presumably by simply setting fax sharing on in system preferences.

"I can NOT see the FaxServer on any client in the print > fax panel. There are no shared printers and no shared faxes in the drop down menu."

Do you have printers that are shared by the server that you cannot see on the local subnet? If so your server may not be serving any Printers/Faxes.

Just for clarity, this is where I find things: At the client, in the print dialog box, under the printer pop up you will have "Shared printers >" as a sub menu ONLY IF the client can see shared printers. The same happens in the Fax dialog box for me. If I shut off print service on the server the shared sub menu does not appear.

Bottom line. I am not confident about what mechanism is controlling this...however, you seem to have the same appearance as I do as far as where the 10.4 SERVER's fax appears in Server Admin. With all of the playing around I did with this I am not sure when, but I definately performed a restart to clear things out. Try that. After I got this to work once, I deleted everything and redid the procedure as listed in earlier posts to make sure. In retrospect I may have had the same problem, no shared fax. Restarted server, waited for complete boot, restarted client and then the "shared fax" submenu was available on the client.

Where we differ currently is that I am not using Bonjour to share printers. I have shared printers via IPP. Bonjour is NOT where my shared fax is showing up. Both printers and fax are shared in a submenu called "Shared printers" or "Shared faxes" as appropriate to the dialog window. The "Shared printers" or "Shared Faxes" submenu appears just above "Bonjour printers" if and only if it is needed.

Try sharing the printer you set up with IPP. Server Admin>Print>Queues>select your queue>select IPP under "protocol."

IPP is how my printers are shared. Possibly this will kick on sharing of the fax since I see it the same way as I see the printers when they are shared by IPP. As far as I can tell the fax and printers are shared in the same manner on my system. I am using only IPP to share the printers.

Is it possible to access the shared FAX Modem from any client other than OSX? Such as OS9, Windows...

Got this Issue working on OS X Server 10.4.5. Thanks to all efforts made in this thread. I've as well documented it on my -german only- page MacSupport @ redaktiv

After the 10.4.6 Update my IPP-shared Printer is still usable, the faxmodem queue persists but is not available from any client.

Print-log says:
<pre>»D [DD/MMM/JJJJ:hh:mm:ss +0200] non-shareable queue "Internes_Modem" (LOC PS FAX)«</pre>

Has anyone an idea how to fix that?

best regards
Stefan

PM G4 Mac OS X (10.4.4)