Best of the Newsgroups: secure printing ssh

If this isn't exactly what you wanted, please try our Search (there's a LOT of techy and non-techy stuff here about Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and just computers in general!):

From: Bob Rasmussen <ras@anzio.com>
Subject: Re: Encryption of printer files
Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 08:29:39 -0700
References: <nRHza.19690$io.358154@iad-read.news.verio.net> 

On Tue, 27 May 2003, moncho wrote:

> > 1. Some of the HP JetDirect devices appear to have SSL support. I have not
> > determined what kind of host level support there is.
>
> I believe this is thru their SD Express printing.
>
> http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bpj07078

That's a start, but I find it difficult to get the big picture from HP
documents.

> ...
> If a person connects via a VPN connection with SSH how does
> pass-thru printing work?

I should have mentioned VPN as another solution. A VPN provides some
security for printing. Note that SSH and VPN are independent protocols.

>
> How are you able to send the print job back thru the tty?
>
> If you have any links that explains this, it would really help.

Passthru printing works with most terminal emulation products. A piece of
code on the server sends out a "printer on" escape sequence, then print
data, then a "printer off" sequence. See "A Guide to Passthrough Printing"
at http://www.anzio.com/support/whitepapers/printguide.htm

> >
> > We are also working on a feature called "back channel printing", again in
> > an SSH connection. With this feature, the multiplexing nature of SSH is
> > used to create a back channel, using a different pty on the host system.
> > Printout can be routed to that pty (which can be soft-linked to a knowable
> > name), and it again travels over the authenticated, encrypted session. In
> > this approach, the print data positively can not mix with the screen data,
> > and the Unix spooler can be used if desired.
>
> What do you mean by "soft-linked to a knowable name"?

The back channel is created on some pty, but that can change every time.
So how will the primary process know where to send the print data? The
solution is to soft-link the back channel's pty to a name based on the
username, primary pty, etc.

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras@anzio.com
 company e-mail: rsi@anzio.com
          voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
            fax: (US) 503-624-0760
            web: http://www.anzio.com

Buy Take Control of Apple Mail in Leopard

Buy Take Control of Fonts in Leopard

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.