PaperCut NG/MF supports synchronizing with many external directories out of the box, however, in some cases syncing with a custom or unsupported directory is required.
Some large networks, particularly those found at established universities, have custom user directories and authentication services that are not directly supported by PaperCut NG/MF. To support these networks, administrators can use scripting and other technologies to build a new custom User Directory Information & Authentication Provider.
User and Group synchronization options
One of the most important tasks when managing PaperCut NG/MF is to configure the User and Group synchronization options. PaperCut NG/MF synchronizes user and group information from a source such as Windows Active Directory (Windows domains) or Google Cloud Directory.
You also have the option to configure a custom sync source for a user directory. This simplifies system administration because you don’t need to manage a separate database of users and groups.
If a user is added to the domain or is removed from a group, then PaperCut NG/MF automatically synchronizes this information without any intervention from the administrator.
Here’s an example of the benefits of automatic syncing:
- Jason configures PaperCut NG/MF to assign an initial credit of $10 to users who are members of the “Students” Windows security group.
- At the start of the new school year, Jason adds 100 new students to the Windows Active Directory.
- Jason also adds all the new users to the “Students” Windows security group.
- When PaperCut NG/MF next synchronizes with Active Directory, the 100 new users are added to PaperCut NG/MF and automatically assigned the $10 initial credit. This is done automatically without any additional work by Jason.
Sync sources
You can synchronize with the following user directories (note that some of these sources are only available on certain operating systems):
- Windows Active Directory
- LDAP (OpenDirectory, Novell eDirectory, OpenLDAP, etc.)
- Google Cloud Directory (for organizations that use Google Workspace for Education, Google Workspace for Enterprise, or Cloud Identify Premium)
- Microsoft Entra ID (standard)
- Microsoft Entra ID Secure LDAP
- Windows Standard (local users and groups for workgroup environments)
- Mac Standard (Local NetInfo, PAM, etc.)
- Unix Standard (local users and groups / NIS / POSIX)
- Samba
- Custom program (Advanced)
Configuration procedures
- Synchronize user and group details with Active Directory
- Synchronize user and group details with LDAP
- Synchronize user and group details with standard Entra ID
- Synchronize user and group details with Entra ID Secure LDAP
- Synchronize user and group details with Google Cloud Directory
- Synchronize user and group details using custom programs
- Manually synchronize with a user directory
- On demand user creation
Scheduling syncing
By default, PaperCut NG/MF automatically syncs user and group information with your directory each night. You can change the time of the sync if needed - check out Change the nightly maintenance and directory sync times .
You can perform additional full user/group syncs by scheduling a script to run the appropriate server-command command.
For more information on using the server-command, see
Tools - database, server-command scripting, and APIs (Advanced)
.
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