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Print Server on Windows

This document describes the minimum configuration requirements when installing a SAFE X3 print server on a Microsoft Windows server.

CategoryConfiguration requirements
Operating system
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 x64.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 x64.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019.
Computer
  • Industry-standard server or virtual machine.
  • Processors:
    • Recommended: Intel® Xeon® E5 v3 or later, E7 v3 or later
    • AMD OPTERON™ or EPYC™
    • Avoid low energy processors, best performance with a clock speed above 2.4 GHz
RAM
  • 1 GB or above based on the number of concurrent print processes.
Disk space
  • Sage X3 Print server: 90 MB.
  • Crystal Report 2016 client (under Program Files): 180 MB.
  • Plan an additional 20 MB per SAFE X3 solution associated with a SAFE X3 Print server.
Database access
  • By default, the SAFE X3 Print server uses the ODBC SQL Server Native Client or CR Oracle Wire Protocol ODBC Driver, installed by its own setup.
    You do not need to install the SQL Server or Oracle client to use these drivers except with an Oracle 12.2 database. In this case you should either:
    • install the Oracle Instant Client 12.2 package and the ODBC Oracle driver and then configure manually your ODBC datasource
    • or install the Progress wire ODBC driver
    For further information, please consult our ODBC technical how to guide.
  • In case of forced use of a CR Oracle ODBC Driver (for a SAFE X3 solution that uses an Oracle database), the presence of an Oracle Net 11 client on the server is mandatory.
    In this case, the SAFE X3 Print server takes into account the "TNS_ADMIN" Oracle environment variable during the automatic creation/update procedure of an ODBC data source. If this variable is present and properly valued, the "tnsames.ora" file in the location indicated by the contents of this variable is updated by the SAFE X3 Print server during an automatic creation/ update procedure of an ODBC data source.
User account
  • If the print server must be launched in "Windows Service" mode, it is highly recommended not to use the Local System login account.
  • The user account with which the print server has been launched (in "Console" or "Windows service" mode) must have at least one printer set up.
  • The Windows user account used to launch the print server must have sufficient rights to:
    • create system ODBC data sources
    • modify the "%Windir%\system32\drivers\etc\services" file
    • create global objects ("Create global objects" local security attribute)
    • when using a CR Oracle ODBC driver, access the Oracle*Net alias descriptions ("tnsames.ora" file located in the location specified by the "TNS_ADMIN" Oracle environment variable) in read/write mode
  • The Windows user account used to launch the print server should be the Local administrator of the computer.
  • If the security rules do not allow the use of an Administrator account and if the user account used does not have sufficient rights to access the resources mentioned above, apply either of these 2 strategies:
    • Using version EDT.208 or upper of a print server, add the following registry key (REG_DWORD) with the numerical value "3" (before and after the installation) to configure the print server using the console : 
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ADONIX\SRVIMP\0.1.5.0\GENERAL\AdvancedSrvOpt
    • Regardless of the print server version, apply these 2 rules:
      • a record must be manually added to the "%Windir%\system32\drivers\etc\services" file to declare the print server listening port. The port number that must be entered is the one declared in the SAFE X3 management console during the component configuration. The port alias must comply with the following convention: "adonix_numport".
      • The Oracle or SQLServer data sources must be manually created on the computer. In the case of a CR Oracle ODBC Driver data source, do not forget to also create the Oracle*Net alias (use the Oracle "Net configuration" wizard). The configuration parameters to use for the manual creation of ODBC data sources can be accessed via the SAFE X3 solution definition available from the SAFE X3 management console. Finally, the print server must be started using the "/noodbc" option in order to deactivate the automatic creation of ODBC data sources.
  • Refer to the print server presentation and operation guide for more information.
E-mail software
  • A MAPI compatible e-mail system is necessary in case the e-mail is used to distribute the results of a print request.
    It must be possible to start a MAPI session without carrying out a connection beforehands.
Others
  • A SAFE X3 ADXADMIN administration runtime must be installed on the server.
  • A JDK or Java Runtime Environment (version 8) must be installed.

Important limitation:

Crystal Reports is used to print the reports provided by the solution. Note that the print server engine supplied by Crystal Reports on the supported Windows version does not support dot matrix printers anymore. If you have specific needs for matrix printers, you have to find a solution that generates a dedicated data feed directly on a raw device. This is not part of the standard delivery.


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