Network PDF Server Appliance

[VMTN_Admin]

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/132

A PDF Server providing network shared printers for creating PDF documents

[steveroot]

A fantastic appliance server. It creates PDF's and allows you to use your own background for the page(s) (eg a letterhead for the first page, continuation sheets if there are pages after that, then can even append another page(s), perfect for creating a long formated quote for email including terms and conditions that appear on the back of letterheads).

I'm currently using the fully installed (as it's own server) version until VMWare server comes out of beta. I tried the VMware version as well and it worked perfectly too. Fortunatley the backup file from the server version will restore into the VMWare version.

At last I can centrally manage the creation of PDF files as I do every other printer, without it costing me a fortune or confusing the users.

[j_brueggemann]

A great appliance. Now my users can print there PDF files from any application that can print.

[j_brueggemann]

a great appliance. now my user can print from any application that can print.

[w_ullrich]

Just to inform the community about the version 0.99LPD available on the homepage http:://www.pdf-server.net. This version has an additional TCP/IP (LPD) printing support for all configured printers. The appliance can be upgraded without any new installation with the build-in upgrade feature. A new VM will be uploaded to the Challenge ftp server soon.

[angelfrost]

Up and running within minutes. Configured 4 virtual printers with different watermarks and applied a "test license" within half an hour. My 40+ users are "printing" dozends of PDFs each daily since then without any trouble of client installation.

Really good work!!! --- And, as far as I see, the only appliance with a real good and understandable manual for administration (BTW: a PDF manual).

[dbitz]

Cool idea for a virtual appliance.

Although a Linux system no Linux knowledge for configuration is required.

Easy to configure, no client installation, reliable PDF solution.

[johnd]

A great appliance. Easy to install and a very good manual.

I would like to see local storage of the PDF file.

I would like to see storage on a FTP server.

[brewer]

Great Appliance !!

Simple and just easy!

[Daniel eason]

Hi,

How does this operate across WAN links? And is it available for commercial use?

Dan

[w_ullrich]

How does this operate across WAN links?

Provided the required ports are not blocked by a firewall, there is no difference between LAN and WAN connections. The transferred printer input is a PostScript data stream (coming from the client's printer driver), the returned document is either an email with attachment (the document) or a file transfer to the client from the shared folder on the appliance.

And is it available for commercial use?

The Network PDF Server Appliance is available as VMware virtual appliance or as CD image for running directly on a PC. In both cases it is shareware. A free 30-day test license can be requested. You can download the latest version and learn more about the appliance on http://www.pdfserver.net.

Message was edited by:

w_ullrich

[slobbering_dog]

What an excellent appliance !!

Setup in minutes and worked exactly[/i] as the manual said. Great effort !

This will save us heaps of time and money and give us more flxibility than ever before.

[w_ullrich]

Just to inform the community about the new version 1.01 available on the homepage http://www.pdf-server.net. This version can connect to external storage devices for printers to copy all printed documents there. The appliance can be upgraded without any new installation with the build-in upgrade feature. A new VM will be uploaded to the Challenge ftp server soon.

[w_ullrich]

Just to inform the community about the new version 1.03 available on the homepage http://www.pdfserver.net. This version fixes a little bug with activating free licenses for users with non-ascii characters in their name.

[Clicky]

Can anyone help please.........?????

When printing a landscape document it comes out in Portrait and the pages need manually rotating. This means we need Acrobat professional installed to fix.

I have installed the updates 1.0 which fixed the username issue and printers are working fine.

I have also tried every conceivable setting in the printer properties but still no luck.

Any help would be great as I have so nearly convinced my company to purchase license and use in all our sites.

Thanks in advance...

[w_ullrich]

In the current version all pages are printed with the orientation given by the printing application. The printer settings for orientation are overridden by the application settings and are only applied if no page layout is given (when printing from a plain text editor with no page layout). The default orientation when diplayed by Acrobat Reader is always portrait but can be rotated by the reader.

[w_ullrich]

Since version 1.00 I think about what to do next with Network PDF Server Appliance beyond of fixing little bugs. Some interesting ideas arrived from other users on the contact form on http://www.pdfserver.net/ :

\- Making YAFPC-Appliance more being a document management system with storing all documents to a database server with fulltext search features;

\- Implementing the Internet Printing Protocol IPP as an additional protocol for printing PDF from everywhere;

\- Installing the complete system to the harddrive of the YAFPC-Appliance host for better reliability;

\- Forwarding all documents to a "real paper" printer to be printed on paper in addition to be created as PDF.

What do you think, should be next?

What ideas for new features do you have?

[nathan_powell]

Can this appliance work in an ESX VI3 environment?

[w_ullrich]

What do you mean with "ESX VI3 environment"?.

The appliance is currently running on an ESX Server 2.5.2 build-16390 without any problem. What are the differences to ESX VI3?

[nathan_powell]

I have not been able to import the VM into my ESX3 host. What method should be used to import the files/configuration into Virtual Infrastructure Server. Should I be using a different tool to get the VM into the inventory.

[w_ullrich]

The best way is to create a new virtual machine with a harddrive, a network card and a CDROM drive. Then connect the CDROM to the ISO image "YAFPC-102.iso". This file is contained in the Appliance ZIP file or can be downloaded from http://www.pdfserver.net.

On first boot the virtual harddrive will be partitioned. When the system reboots after partitioning the BIOS of the virtual machine must be setup to boot always from the CD image.

[slobbering_dog]

A great appliance. I am using it to great effect.

I too, however, have a problem with printing in landscape and have to rotate it in the reader everytime, but this is not a huge issue.

Maybe a new idea would be to have distribution lists in the mail aliases; ie: being able to print to a printer and nominate who will receive it (not just the default user, and also having a distribution list facility. This would allow rapid distribution of pdf'd files from one central person.

Best regards,

Craig

[w_ullrich]

I can see many users are downloading this appliance using the torrent of the initial version 0.99 uploaded for the Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge. From my homepage (http://www.pdfserver.net) meanwhile the version 1.05 is available. While using the old version (torrent) many users send me emails and request features that were implemented months ago. Is there any way to update the appliance on the VMware ftp server?

W. Ullrich

[THOMAS LYCZKO]

Please update your VMware page about this appliance as often as possible, and please keep the appliances as up to date as you are able.

This will reduce the number of questions you receive about features etc., and the person who recommended non-torrent updates is right, many business people can't/don't download torrents.

Thank you, Tom

[David_Wells]

Should really offer something other than bittorrent for downloads. Most companies block this due to the tremendous security risks.