Connector for AP

How Connector for AP works

AP Connector enables to iOS (version 4.2 and newer) and Mac users to print seamlessly. It uses Apple’s Bonjour protocol as a network layer. It is zero-configuration protocol that enables registering and discovering services on network without any user configuration. Printing service itself presented by printer is registered via this protocol and any iOS or Mac client could discover it and use it.

Y Soft SafeQ connector for AP is using protocol IPPS.

YSoft SafeQ integration

Integration of AP Connector with YSoft SafeQ is achieved via two services:

  • YSoft SafeQ Announcer for AP

  • YSoft SafeQ Connector for AP 

Responsibility of YSoft SafeQ Announcer for AP is to broadcast information about available printing server to iOS devices and Mac.

YSoft SafeQ Announcer for AP must have IP address from the subnet with iOS or Mac devices. Otherwise users won't see announced service.

Responsibility of YSoft SafeQ Connector for AP is to receive requests from iOS device or Mac via IPPS and translate them to SafeQ Protocol Level 4 which is used to deliver job to YSoft SafeQ.

Make sure that your CML has license for Mobile Print. Without license the service won't start.

Requirements

  • Operating system with YSoft SafeQ Connector should be Microsoft Windows (tested on Windows Server 2008, Windows 8.1)

  • The server with the YSoft SafeQ Connector has to be in the same subnet as the devices which will use AP Connector feature - the required Wi-Fi subnet.

  • YSoft SafeQ must have Mobile Print license with AP Connector feature.

  • Exceptions at firewall are set for the ports used by the integration.

  • Target printers have to support plain PDF (PostScript print language) to be able to release print jobs queued on devices with iOS operating system. For some MFPs the PostScript option is not available by default and could be added additionally.

Limitations

  • Billing codes can't be selected when submitting a job to SafeQ via AP Connector.

  • On Mac OS X the "Generic PostScript Driver" has to be selected to print Color jobs

    • Some of the vendors might not support PostScript Driver, in such cases it is recommended to choose vendor-specific driver.

  • On Mac OS X when a user enters wrong credentials, the prompt to enter credentials is not displayed again and the job stays in "Hold for authentication" status.

    • When the user requeues a job, the prompt for credentials is correctly displayed.

  • On iDevices (iPhone, iPad, etc.) when a user prints a photo, the default paper size is not A4 but it matches default Photo printing sizes.

  • Once a user submits a job and provides credentials, credentials are saved and used for all subsequent print jobs.

  • Sequence number is prepended to print jobs sent from Mac OS X.

    • This bug is in Mac OS X and will be fixed in El Capitan (10.11).

Installation

Installation instructions are available in Installing AP Connector.

Delivering jobs to YSoft SafeQ

Instructions for iOS and Mac users how to deal with AP Connector is available in Using AP Connector.

SSL Certificate

SSL Certificate is used for encrypted connection between YSoft SafeQ Connector for AP and User Workstation (Mac OS X, iPhone, iPad, ...), it was generated July 1st 2015 and will be valid until June 28th 2025.