Upgrade from PaperCut NG/MF Quota

This section describes the process for moving from PaperCut Quota to PaperCut NG/MF, and includes instruction of importing user balances and restriction settings from the old PaperCut Quota installation.

These instructions assume that PaperCut NG/MF is installed on the same machine as PaperCut Quota, however, the instructions can also be applied when PaperCut NG/MF is installed on a new machine.

Step 1: Stop and disable PaperCut Quota

Firstly, stop the PaperCut Quota services to ensure they do not interfere with PaperCut NG/MF. Do not uninstall PaperCut Quota at this stage because you need the user database to import user balances into PaperCut NG/MF.

To stop and disable the PaperCut Quota services:

Open the Windows services manager ( Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services ).
Find the PaperCut Print Charging service.
Right-click the server; then select the Properties menu.
In Startup Type, select Disabled.
Click Stop to stop the service.
Click OK.

Step 2: Install PaperCut NG/MF

Install PaperCut NG/MF. For more information, see Installation.

During the setup wizard, it is recommended that the user import settings be set up in the same way as was configured in PaperCut Quota. For example, if you import users from the full Active Directory domain in PaperCut Quota, also set this up in PaperCut NG/MF.

Check that the users have been imported correctly. To adjust the user import settings and re-perform the user synchronization process, go to the Options > User/Group Sync screen. This is similar to the Tune-up function in PaperCut Quota.

Once installed it is recommended that the groups are set up in the same way as in PaperCut Quota. Groups are used to determine the default settings for new users and also how quotas are allocated. For more information on groups see Groups in PaperCut NG/MF.

Step 3: Configure and test printers

The next step is to set up the printers in PaperCut NG/MF to reflect the require page costs and print restrictionsRestrictions are a type of print filter that ensures jobs meet certain criteria (denying those that don't). For example, you can restrict access to one or more printer, define a maximum number of pages allowed in a single job, or allow only duplex.. To do this:

Click the Printers tab.

The Printer List page is displayed.
Select a printer.

The Printer Details page is displayed showing the Summary tab contents.
Enter the cost and filter settings.
Click OK.

For a detailed explanation of setting printer costs and restrictions, see Printer management.

TIP

If all your printers are configured with similar costs and filtersFilters allow you to control attributes of the print settings by either forcing a particular attribute or denying a a print job that does not meet specific criteria. There are two types of print filters: conversions and restrictions., copy the settings from one printer to the other printers. For more information, see Copy printer settings.
It is recommended that the administrator set up the [template printer]. This printer is used as a template when new printers are added to the system. For more information about the template printer, see The template printer.

To ensure that the printers are setup correctly, perform a test print to one of the configured printers. Once printed, check the print log (Printers > Print Log) that the job was recorded and the correct cost calculated.

Step 4: Import the existing user balances

In Professional (Client Billing) installations, this step is optional because shared accounts are used instead of user account balances. If you do not want to import user balances, skip to the next step.

Moving the user balances and restricted status from PaperCut Quota to PaperCut NG/MF is a simple process. If the server is running Windows then:

Click the Users tab.

The User List page is displayed.
In the Actions menu, click Batch import.

The Batch User Import and Update page is displayed.
Click Choose File; then locate the PaperCut Quota user database (PCUserDB.mdb). This is typically located at: C:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database\PCUserDB.mdb
Click Import.

The number of users updated and created are displayed.
Perform some checks of the user balances and restricted statuses to ensure they are set to the values from PaperCut Quota.

If the PaperCut NG/MF server is not running on Windows, you can run the PaperCut Quota database converter manually on a Windows system, and the resulting text file can then be imported in a process similar to the above. To convert the PaperCut Quota user database manually:

Copy the [app-path]/server/bin/win/PCQuotaExport.exe file from the server (running the non-windows OS), to the Windows machine running PaperCut Quota. Copy the exporter to the PaperCut Quota database directory (usually c:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database).
Open the command prompt, by running cmd.exe from Start > Run.
Change to the PaperCut Quota database directory. e.g.

cd "c:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database"
Run the converter, with the location of the PCUserDB.mdb as the argument. For example:

PCQuotaExport.exe "PCUserDB.mdb" > user-export.txt

If running the exporter from a different directory to the database, provide the full path to the database.

This command creates a text file called user-export.txt that contains the user data from PaperCut Quota.
Open the file in a text editor to review the contents. The file can then be imported into PaperCut NG/MF.
Log in to PaperCut NG/MF.
Click the Users tab.

The User List page is displayed.
In the Actions menu, click Batch import.

The Batch User Import and Update page is displayed.
Click Choose File; then locate the user-export.txt file, created in the above step.
Click Import.

The number of users updated and created are displayed.

The number of users updated and created are displayed.

Perform some checks of the user balances and restricted statuses to ensure they are set to the values from PaperCut Quota.

Step 5: Import the existing accounts

Moving the accounts and their settings from PaperCut Quota to PaperCut NG/MF is a simple process, that is described in detail below. This is particularly important in a Professional (Client Billing) installation where shared accounts are used to charge print jobs to client accounts. If this is not important in your environment then skip this step.

TIP

When accounts are imported they inherit the access control settings from the Template Account. By default the Template Account is configured to allow all users access to the account. If you do not want all users to have access the imported accounts, change the security settings on the Template Account before importing.

To import the accounts when the server is running Windows:

Select Accounts > Batch Import / Update.

The Batch Import/ Update page is displayed.
Click Choose File and locate the PaperCut Quota database (PCUserDB.mdb). This is typically located at: C:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database\PCUserDB.mdb. This database contains all of the accounts.
Click Import.

The number of users updated and created are displayed.

When finished, the number of users updated and created is displayed.

Perform some checks of the accounts and settings to ensure they are set to the values from PaperCut Quota.

If the PaperCut NG/MF server is not running on Windows, run the PaperCut Quota database converter manually on a Windows system, and then import the resulting text file.

To convert the PaperCut Quota user database manually:

Copy the [app-path]/server/bin/win/PCCBAccountExport.exe file from the server (running the non-windows OS), to the Windows machine running PaperCut Quota. Copy the exporter to the PaperCut Quota database directory (usually c:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database).
Open the command prompt, by running cmd.exe from Start > Run.
Change to the PaperCut Quota database directory. e.g.

cd "c:\Program Files\PaperCut\Database"
Run the converter, with the location of the PCUserDB.mdb as the argument. For example:

PCCBAccountExport.exe "PCUserDB.mdb" > account-export.txt

If running the exporter from a different directory to the database, provide the full path to the database.

The above command creates a text file called account-export.txt that contains the user data from PaperCut Quota.
Open the file in a text editor to review the contents. You can then import the file into PaperCut NG/MF.
Log in to PaperCut NG/MF.
Select Accounts > Batch Import / Update.

The Batch Import/ Update page is displayed.
Click Choose File and locate the account-export.txt file, created in the above step.
Click Import.

The number of users updated and created are displayed.

When finished, the number of accounts updated and created is displayed.

Perform some checks of the accounts and settings to ensure they are set to the values from the previous version.

Step 6: Upgrade User Client software

The old PaperCut Quota client software is not compatible with PaperCut NG/MF. The old client software must be uninstalled off all workstations and the new client software deployed. The zero-install deployment method can greatly assist with this process. More information on the client deployment is detailed in User Client.

NOTE

It is not 100% accurate to claim that the old client software must be removed. Once the old server-side software is disabled, the old client sits in an inactive state and does no harm. It does, however, consume some system resources on the workstations so we recommend that you uninstall it.

Step 7: Uninstall PaperCut Quota (optional)

Once the PaperCut NG/MF installation is completed and tested you can optionally uninstall PaperCut Quota. If you want to view historical print data, keep the old application installed so you can view the historical data. If this is not important, then uninstall the application.

To uninstall:

On the Windows server running PaperCut Quota, go to: Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs ).
Select PaperCut Quota in the list of installed programs.
Click Remove to start the uninstall process.