Use a RaspberryPi as a NAS, Printer and Scanner Server

In this tutorial I will show how to use a RasperryPi as a home office server to

share a file directory
share a printer
share a scanner

through a local WIFI network. We will use a Samba server, as it also allows Windows computers to use the network.

1. Install & Configure Samba Server

Let's start with downloading the required software:

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin -y

and let's make a backup of the original config file before proceeding

sudo cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.old

1.1 Create Samba User

As the Samba users may not have an account on the RaspberryPi, we need to create separate users for the Samba server. Let's create that user also on the Pi, and add it to the <users> group, which we will later on use to assign the required permissions

sudo useradd samba-user1 -m -G users

sudo smbpasswd -a samba-user1

and assign a password for the user <samba-user1>.

1.2 Configure the Samba File Server

First we enable a password protection for accessing the samba server, by editing

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Look for the section authentication and allow

security = user

Next, we are going to allow write access in the [homes] section to

read only = no

Create a directory to store public files

sudo mkdir -p /media/shared-files

and assign the proper permissions

sudo chown -R root:users /media/shared-files && sudo chmod -R ug=rwx,o=rx /media/shared-files

Edit the samba configuration file

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

At the end of the file, add the following lines

[global]
        log file = /var/log/samba/log.%m

[tmp]
        comment = Temporary file space
        path = /home/pi
        read only = no
        public = yes

[Media]
  comment = Shared files
  path = /media/shared-files
  valid users = @users
  force group = users
  create mask = 0660
  directory mask = 0771
  read only = no

Restart samba to use the new configuration file.

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Expect:

Stopping Samba daemons: nmdb smdb
Starting Samba daemons: nmdb smdb

2. Install Network Printer

Install Common Unix Printing System

sudo apt-get install cups

and add the user pi to the printer admin group

sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi

Edit the samba config file

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

and add/uncomment

# CUPS printing.  See also the cupsaddsmb(8) manpage in the
# cupsys-client package.
   printing = cups
   printcap name = cups
   

   
load printers = yes

[printers]
   comment = All Printers
   browseable = no
   path = /var/spool/samba
   printable = yes
   guest ok = yes
   read only = yes
   create mask = 0700

# Windows clients look for this share name as a source of downloadable
# printer drivers
[print$]
   comment = Printer Drivers
   
   path = /var/lib/samba/printers
#  path = /usr/share/cups/drivers
   browseable = yes
   read only = yes
   guest ok = no
   
   
   
   use client driver = yes

and restart samba server

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

or reload only config file, using

smbcontrol all reload-config

2.1 Add printer

for remote browser access to the network printer edit

sudo nano /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Comment out the “Listen localhost:631″ line and replace it with the following:

# Only listen for connections from the local machine
# Listen localhost:631
Port 631

Scroll further down in the config file until you see the [location] sections. In the block below, you need to add/modify: "Allow @local"

< Location / >
# Restrict access to the server...
Order allow,deny
Allow @local
< /Location >

< Location /admin >
# Restrict access to the admin pages...
Order allow,deny
Allow @local
< /Location >

< Location /admin/conf >
AuthType Default
Require user @SYSTEM
# Restrict access to the configuration files...
Order allow,deny
Allow @local
< /Location >

and restart cups

sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

Now cups should be accessible via browser:

http://3.14.15.9:631

(I have set up 3.14.15.9 as my address of the RaspberryPi; your address may vary)

Sources:

3. Add Network Scanner

Install

sudo apt-get install sane sane-utils xinetd

And check if the scanner is available with

scanimage -L

And test if scanner is working

scanimage --format=tiff > ~/myimage.tiff

Allow network access in

sudo nano /etc/sane.d/saned.conf

by adding IP range

3.14.15.0/24

and start sane by default by adding/editing

sudo nano /etc/default/saned

so it contains

RUN=yes

Enable xinetd service, and create file:

sudo nano /etc/xinetd.d/saned

and add/modify, so it contains

service saned 
{
socket_type = stream
server = /usr/sbin/saned
protocol = tcp
user = saned
group = scanner
wait = no
disable = no
}

Deploy bug fix

sudo echo -e "nblacklist usblp" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

and reboot

sudo sync && shutdown -r now

Verify that the scanner is working

scanimage -L

and

sudo cat /etc/services | grep sane

3.1.1 Install and configure Web-Frontend phpSANE

Install web-frontend simple (phpSANE from http://sourceforge.net/projects/phpsane)

sudo apt-get install -y libapache2-mod-php5 unzip netpbm gocr sed imagemagick

Create directory

mkdir /var/www/phpsane && cd /var/www/phpsane

Download phpsane

wget "http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/project/phpsane/phpsane/0.8.0/phpSANE-0.8.0.zip"

and extract the archive

unzip -q phpSANE-0.8.0.zip

Configure in

sudo nano /var/www/phpsane/incl/config.php

by adding/modifying/uncommenting (this might be scanner specific) so it contains:

//$usr_opt = " --jpeg-quality 0";

(At least this setting worked with a Canon MP800)

sudo sed -i "s|/opt/bin/gocr|/usr/bin/gocr|g" /var/www/phpsane/incl/config.php

sudo sed -i "s|/usr/local/bin/pdfunite|/usr/bin/pdfunite|g" /var/www/phpsane/incl/config.php

sudo sed -i "s|Timeout 300|Timeout 900|g" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

sudo sed -i "s|max_execution_time = 30|max_execution_time = 900|g" /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

sudo sed -i "s|max_input_time = 60|max_input_time = 900|g" /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

and set proper permission

sudo chmod +s /usr/bin/scanimage

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/phpsane/tmp && sudo chmod 775 /var/www/phpsane/tmp

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/phpsane/output && sudo chmod 775 /var/www/phpsane/output

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/phpsane/scanners && sudo chmod 775 /var/www/phpsane/scanners

3.1.2 Install more advanced web interface for scanners: PHP-Scanner-Server

sudo apt-get install -y imagemagick sane-utils usbutils libapache2-mod-php5 php5-curl tesseract-ocr tar zip php-fpdf libpaper-utils grep coreutils

Add the user lp to the web-server group

sudo adduser www-data lp

mkdir -p /tmp/PHP-Scanner-Server && cd /tmp/PHP-Scanner-Server

wget -O PHP-Scanner-Server.zip "https://github.com/GM-Script-Writer-62850/PHP-Scanner-Server/archive/master.zip"

unzip -q PHP-Scanner-Server.zip

mkdir -p /var/www/scanner/

mv -f /tmp/PHP-Scanner-Server/PHP-Scanner-Server-master/* /var/www/scanner/

Configure

sed -i "s|Timeout 300|Timeout 900|g" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

sed -i "s|max_execution_time = 30|max_execution_time = 900|g" /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

sed -i "s|max_input_time = 60|max_input_time = 900|g" /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Create directories and give proper permissions

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/scanner/scans && sudo chmod 775 /var/www/scanner/scans

sudo chown www-data /var/www/scanner/scans

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/scanner/config && sudo chmod 775 /var/www/scanner/config

sudo chown www-data /var/www/scanner/config

Before configuring:

sudo sed -i "s|Timeout 300|Timeout 900|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

sudo sed -i "s|FreeSpaceWarn = 2048|FreeSpaceWarn = 1024|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

sudo sed -i "s|Fortune = true|Fortune = false|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

Set rulers to cm instead of inches and timezone

sudo sed -i "s|RulerIncrement = 25.4|RulerIncrement = 10|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

sudo sed -i "s|TimeZone = ''|TimeZone = 'UTC'|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

sudo sed -i "s|Printer = 0|Printer = 1|g" /var/www/scanner/config.ini

And configure via the web interface:

Visit: http://3.14.15.9/scanner

Sources:

2024-01-06	Complete Guide on How to Setup a Nextcloud Spreed Signaling Server (i.e. the Talk High-Performance Backend) on Debian (12) Bookworm
2023-01-27	Mozilla Firefox Syncserver on Debian Bullseye
2023-01-08	Complete Guide on How to Setup a Nextcloud Spreed Signaling Server (i.e. the Talk High-Performance Backend) on Debian (11) Bullseye
2018-03-21	Use a RaspberryPi as a NAS, Printer and Scanner Server
2015-08-18	How to Use a RaspberryPi with a 3G Modem as a WIFI Router and Internet Access Point

Use a RaspberryPi as a NAS, Printer and Scanner Server

1. Install & Configure Samba Server

1.1 Create Samba User

1.2 Configure the Samba File Server

2. Install Network Printer

2.1 Add printer

3. Add Network Scanner

3.1.1 Install and configure Web-Frontend phpSANE

3.1.2 Install more advanced web interface for scanners: PHP-Scanner-Server

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