pcnfsd

The pcnfsd program (also called rpc.pcnfsd) is an authentication and printing program that runs on a Unix server. There are many publicly available versions, and several vendors supply their own version.

pcnfsd supports a printing model that uses NFS to transfer files from a client to the pcnfsd server. (Note: pcnfsd does not provide NFS services.) When a client wants to print a file, pcnfsd requests the path to a spool directory from the server. The client then writes the necessary files for printing using NFS, and informs the pcnfsd server that the files are ready for printing. pcnfsd creates a subdirectory for each of its clients using the clientÆs hostname, then returns this path name to the client. The NFS server must export the returned path name to its clients. The NFS server and the pcnfsd server may be two separate machines.