Amazon SNS + Google CloudPrint Integrations

Google Cloud Print is a service designed for the easy printing from computers, smartphones and tablets. It allows users to print documents without having to install drivers or configure IP addresses. Using Google CloudPrint allows users to print documents from anywhere with a network connection.

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS. is an email-like messaging service that enables users to send messages to a topic and have them delivered by Amazon SNS to any other applications that are registered to receive them.

The objective of this paper is to compare Amazon SNS and Google CloudPrint, and highlight areas of integration between these two cloud services.

Integration of Amazon SNS and Google CloudPrint

The following key steps help to integrate Amazon SNS and Google CloudPrint. These steps are shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Integration of cloud services. Amazon SNS and Google CloudPrint

Step 1. Registering A New Email Account with Google Cloud Print

In order to use Google CloudPrint, you need to create a new email address for it. Go to the Google Account Settings page and click on “Add another email address” as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Add another Email Address on Google Account Settings Page

In the next page, enter the email address that you want to use with Google CloudPrint. In the “Username” field, enter a user name that the printer will use to connect to Google Mail. You will also need to enter a password and a security question. Follow the instructions carefully as shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Create Email Address for Google CloudPrint

Note. The user account you create will be used by your printer for sending outgoing email messages. When you add your printer, you have to enter the user account details and password that you created in Step 1 above. This account will be used by your printer for sending outgoing email messages. If you want to use your existing Gmail account for sending outbound emails, then you don't have to create a new account as described above. Instead, you will just need to configure your existing Gmail account details while adding your printer. Please see the section “Adding Your Printer” later in this paper for more details on this step. (recommended)

In order to verify the email address that you created, you will receive an email message containing a verification code that you will need to type in the "Verification code" box as shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. Verify Email Address for Google Cloud Print

Step 2. Adding Your Printer with Google Cloud Print

In order to use Google Cloud Print, you need to connect your printer to your Google account. You can then print documents from any computer or device linked to this account. To set up a printer, go to the Google Cloud Print website at https://www.google.com/cloudprint/setup/unlisted_device . On this page, enter the device name (name given by your printer manufacturer), model number, brand and serial number of your printer as shown in Figure 5 below. Click on “Next” button and follow the instructions provided on the page (as shown in Figures 6-7 below. until you reach the final page where you can manage the settings of your printer as shown in Figure 8 below. Now that you have added your printer, lets test if it works correctly. Go back to step 1 above where we setup our new email account with Google Cloud Print and login using the credentials you created above. Once logged in, open any web browser and navigate to http://www.google.com/cloudprint . You should now see your newly added printer listed on this page (as shown in Figure 9 below. Click on “Print Test Page” button under your printer name and it should print a test page. After this test page prints successfully, close the web browser and return back to step 2 above where we added our printer with Google Cloud Print. In the “Printers” section, select “My Printers” link on top of the page and then click on “Edit” button under your printer as shown in Figures 10-11 below. Note. From this point forward, you will be able to access your printer settings from any web browser using http://www.google.com/cloudprint/printers/your_printer_name . You should now see a screen similar to that shown in Figure 12 below where you can configure all the printing options for your printer such as Paper Size, Color/Grayscale Printing, Copies and so on. Note. Here we are going to focus only on enabling Google Cloud Print for our printer. Therefore, we are going to change all other options according to our needs as described below. Under Paper Size option, select “Default” option from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 13 below (this will allow us to print all size of documents including letter, legal and A4. Under Media Type option, select “Standard” option from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 14 below (this will allow us to print both sides of paper. Under Copies/Pages option, select “2 copies per page” option from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 15 below (this will allow us to print 2 copies per page. Under Advanced Options option, select “No Border” option from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 16 below (this will allow us to print borderless document. Under Image Quality option, select “Good (300 dpi)” option from the dropdown list as shown in Figure 17 below (this will allow us to print high quality image. Note. Here we are going to focus only on enabling Google Cloud Print for our printer. Therefore, we are going to change all other options according to our needs as described above. Now that we have configured our printer options we will save these changes by clicking on “Save Changes” button as shown in Figure 18 below. Finally, we need to authorize our computer so that it can communicate with our printer over SSL connection which is required by Google Cloud Print service for secure communication between printers and client applications (i.e., web browsers. To do this we right click on “Google Chrome (default browser)” link under “Available clients” section as shown in Figure 19 below and then click on “Copy link address” option as shown in Figure 20 below. Next, we open a new tab in our web browser by clicking on “+ New Tab” button under “Other clients” section as shown in Figure 21 below and then paste the link address that we copied previously into the URL bar of our web browser (as shown in Figure 22 below. Finally, we click on the link address (which now opens up a new tab. and then click on “Authorize” button as shown in Figures 23-24 below; this should bring up a popup window asking for permission for authorizing our computer with our printer (as shown in Figure 25 below. We should now see a popup saying "You're good to go" displaying status information about the authorization process (as shown in Figure 26 below. Note. From this point forward any time when we try printing something from any computer or device linked to our Google account which has been authorized using these steps above, it should automatically send print jobs to our printer without having us install drivers or configure IP addresses even if they are not connected on same network or they are located somewhere else around globe! However, there is one more thing remaining before we can use our newly configured printer; we need to add some form of authentication mechanism that would ensure that only authorized parties could send print jobs through this email address that we created earlier using Step 1 above; otherwise anyone who knows this email address could send print jobs through it which could leave us vulnerable against possible attacks! One way of achieving this goal would be using Transport Layer Security mechanism which is built into most modern operating systems such as Windows 7 & Vista and Apple OS X10; unfortunately it doesn't seem like using TLS is currently an option since there is no way for us to configure it using just a web interface (i.e., no command line options or registry settings available. Another method of achieving this goal would be using IP restrictions via Network Access Control (NAC. feature available in Windows Server 2008 R2; unfortunately my lab environment doesn't include any servers running Windows 2008 R2 hence I couldn't test this method

The process to integrate Amazon SNS and Google CloudPrint may seem complicated and intimidating. This is why Appy Pie Connect has come up with a simple, affordable, and quick solution to help you automate your workflows. Click on the button below to begin.