Chapter 13: Sharing Printers on Windows Server 2008 R2 Networks BAI617

Chapter Topics Add the Print and Document Services role Manage printers using the Print Management console Manage print server properties Manage printer properties

Print Services Overview Most of your users believe that a printer is the putty-colored box sitting within walking distance of their cubicles that they put paper into and create printed documents. But we all know that in the arcane world of systems administration, a printer is a logical software component that’s an intermediary between user applications and the print device. All configuration settings apply to printers, not to print devices. From pg 539

Print Services Overview Printer Ratios – How Many Printers do you need? – - Why do we need access to printing – What is the work load – What are the special requirements Colour Size/format Special Ink/Toner Security Individual printers vs. network accessible printing From pg 539

Print Device Options Print Device #1 - Directly Connected – USB / Parallel Cable Advantage – control usage, privacy, easy config Disadvantage – network access, physical access, cost, maintenance, uniformity

Print Device Options Print Device #3&4 - Network Connected - Stand Alone or Server Based Advantage – Easily accessible, lower cost/higher ratio, uniformity Disadvantage – Stand-alones may not handle volume, consumables become the “community” responsibility

Print Device Options Print Device #2 - Server Connected Advantage – Network accessible, high volume, lower cost/higher ratio, uniformity Disadvantage – Cost of Server, consumables become the “community” responsibility

Windows 2008 R2 as a Print Server The process of printing with Windows Server 2008 R2 is a bit more complex than it looks from the outside. The printing model uses several components to render application data for graphical output, get the data to a printer, and then help the printer manage multiple print jobs.

Print Model Components The Print Spooler The Print Driver XML Paper Specification (XPS)

The Spooler Computers process faster than printers – The print spooler service accepts the print job and stores it in memory or on the hard drive until the print device can accept it. – If you print a document, you can almost immediately begin working on something else, even if it takes 10 minutes for your document to print

The Spooler

When users print documents to a printer served by a print server, two spoolers are actually involved. The spooler service on the user’s computer spools the document (usually only to memory) and then sends the spooled job to the print server. When the print server receives the print job, it also spools it.

The Spooler

The Spooler Service Most print queue issues are related to the spooler service. A common first step in trouble shooting is to verify the spooler service is running. Stopping and starting the spooler service can sometimes “jump start” a document in the queue and get it printing.

The Print Driver Printer drivers are the software that enables the operating system to communicate with a printer and ultimately send the print job to the print device Drivers are specific – Device – O/S Platform – 32bit vs 64 Bit

The Server’s Print Driver Role Servers can be configured with multiple versions of drivers for a device – When clients connect they can automatically download the driver if it is available on the server

XML Paper Specification (XPS) The XML Paper Specification (XPS) emerged with Windows Vista XPS is similar in concept to the Portable Document Format (PDF) created by Adobe Systems for document exchange a and Windows Server 2008 You can create XPS documents from within Microsoft Office 2007, and these documents can be shared just as PDF files

Print and Document Services Role The Print and Document Services role is added to your server when you want it to become a print server. Services Available include: – Print Server – LPD Services – Internet Printing

Print and Document Services Role

Print Management Console The Print Management console (PMC) was introduced in Windows Server 2003 R2 – Add new drivers – View printers using custom filters – Manage printer settings and drivers – Monitor printer status and configure alerts – Connect to remote print servers so you can do all this for your entire enterprise

Print Management Console The Driver Store All print device drivers are installed in a secure folder referred to as the driver store. When a driver is needed, the store is searched. If the driver is in the store, it’s automatically installed

Print Management Console

Adjusting Print Server Settings Several settings apply at the server level and can be configured once to apply to all resources (drivers, forms, ports, and printers) managed by that server To edit server-wide printer settings, launch the Print Management console

Adjusting Print Server Settings

Managing Printer Properties Just as the print server has several properties that can be managed, viewed, and manipulated, you can also manipulate properties for individual printers Some printers will include more tabs depending on the capabilities of the printer. These additional tabs are added from the print driver package

Managing Printer Properties

Printing preferences can be set for all clients using a device – Becoming the default for that device

Managing Printer Properties

Publishing Printers to the Active Directory Printers are not published in Active Directory by default Once they are listed in Active Directory, users can easily find them with a quick search

Publishing Printers to the Active Directory

Advance Printer Settings: Security Print permissions work similarly, though they aren’t as complex. There are three basic permissions: – Print – Manage Docs – Manage Printers

Advance Printer Settings: Security Print – The user can send jobs to the printer. Print includes “Read permissions.” The Everyone group is granted “Print permission” by default. Manage documents – User can control document-specific settings and pause, resume, restart, and delete spooled print jobs. This permission includes the following: “Read permissions,” “Change permissions,” and “Take ownership.” – The Creator Owner, Administrators, Server Operators, and Print Operators groups are all assigned the “Manage documents” permission by default. Manage printer – The user can change printer properties and permissions on the printer. “Manage this printer” includes the following: Print, Read permissions, Change permissions, and Take ownership. – The Administrators, Server Operators, and Print Operators groups are all assigned the “Manage this printer” permission by default.

Advance Printer Settings: Scheduling This tab allows you to control the tray settings for letterhead, plain stock, and pre-printed forms.

Advance Printer Settings: Scheduling Scheduling allows you to restrict the time that a queue is available Useful for holding large jobs till off-peak hours Requires a second Pinter Icon (driver)

Advance Printer Settings: Priority The default priority of a printer is 1, but you can choose different priorities between 1 and 99, where 99 is the highest priority Requires a second Pinter Icon (driver)

Advance Printer Settings: Ports You can configure the ports and addresses that your printer sends print jobs to Redirect print jobs of devices that have failed Set up Printer Pool for high volume printing

Printer Pooling

Review Add the Print and Document u Services role Manage printers using the Print Management console Manage print server properties Manage printer properties

Questions?

Lab Environment