Re: !!HELP!! Pulling my hair on this one. Printer problems. Really need some help on this.

Heh....well...let me throw my hat in the right then, as I tend to be the "other" guy. I *like* having the print queues centrally managed on the server. If you use and set up ACLs properly then you don't need a domain admin to flush the queue...just a person who is a member of the appropriate security group and you make sure several people are and are trained to do this task. By centralizing the spooler you can control access, do "grouped" deployments, such as department/building/remote printer locations using group policy, upgrade a driver on the server and have all workstations get the new driver automatically (better driver deployment), and...ultimately...usually a better troubleshooting experience when problems arise because you know the driver, the port, and don't have several workstations with different configurations floating out there. Basically I use the same argument I would for folder redirection, roaming profiles, and a stable desktop image when I justify OS deployments. The same logic applies.

-Cliff


"Jim Behning SBS MVP" <jimbehning@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:sn00q4pfju7qrre0bnvhre3251gop43c94@xxxxxxxxxx
I have one account with about 100 workstations scattered over 8 suites
and 3 physical addresses. I do not own the domain. This causes dram
when workstations die. When that account was set up the domain owner
set up print queues for their printers. As we added printers we did
not tell the domain owner. We just set up tcpip printing to printers
on the workstations. New workstations sometimes printed to the
existing domain printer. Sometimes set up as a local printer. Often
enough a print job got jammed up in the domain print queue. It takes
an act of congress to get the domain administrators to answer the
phone and flush out the queue. The help desk often has no clue who
it's customers are. They had sold their SQL services to at least a
dozen practices associated with the hospital but the help desk always
seems to have no clue about that fact.

I am saying I agree with Larry sort of. But I usually share network
printers from the server and it works almost all the time except at
one account who keeps getting stuck print jobs to an HP color laser
when they try to print 50 copies of a 30 page workbook.

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:25:34 -0500, "Larry Struckmeyer [SBS-MVP]"
<lstruckmeyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Allen, (and everyone else who reads/contributes to this thread)

If my assumption is correct that you installed the printers on the SBS and
then shared them, allowing workstations to print to the shared printers I
wonder why you would do this? I prefer that each workstation print directly
to the ip of the printer as this takes the load off the server and has the
additional benefit of *probably* not messing up every users ability to print
because one device (the server) has a hosed print queue.

Yes, I realize that this means auto discovery won't find the printer, but
imo allowing each station to print directly to the ip printers is cleaner.

Open to any positive feedback as to why it should not be done as described
above in a smallish network. Otoh, if I had a network of dozens or scores
or more of stations I could easily be convinced to install a dedicated
printer sharing server computer rather than visit every desktop to install
the printers.

--
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so that others may benefit.


"Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]" <mwport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O0IYYH8kJHA.5112@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Is Windows 2003 SP2 installed? If so, maybe try:

+ Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
+ Right-click the affected print queue, and then click Properties.
+ Click the Ports tab, click Standard TCP/IP Port in the list of ports,
and then click Configure Port.
+ Click to clear the SNMP Status Enabled check box, click OK, and then
click Close.

Best practices and known issues when you install Windows Server 2003
Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939421

--
Merv Porter [SBS-MVP]
============================

"AllenM" <NoReply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uPSAba6kJHA.4912@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
All of a sudden my printers are having some major issues. All my printers
are available however they all show as being "offline". If I send a test
page it will just hang in the queque and any job sent after it hangs
behind it. If I restart the printer spooler the jobs goes through but the
printer goes offline again and same problems. I've even went as far as
removing and deleting the printers and restarting the system. Reinstalled
the printers and of course created "new" tcpip ports. Same thing. I need
to restart the print spooler service and the jobs go through then printer
goes offline again. What is happening? I've never had this happen before.
Any ideas? Thanks.



See what SBS support is working on
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/default.aspx
Check your SBS with the SBS Best Practices Analyzer
http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/tags/BPA/default.aspx

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: !!HELP!! Pulling my hair on this one. Printer problems. Really need some help on this.
    ... Yes Larry I have already moved them off of the SBS server and onto a high ... When the printers were connecte they did show as being offline. ... have workstations connected are plugged into the same. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: !!HELP!! Pulling my hair on this one. Printer problems. Really need some help on this.
    ... Yes it is becoming a concerning issue with my SBS server. ... When the printers were connecte they did show as being offline. ... It can't be my hub because other wall jacks that have workstations ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: !!HELP!! Pulling my hair on this one. Printer problems. Really need some help on this.
    ... If the server tried to contact a printer and could not, say because of a sporadic hardware issue, it might report the printeras offline. ... I think that what I would do next would be to delete all the printers, then go into Server Properties and delete all the drivers. ... So I think for now if I can resolve the issue as to why I cannot remove and delete the print queues from my SBS server then I can try to reinstall from scratch without the existing print queues still in place. ... By centralizing the spooler you can control access, do "grouped" deployments, such as department/building/remote printer locations using group policy, upgrade a driver on the server and have all workstations get the new driver automatically, and...ultimately...usually a better troubleshooting experience when problems arise because you know the driver, the port, and don't have several workstations with different configurations floating out there. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: !!HELP!! Pulling my hair on this one. Printer problems. Really need some help on this.
    ... You could get an idea of this by seeing if you can successfully print single page documents repeatedly without the printers going offline. ... Personally, if you've got a working system in place for now, you could just wait until you rebuild the SBS and transfer back the printers. ... your drive with 7+ GB free has slightly more space available than I do on the C drive of the server I use for printing. ... It can't be my hub because other wall jacks that have workstations connected are plugged into the same. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: First Time Server Setup
    ... you are running the environment is a workgroup ... Backup workstations easily. ... We can setup Printer server. ... so every clients/servers in the domain can share the printers. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.migration)
Loading