Thursday, March 19, 2009

Windows Printing - Why can't it act rationaly?

We have a small network at the WBO office.. 7 XP boxes, a 2003 SBS server, and several laptops that float in and out.

We also have 8 printers of various types (b&w laser printer/scanner/fax/copier, color laser printer, 2 b&w laser printers, color inkjet, ticket printer, and a couple of label printers). Three of the printers are networked, the rest are shared from various workstations.

The JetDirect card in the second b&w laser died recently, which should be no big deal, since it also attached to the XP box next to it (Rome). It was configured on the server, and shared from the server (Hades). I figured that I would just share it from Rome without listing it in the directory, and change the configuration on Hades to point to the new location. That way, it shows up from the server, and I don't have to change anything on the XP boxes that are currently pointing at it. Quick and easy, right?

Nope.

First the server doesn't want to let me use the new port, so I delete the printer, and start over.. All looks good, But.. When I go to add the printer on one of the XP boxes (Paris), I can't see the printer being connected to the server. Instead, it shows up as being connected to Rome, which is exactly what I DON'T want to happen.

The printer is shared from Rome, but not listed in the directory. The printer entry on Hades points at Rome, is shared, and is listed in the directory. It should show up in the directory as being shared from Hades, Right?

Nope. It shows up as being shared from Rome.

So much for centralized printer sharing.. This also means that I need to go touch the printer entries on all of the XP boxes, which is what I was trying to avoid.

I envision a FreeBSD or Linux box in the future, both as a server for backups, and for printers. I know that I can do this with CUPS.