Once logical printers have
been set up, configured and shared on print servers, and once clients
have been connected to those printers, you must begin to maintain and
monitor those logical and physical printers. This lesson will give you
guidance in the maintenance and troubleshooting of printers in a Windows
Server 2003 environment.
Maintaining Printers
There are no
regular maintenance tasks for the print service on a Windows Server 2003
computer. The maintenance tasks defined below are typically performed
on a periodic, as-needed basis. Keep in mind that when managing
printers, actions may affect an entire printer or all printers on the
print server, not just individual print jobs.
Managing Printer Drivers
The first
grouping of maintenance tasks relate to drivers on the print server. As
mentioned earlier in the lesson, it is helpful to install drivers for
all client platforms that will use a particular shared printer. Windows
clients will download the driver automatically when they connect to the
printer. Drivers for various platforms are installed by clicking
Additional Drivers on the Sharing tab of a printer’s Properties dialog
box.
To update drivers for a
single logical printer, select the Advanced tab of the Properties dialog
box and click New Driver. You will then be able to select additional
drivers by indicating the manufacturer and model, or by clicking Have
Disk and providing the manufacturer’s drivers.
You can also manage
drivers for the print server as a whole. In the Printers And Faxes
folder, select Server Properties from the File menu and click the
Drivers tab. Here you can add, remove, reinstall, or access the
properties of each of the drivers on the print server. Changes made to
these drivers will affect all printers on the server.
If
you want to list all of the files related to a particular printer
driver, open the print server’s Drivers tab select the driver, and click
Properties. The names and descriptions of all the files that are part
of the specific driver will appear. From this list, it is possible to
view details regarding any of the files by selecting the file and then
clicking Properties.
Redirecting Print Jobs
If a printer is
malfunctioning, you can send documents in the queue for that printer to
another printer connected to a local port on the computer, or attached
to the network. This is called redirecting
print jobs. It allows users to continue sending jobs to the logical
printer, and prevents users with documents in the queue from having to
resubmit the jobs.
To redirect a printer,
open the printer’s Properties dialog and click the Ports tab. Select an
existing port or add a port. The check box of the port of the
malfunctioning printer is immediately cleared unless printer pooling is
enabled, in which case you must manually clear the check box.
Because print jobs
have already been prepared for the former printer, the printer on the
new port must be compatible with the driver used in the logical printer.
All print jobs are now redirected to the new port. You cannot redirect
individual documents. In addition, any documents currently printing
cannot be redirected.
Monitoring Printers
Windows Server 2003 provides several methods to monitor printers and printing resources.
Using System Monitor and Performance Logs and Alerts
The System
Monitor and Performance Logs And Alerts snap-ins, both of which are
included in the Performance MMC, allow you to observe real-time
performance of printers, log metrics for later analysis, or set alert
levels and actions. To add a counter to System Monitor, right-click the graph area and
choose Add Counters. Select the performance object (in this case Print
Queue), the desired counters, and the instance representing the logical
printer to monitor.
After selecting Print
Queue as the performance object, a list of all available performance
counters is provided. You can select any counter and click Explain to
learn about that particular performance metric.
The most important performance counters for monitoring printing performance are the following:
Bytes Printed/Sec
The number of bytes of raw data per second that are sent to the
printer. Low values for this counter can indicate that a printer is
underutilized, either because there are no jobs, print queues are not
evenly loaded, or the server is too busy. This value varies according to
the type of printer. Consult printer documentation for acceptable
printer throughput values.
Job Errors
Number of job errors. Job errors are typically caused by improper port
configuration; check port configuration for invalid settings. A printing
job instance will increment this counter only once, even if it happens
multiple times. Also, some print monitors do not support job error
counters, in which case the counter will remain at 0.
Jobs The number of jobs being spooled.
Total Jobs Printed The number of jobs sent to the printer since the spooler was started.
Total Pages Printed
The number of pages printed since the spooler was started. This counter
provides a close approximation of printer volume, although it may not
be perfect, depending on the type of jobs and the document properties
for those jobs.
Using System Log
Using Event Viewer,
you can examine the System log as a source of information regarding
spooler and printer activity. By default, the spooler registers events
regarding printer creation, deletion, and modification. You will also
find events containing information about printer traffic, hard disk
space, spooler errors, and other maintenance issues.
To control or
modify spooler event logging, open the Printers And Faxes folder and
choose Server Properties from the File menu. Click the Advanced tab to
access the properties as shown in Figure 1.
From this page, you can control printer event log entries and print job
notifications. This is also the tab that enables you to move the print
spooler folder—an important task when configuring an active print
server, or when an existing print spool folder’s disk volume becomes
full.
Auditing Printer Access
Printer
access, like file and folder access, can be audited. You can specify
which groups or users and which actions to audit for a particular
printer. After enabling object access auditing policy, you can view
resulting audit entries using Event Viewer.
To configure auditing
for a printer, open its Properties dialog box, click the Security tab,
and then click Advanced. Click the Auditing tab and add entries for
specific groups or users. For each security principal you add to the
audit entry list, you can configure auditing for successful or failed
access based on the standard printer permissions, including Print,
Manage Documents, and Manage Printers.
You must then
enable the Audit Object Access policy, which is located in group or
local policy under Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security
Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy. After the policy has taken effect,
you can examine the Security event log to see and analyze entries made
based on printer auditing.
Tip
Printer
auditing creates dozens of entries for a single print job. It is
therefore only useful when troubleshooting very specific problems.
Printer auditing should not be used to monitor use or to bill for
printer usage. Instead, performance counters such as Total Jobs Printed
or Total Pages Printed should be analyzed. |
Troubleshooting Printers
Troubleshooting
is an important part of printer management. The following guidance will
help you understand, identify, and address the types of incidents and
problems that may occur in Windows Server 2003 printing.
Remember when troubleshooting that printing includes multiple components, typically:
The application that is attempting to print.
The logical printer on the computer on which the application is running.
The network connection between the print client and the shared logical printer on the server.
The logical printer on the server—its spool, drivers, security settings, and so on.
The network connection between the print server and the printer.
The printer itself—its hardware, configuration, and status.
An efficient way to solve most problems associated with printing is to troubleshoot each component logically and methodically.
Identify the Scope of Failure
If the user can
print a job from another application on his or her computer, the error
is most likely related to the failed job’s application, rather than with
the computer, the network, the print server, or the printer hardware.
However, in some cases, using a different driver or data type can solve
an application’s print errors.
If the user cannot print
to the printer from any application, identify whether the user can print
to other printers on the same print server, or on other print servers.
If all possibilities fail, and if other users can print to the printers
on the network, the error is likely localized to the user’s computer.
Try creating a
local printer on the problematic system that points directly to the
printer’s port. In other words, bypass the printer server. If this
process succeeds, there is a problem on the print server, with
communication between the user’s system and the print server, or with
the printer connections on the client.
Verify That the Print Client Can Connect to the Print Server
You can
confirm connectivity between the print client and the print server by
opening the printer window from the Printers And Faxes folder on the
client computer. If the printer window opens, showing any documents in
the printer queue, the client is successfully connecting to the shared
printer. An error opening the printer window would indicate a potential
networking, authentication, or security permissions problem. Attempt to
ping the print server’s IP address. Click Start, choose Run, and type \\printserver.
If
the window opens showing the Printers And Faxes folder and any shared
folders, the client is connecting to the server. Double-check security
permissions on the logical printer.
Verify That the Printer Is Operational
Check the printer
itself and ensure that it is in the ready state (ready to print). Print a
test page from the printer console. Check the cable connecting the
printer to the print server or the network. If the printer is network
attached, confirm that the network interface card light is on,
indicating network connectivity.
Verify That the Printer Can Be Accessed from the Print Server
Most printers can
display their IP address on the printer console or by printing out a
configuration page. Confirm that the printer’s IP address matches the IP
address of the logical printer’s port. The port’s IP address can be
seen in the printer’s Properties dialog box on the Ports tab. Ensure
that it is possible to communicate with the printer over the network by
pinging the printer’s IP address.
Verify That the Print Server’s Services Are Running
Using the Services
MMC, check that services required for the printer are working properly.
For example, confirm that the remote procedure call (RPC) service is
running on the print server. RPC is required for standard network
connections to shared printers. Confirm also that the print spooler
service is running on the print server.
Tip
The
Net Stop Spooler command and Net Start Spooler command can be executed
from the command prompt to restart the print spooler service. If you
restart the spooler using command-line or user interface methods, all
documents in all printer queues on the server are deleted. |
You can also examine
the volume on which the spool folder is stored to ensure that there is
sufficient disk space for spooling. The spool folder location can be
discovered and modified in the Server Properties dialog box, which you
can access by choosing Server Properties from the File menu of the
Printers And Faxes folder.
Note
By default, the spool folder points to %Systemroot%\System32\Spool\Printers.
For a high-volume print server, consider moving the spool folder to a
partition other than the system or boot partition. If the partition
where the spool folder resides fills to capacity with print jobs,
printing will stop and, more importantly, the operating system might
become unstable. |
You
should also look at the System log to see if the spooler has registered
any error events, and, in the Printers And Faxes Folder, make sure that
the printer is not in Offline mode.
Attempt to print a job from
an application on the print server. If you can print to the printer
from the print server, the problem is not with the printer. If you
cannot print to the printer from an application on the print server,
create a new printer directed at the same port and attempt to print to
the new printer. If that job succeeds, there is a problem in the
configuration of the original logical printer. If that job is
unsuccessful, there is a problem communicating with the printer, or with
the hardware itself.
Practice: Troubleshooting a Printer
In this practice,
you will redirect a printer. Redirecting a printer is useful in both
proactive and reactive troubleshooting. If you are going to take a
printer offline, you can redirect its logical printer(s) to another
device that is compatible with the logical printer’s driver. If a
printer fails due to a paper jam or other error, you can also redirect
the jobs that have already been sent to, and spooled by, the logical
printer, so that users do not have to wait for the failed printer to be
repaired, and do not have to resubmit their jobs.
Exercise 1: Redirect a Printer
If a printing device
fails, you can redirect print jobs to another printer. Assume you are
printing to HPLJ8100. While your job is in the queue, a job ahead of
yours encounters a paper jam.
1. | Open
the Printers And Faxes folder and ensure that HPLJ8100 is offline. If
it is not, right-click the printer and choose Use Printer Offline. This
will prevent generating errors because the printer is directed to a
non-existent network port.
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2. | Open Notepad and enter text into the blank document.
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3. | Choose the Print command from the File menu and select HPLJ8100 as the printer.
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4. | In the Printers And Faxes folder, double-click HPLJ8100 to open its printer window. Confirm that your print job is in the queue.
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5. | From the Printer menu, choose Properties.
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6. | Click the Ports tab.
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7. | As it was configured , the printer should use the network port IP_10.0.0.51.
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8. | Select the check box next to the port IP_10.0.0.52.
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9. | Click
OK. You have now redirected the printer. All jobs in the queue, except
any in-progress jobs, will be directed to the new port. The printer
attached to the new port must be compatible with the driver used by this
logical printer, because jobs have already been processed and spooled
based on the existing driver. |
