Module 14: Configuring Print Resources and

Printing Pools

Module 14: Configuring Print Resources and Printing Pools

• Printing Overview

• Configuring Network Printers

• Using Print Management

• Managing Printers

• Troubleshooting Network Printing

Lesson 1: Printing Overview

• What Is Local Printing?

• What Is Network Printing?

• What Are Printer Drivers?

• What Is XPS?

• What Is GDI-based Printing?

• What Is XPS-based Printing?

• Interoperability of XPS and GDI-based Printing

What Is Local Printing?

Local printing:

• Uses lower quality printers

• High consumables cost

• Low managability

Workstation Printer

Print Server

Printer

Workstations

What Is Network Printing?

Network printing:

• Allows for centralized management of printing

• Allows for queuing of jobs

• Uses lower cost consumables

• Uses higher quality printers

What Are Printer Drivers?

Printer drivers:

• Convert documents to page description language understood by a specific printer

Postscript

Printer Control Language (PCL)

XML Paper Specification (XPS)

• Presents configuration options for a printer

What Is XPS?

XML Paper Specification (XPS):

• Is a new document description language

• Can also be used as a page description language for printers

What Is GDI-based Printing?

GDI-based printing:

• Is used in previous versions of Windows

• Uses enhanced metafile format (EMF) as the spool file format

• Is used by legacy applications

What Is XPS-based printing

XPS-based printing:

• Is a new printing process in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

•Requires an XPS printer driver

• Is used only by WPF applications

•Generates a spool file in XPS format

XPS-based printing improvements:

•Higher print quality

•Better color information

•Smaller spool files

•Print job and device configuration information that is easier for applications to access

Interoperability of XPS and GDI-based Printing

XPS-based printing:

•Can print to an older GDI-based printer driver

•Print job is converted from XPS to EMF

GDI-based printing :

•Can print to a new XPS-based printer driver

•Print job is converted from EMF to XPS

Lesson 2: Configuring Network Printers

• What Is the Printer Driver Store?

• How Printer Drivers are Distributed

• Printer Configuration Options

• How to Share a Printer

• What Is a Printer Pool?

• Demonstration: Configuring a Shared Printer

What Is the Printer Driver Store?

The printer driver store:

• Is a central location where printer drivers are stored

• Can store printer driver packages

• Can stage drivers before printer installation

• Supports multiple driver versions

How Printer Drivers are Distributed

Printer drivers are added to the store when:

•The printer is installed on the print server

•Pnputil can stage drivers

Windows Server 2008 print servers use point and print to distribute printer drivers and printer driver packages to workstations

Windows Server 2008 print servers use point and print to distribute printer drivers and printer driver packages to workstations

Printer Configuration Options

The options on the Advanced tab are common to all printers

The options on the Advanced tab are common to all printers

Configuration options for shared printers:

• Shared printer name

• Job rendering location

• Add printer drivers for additional operating systems

How to Share a Printer

Printer Security Permission Description

Print Allow or deny the ability to print to a shared printer

Manage printer Allow or deny the ability to modify printer settings

Manage documents Allow or deny the ability to pause, delete, and modify print jobs

Printers on a print server must be shared before workstation can access themPrinters on a print server must be shared before workstation can access them

What Is a Printer Pool?

A printer pool:

• Combines multiple physical printers into a single logical unit

• Uses as single logical printer connected to multiple ports

• Must use printers of the same model

• Increases printing scalability and availability

• Should use printers in the same location

Print Server

Printer Pool Workstations

Demonstration: Configuring a Shared Printer

In this demonstration, you will see how to configure a shared printer

Lesson 3: Using Print Management

• What Is Print Management?

• Print Server Configuration Options

• Printer Management Options

• What Are Printer Filters?

• How Automatic Printer Installation Works

• Demonstration: Using Print Management

What Is Print Management?

Print Management is a snap-in for centralized printer management

Print Management is a snap-in for centralized printer management

Print Server Configuration Options

Option Description

Forms The sizes and formats of paper that the printer can be configured to use

Ports The methods available to communicate with printers such parallel ports and TCP/IP ports

Drivers The drivers used to convert print jobs into a language the printers can use

Spooler configurationConfiguration options related creating and managing print jobs such as to start printing a job only after the last page is spooled

Automatically adding network printers to a print server

This option scans the local subnet for network printers and adds them to a print server

Setting notificationsNotifications can be configured to notify administrators by using e-mail or scripts when there are errors on the print server

Export/Import PrintersMigrates printers from one print server to another

Print Server configuration options include:

Printer Management Options

Tasks that can only be performed by using Print Management are:

•Deploy printers by using Group Policy

•Add and remove printers from Active Directory by using a context menu

•Perform bulk operations to multiple printers at a time

You can use the Print Management snap-in to perform all of the tasks that can be performed by using Control PanelYou can use the Print Management snap-in to perform all of the tasks that can be performed by using Control Panel

What Are Printer Filters?

Default filters include:

•All Printers

•Printers Not Ready

•Printers With Jobs

A printer filter displays the printers that meet a certain set of criteriaA printer filter displays the printers that meet a certain set of criteria

How Automatic Printer Installation Works

Trigger automatic printer installation on the print server11

Query the type of printer by using SNMP requests33

Install the appropriate printer driver44

Find valid IP addresses on the local subnet by using ARP requests22

Grant default print permissions55

Steps performed for automatic printer installation:

Automatic printer installation detects and installs all printers on the local subnet of the print serverAutomatic printer installation detects and installs all printers on the local subnet of the print server

Demonstration: Using Print Management

In this demonstration, you will see how to use the Print Management snap-in

Lesson 4: Managing Printers

• Bulk Print Management Tasks

• How to Manage Printer Drivers

• How to Deploy Printers with Group Policy

• How to Manage Print Jobs

• Demonstration: Managing Printers

Bulk Print Management Tasks

Tasks you can perform on multiple printers at the same time are the bulk print management tasksTasks you can perform on multiple printers at the same time are the bulk print management tasks

Pausing printing

Resuming printing

The bulk print management tasks include:

Cancelling all print jobs

Listing printers in Active Directory

Removing printers from Active Directory

Deleting printers from print servers

How to Manage Printer Drivers

By using Print Management you can:

•Add printer drivers

•View driver details on each print server

•Export driver details to a text file

Each print server maintains a separate set of printer driversEach print server maintains a separate set of printer drivers

How to Deploy Printers with Group Policy

Select Deploy with Group Policy in Print Management11

Select per user and/or per machine connections33

Run PushPrinterConnections.exe in a logon script44

Select a group policy object22

Steps for deploying printers with Group Policy:

How to Manage Print Jobs

Print job management tasks:

• Pause

• Delete

• Reorder

• Modify

Demonstration: Managing Printers

In this demonstration, you will see how to manage printers

Lesson 5: Troubleshooting Network Printing

• Discussion: Common Printing Problems

• How to Identify Printing Problems

Discussion: Common Printing Problems

• What are some common printing problems and how can you resolve them?

How to Identify Printing Problems

Viewing the management Web page of the printer

Configuring printer notifications

You can identify printer problems by:

Configuring server notifications

Using print filters

Lab: Implementing Printing

• Exercise 1: Creating an XPS document

• Exercise 2: Adding a Printer by using Control Panel

• Exercise 3: Using Print Management

• Exercise 4: Deploying Printers by using Group Policy

• Exercise 5: Migrate a printer to a new server

Logon information

Virtual machine NYC-DC1, NYC-WEB, NYC-CL1

User name Administrator

Password Pa$$w0rd

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Lab Review

• Is the XPS view automatically installed on computers running Windows Server 2008?

• Does Print Management automatically include all network print servers?

• Is Print Management automatically available for use on all computers running Windows Server 2008?

• After you migrate a printer from one print server to another, what additional steps must you perform?

Module Review and Takeaways

• Review Questions

• Real-world Issues and Scenarios

• Best Practices

• Tools