Managing Print Queues
Some users repeatedly print out very large
jobs, blocking printer access to everyone else
until their job is complete. Using a combination
of security settings and printer availability
settings, it’s possible to ensure that these jobs
are output only during specific times.
When a job is submitted to a shared printer
that has particular availability settings, the print
server holds the job until the printer becomes
available and then outputs it. Printer availability
allows big jobs to be submitted to a shared
printer during office hours and output in the
middle of the night. As the job is spooled on the
print server, the client computer from which the
job was submitted can be switched off when
the person who uses it leaves for the evening. Figure 4 shows printer availability settings. To
configure the times at which a shared printer is
available, perform the following steps:
Start the Control Panel Printers and
Faxes applet, right-click the printer, and select
Properties.
On the Advanced tab, select the Available
from option and configure the hours when the printer will be active.
Instruct users who are printing
large, non-urgent jobs to submit to
this shared printer instead so their
jobs can be output during slower
periods.
Publishing Printers
via AD
If a domain is upgraded so that it has
Windows 2003 R2 domain controllers
(DCs), it’s possible to use AD
to publish specific printers to users
and computers that fall under the
influence of a specific Group Policy
Object (GPO). PMC, available with
R2 and covered earlier in this article,
vastly simplifies the process of deploying
printers via AD. To deploy via Group Policy,
an existing GPO must have been created and
linked to an appropriate site, organizational
unit (OU), or to the domain. To deploy a
printer via AD using PMC, perform the following
steps:
Open PMC.
Either in the All Printers node under
Custom Printer Filters, or in the Printers node
under a specific print server, locate the printer
you want to use AD to deploy.
Right-click the printer and select Deploy
with Group Policy.
In the Deploy with Group Policy dialog
box, which Figure 5 shows, click Browse.
Locate the target GPO and click OK.
Depending on whether the printer is to
be deployed on a per-user and/or a per-computer
basis, select the appropriate check box,
then click Add.
Any existing printers that have been
deployed using that GPO will be listed in the
table. To remove these printers, select them
and click Remove.
When you’re satisfied with the list of
deployed printers, click OK.
The Deployed Printers node, at the bottom
of the PMC screen, will now display the
newly deployed printer.
Remember the Basics
No matter how careful you are in managing your
printers, things can still go wrong. Some quick
troubleshooting hints are listed in the sidebar
“Troubleshooting Printer Problems,” page 42.
Printer management is a daily task that almost
all systems administrators deal with. Armed
with the print management tools and options
available in Windows 2003 R2, and this refresher,
I hope you’ll find this task goes smoothly.
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