Lee Wiggers wrote:
Hi All
I have 7 computers using the same Dell 5100cn printer
with it's own ip address. All works fine except the
usual print queue complaint.
My question is, CUPS daemon is running on all machines
because they all had their own printer and some still
do. How do I tell which one is the printer server?
If I turn that box off, is the mantle passed to another
box or what.
As usual, my questions sound "newbie", but I have been
reading tutorials and threads all morning without joy.
Thanks
Lee
Sigh! Unfortunately, I have had some experience with CUPS of late, so
I'll take a shot at this.
First and foremost, your networked Dell printer obviously has a network
card (The CN designation gives that away), but typically that also means
that it has it's own print-server built-in as well and also probably has
6 MB's (or more, and can often be upgraded, if needed) of print-buffer
space.
All that to say that you have options. The first thing is to either
assign a static IP address to the printer - either by logging into the
printer's management interface (if it has one), or by obtaining it's MAC
address and assigning a specific IP address in whichever DHCP server
you're using.
Assuming that this is already done Lee, you can then point all your PC's
directly to the printer using the 'ipp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx' protocol
(where the x's represent the static IP address of the printer), in which
case you would open printerdrake and select the tab called "Configured
on other machines" and then run the Printer Wizard for a new printer.
Essentially, by pointing your PC's to the print-server onboard your
printer, you would bypass the print server on each PC and jobs would be
sent directly to the Dell to be cached (aka buffered or spooled) in the
printer's own memory, thereby minimising any spooler crashes. The
benefit is that only one print-server runs the printer and the others
(CUPS servers/spoolers) don't start fighting each other to see which one
is in charge.
Otherwise, the only other option I'd suggest is that you connect the
printer via USB or Parallel cable to one specific PC and have it manage
the printer. Depending on the printer, how it's been designed and the
versions of CUPS on your various PC's, you might find that to be a bit
more stable. If you decide to go that route, then you'd also need to
follow my earlier suggestion about CUPS configuration on other machines.
That part wouldn't change, but it will still save you a lot of problems
with CUPS on the individual machines.
As a side note, make sure you configure CUPS on your PC's to NOT share
this printer with other machines or users of those other PC's. Only the
Dell's Print-server should do that. If you connect the printer directly
to one of the PC's (USB or Parallel), then only allow that one PC to
share the printer.
Otherwise, you'll have every PC on your network try to connect to other
PC's on your network to share printers which aren't actually their own
and print jobs could get passed around your network a dozen times before
actually getting to the printer.
Other than that, the only systems that should be running a CUPS server
are those that actually have a printer attached which would then share
that printer if you so desire. You'll have to set that up the way you
prefer on each of your systems, but for any that don't have printers
physically attached to them, they should be reconfigured to connect only
to other systems which DO have printers attached and nothing else.
Good Luck!
HTH's
Dan LaBine
____________________________________________________
Want to buy your Pack or Services from Mandriva?
Go to http://store.mandriva.com
Join the Club : http://www.mandrivaclub.com
____________________________________________________
