Virtualization does give you the benefit of leveraging snapshots to provide quick failback capabilities.
We're in the process of replacing physical Windows 2003 Print Servers with virtual 2008 R2 print servers. I was considering VMware FT (using ESXi 5.0) but CPU utilization in the current environment has me concerned that a single vCPU won't cut it. Most of that is a result of having Symantec Critical Systems Protection chewing up CPU resources. As an alternative, we're going to try our hand at setting up client printer connections using a Cname. In addition to the registry modifications necessary, we came across this article with a powershell script to update AD published printers with the Cname. http://jthiede.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/list-a-printer-in-active-directory-using-a-cname/ - Sean On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 2:00 PM, Brian Desmond <[email protected]>wrote: > *From a complexity perspective, the VMware HA will be much simpler.* > > > > *From a reliability perspective, you have to factor in what conditions you > want to protect yourself from. The VMware HA won’t solve availability for > things like:* > > > > - *Patching of the guest VM* > > - *Failure of the guest VM (e.g. an OS problem or something)* > > > > > > > > *Thanks,* > > *Brian Desmond* > > *[email protected] <[email protected]>* > > > > *w – 312.625.1438 <312.625.1438> | c – 312.731.3132 <312.731.3132>* > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Melvin Backus > *Sent:* Monday, April 21, 2014 3:20 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* RE: [NTSysADM] RE: Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 > Print Server and Windows 7 Clients > > > > I’d considered clustering, although not that particular configuration. > Since we’re a VMWare shop that’s easy enough to do with a FT VM. It may > wind up being the best choice available. Either way that provides > redundancy and failover, but not transparency. > > > > -- > There are 10 kinds of people in the world... > those who understand binary and those who don't. > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *J- P > > *Sent:* Monday, April 21, 2014 3:56 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* RE: [NTSysADM] RE: Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 > Print Server and Windows 7 Clients > > > > cluster? > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj556311.aspx > > > > Jean-Paul Natola > > ------------------------------ > > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > > Subject: [NTSysADM] RE: Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 Print > Server and Windows 7 Clients > Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 19:31:24 +0000 > > Since we’re on this topic, (and not to hijack the thread, it seems sort > related) J , is there a print equivalent to DFS which would make the > target server transparent to the user? (Or is that what the ‘point & > print’ is supposed to do? > > > > -- > There are 10 kinds of people in the world... > those who understand binary and those who don't. > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Aakash Shah > *Sent:* Monday, April 21, 2014 3:06 PM > *To:* [email protected] > > *Subject:* [NTSysADM] RE: Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 > Print Server and Windows 7 Clients > > > > For the server that I set up this weekend, I ended up using the v4/Class > built in drivers for the Brother MFC units. There was a Dell printer that > did not appear to have Class drivers, so I used a v3 driver for that. > Testing appeared to work over the weekend, but we will see if any problems > crop up in the coming days/weeks. > > > > I’m still interested in hearing if anyone else has any positive or > negative experience with the v4/Class drivers (either built in or model > specific drivers) with Win7 clients (and Win8 too). > > > > From some reading I did, some Class drivers sometimes do not offer all of > the functionality that the v3 drivers do, and so there may be cases where > the v3 drivers are needed: > > > http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/80e00b43-0945-40ff-be18-68b6f7f2ac5b/server-2012-ms-class-drivers-for-printing-no-envelope-feeders?forum=winserverprint > > > > Xerox appears to have a nice matrix that indicates what specific Class > driver is supported by each of their units: > > > http://download.support.xerox.com/pub/drivers/Compatibility_Matrix/other/win8/en/Windows8_Matrix.pdf > > However, Windows detected the appropriate Class driver for the few > printers I set up, so this was not neccessary. > > > > -Aakash Shah > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Miller Bonnie L. > > *Sent:* Monday, April 21, 2014 10:06 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [NTSysADM] RE: Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 > Print Server and Windows 7 Clients > > > > I’m also interested in what you find on this, even if there are no replies > here, as I will be replacing a WS08 R2 SP1 print server with WS12R2 this > summer. Same scenario, the server will be serving mostly Win7 clients for > a while, but also some 8.1. > > > > *From:* [email protected] [ > mailto:[email protected] <[email protected]>] *On > Behalf Of *Aakash Shah > *Sent:* Sunday, April 20, 2014 3:44 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [NTSysADM] Print Drivers - v3 vs v4 With Server 2012r2 Print > Server and Windows 7 Clients > > > > I am setting up a new Server 2012r2 print server. All of the clients on > the network are currently Windows 7. > > > > Is anyone using the newer v4 print drivers, or are people still installing > the legacy v3 drivers? > > > > For anyone using the newer v4 print drivers, has anyone experienced any > problems with Windows 7 clients when using the *Microsoft enhanced Point > and Print compatibility driver* (this is what Windows 7 appears to use by > default when connecting to a printer share from a Server 2012r2 server that > uses a v4 print driver)? > > > > Thanks, > > > > -Aakash Shah > > >
