On 05/24/2010 10:10 AM, Bob Rasmussen wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010, Brutzman, Bill wrote:
I mostly agree with Jeff's "philosophy" but... What alternative does
Jeff's recommend as the fix?
I understand it as well. However, the dearth of device-independent printer
support in Linux/Unix environments limits the options.
Let me sugget some modifications to your philosophy.
1) You have already removed some tasks from your server, most likely, into
freestanding "appliances", such as routers, firewalls, and possibly
network storage devices. In fact, one could argue that this creates a MORE
robust approach, because changes to your AIX system, for instance, are
less likely to inadverantly affect their operation.
That's a bit of a stretch isn't it?
Our AIX machine has gone through hardware upgrades but we've always used
our "mksysb" tape to transfer the operating system to the new box and
then upgraded AIX to stay compatible with the newest UniData. Again, not
a single infestation or root-kit since it's installation in 2001.
So we have nine years of solid 24/7 performance from our AIX platform.
I have Linux machines that have run as web servers and desktops and
there has not been one infection since 2000 when I got my first RedHat
liunx CD. Even my children only have linux Desktops.
On the other hand, our windows PC have been infected and reinfected
with various viruses and spyware programs that, among other things,
cripple normal network connections. We do have network filtering and
Symantec but there are so many exploits for Windows that it's impossible
to avoid.
Our systems manager routinely has to do fresh windows installations to
eliminate the viruses. The latest outbreak propagated itself through the
default share on the target PC by assuming System user privileges. Our
systems manager is still cleaning this up. He's manually upgrading every
PC in the company to SP3.
We are considering making more changes to Print Wizard in order to make it
more able to function as a "printing appliance", sitting between the
server and the printer. For totally non-interactive tasks, this could be
an option.
Great idea. Create a rack-mount unit that is completely secure and
you'll have a product that could be vertically integrated.
2) If you are running Windows PCs as clients, using either terminal
emulation or a GUI front end, then consider the possibility of a print job
as a client task. Maybe not for printing thousands of invoices, but for
more personalized jobs.
We have most of our forms going to networked printers. Picking tickets
print in the appropriate warehouse office, Packing lists print near the
people who prepare the shipping documents for the customer and our
invoices go to either the corporate office invoice printer, a pdf email,
a flat file transfer or a text email.
For example, some of our users will generate a purchase order on the
server, feed it to the client, through Print Wizard, to generate a PDF of
the PO. Print Wizard creates an email message with the PO as an
attachment, and might also attach other files and documents to the email.
Then it opens the email (in Outlook or in our own window) and allows the
user to customize and personalize the email. They can enter recipient
information, subject, body text, additional recipients, etc., and also
attach other files. A similar process can be used for faxing.
It seems like your product is really geared for the small office
environment but wouldn't scale well to a company with hundreds of users.
I figured out years ago that there are MANY ways, combinations, and
permuations people want to do print-related tasks, and we continue to
expand the number of them that Print Wizard can address.
Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen, President, Rasmussen Software, Inc.
personal e-mail: [email protected]
company e-mail: [email protected]
voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
fax: (US) 503-624-0760
web: http://www.anzio.com
street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
Portland, OR 97223 USA
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