iPrint Client ... hang on, seems to

[NovAlf]

Hi!
OES 11 SP1 on SLES 11 SP2. Maintenance at spring is added to server. iPrint Client 5.90 (I know, 5.92 is available) on Windows XP, W7. Users complain very often that printing system on Windows does not work, I mean, for example, some programs depending on printers hang on and printer properties does not appear as expected etc. When to restart printer spooler on device (I did special bundle for it via ZENworks) it seems to be ok again, at least for some time. Now, one user told that she did and for some time everything seems to work again, but then same problem appear again. I described here same problem some time ago and was suggested to load on server all patches etc, which I did, but problem did not disappear.
I recall, when we had a local area network with OES2 (on SLES 10) and also OES2 on Netware using iPrint ... we haven't such a problems. Then we moved out into larger network and started to use OES11 ... don't know this connected somehow.
I know, not much info, but ... any ideas, experiences?
I'm trying to setup iPrint Appliance, but there is LDAP issues right know. Anyway, this printing problem appear to drag entire computer into ... slowness, so, anyway, need to solve with present server, though.
More thanks, Alar.

[KonecnyA]

In article <NovAlf.62vsdc@no-mx.forums.novell.com>, NovAlf wrote:
> OES 11 SP1 on SLES 11 SP2. Maintenance at spring is added to server.
> iPrint Client 5.90 (I know, 5.92 is available) on Windows XP, W7. Users
> complain very often that printing system on Windows does not work, I
> mean, for example, some programs depending on printers hang on and
> printer properties does not appear as expected etc.
>
Make sure your iPrint server isn't running low on drive space. I've seen
it really slow down when running low on space and just expanding it helps
tonnes.
Do you have a note of which apps tend to be affected most? There are known
issues with some Adobe products that make the following TIDs worth
checking
http://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7002901
https://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7003076

On the enduser devices, try to catch the issue and see if that box is
hitting memory or CPU limits. For some of the users who hit it more
frequently, give them a bit of TLC of cleaning temp files and such with a
tool like ccleaner and see if that makes a difference, it'll at least give
you a bit of breathing room because then they see you doing something.

> When restarting the printer spooler on device (I did special bundle
> for it via ZENworks)
is this on the PC or the iPrint server?



Andy Konecny
Knowledge Partner (voluntary SysOp)
KonecnyConsulting.ca in Toronto
http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=75037
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[NovAlf]

Hi and thanks!
On server is enough room, just checked.
Well, users use mostly around here Microsoft Word and this one case today it was also Word document. I can't be sure, of course, but I don't think this is something with special app. User told me that this kind of freezing happen during she trying to manipulate with printer options -- checking several pages on one page, double printing etc. Not sure, it's connected, though. During last hang on (which happen again) printing from her own notebook was ok. So, it's leading to desktop. I restarted spooler on device and usually it does help at least for a day, but in this case hanging happen again. Well, I'm not sure user did close the Word during this spooler restart, this could affect situation too.
Also just checked about temp-files You mentioned on the device in question, but nothing much there.
Concerning CPU high, nope, users mostly do here just a paper-work, so called, nothing too exhaustive for computer. When this hanging happen then, sure, Word and Adobe product which depend on printers start acting more slowly or hanging, usually spooler restart helps out.
More thanks, Alar.

[rjneilly]

Hi,

Some random things that might help:
1. disable support for snmp on the iprint server printer agent gateway load lines
eg ndpsgw port=raw hostname=printer.domain NOSNMP
I believe that this will stop the print server from quering the printer for status info and also prevent or minimize the status info that the windows client gets from the print server. Downside is that there is less status info about the printer.

2. Disable automatic driver updating if enabled

3. Check for and clean up any printer redirection, whether for existing or deleted printer agents.

4. Disable any windows client side printer status querying/informational stuff.
eg On Win7 > Printers > Print Server Propertied > Advanced > Uncheck the three information options.

5. On the Windows client's "Printer Properties" check for and disable bidirectional communicaiton support. You may need to create a new iPrint printer driver profile with this capability disabled and then make sure that all of the printers configuration settings are correct (ie tray types). Also change the spooling function from "Spool documents" to "Print Directly to the Printer".

The point of all this is to reduce to the lowest level possible the amount of information exchange between client and server/printer. Also by setting the "Print Directly to the Printer" option we minimize the involvement of the windows print spooler service which seems to have a lot to do with problems printing.

Cheers,

Ron

[NovAlf]

Hi and thanks!
Probably You're right, some connection does fail between iPrint client and server or ... don't know. Don't remember I had this kind of problems when we were in local area network smaller than now. And, this happen not so often, well, at least problems not reach me so often, let's say so.
More thanks, Alar.