| Managing Printing Functions with Print Services
Managing Printing Functions with Print Services
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Once upon a time, in a less than perfect world, computers in a network had to make do with a lot of printers. This was so not only because printing was a necessary task but also because there was no facility to ensure a more efficient and streamlined printing operation. However, that's a parallel universe. With the development of Print Services for Windows Server 2008, managing printers shared within a network is much easier and troubleshooting much faster.
What is Print Services?
Print Services, quite simply, is the function that allows computer users belonging to a network to share printers. They also function as the core that centralizes management tasks involving the print server and the network printer. With the use of Group Policy, an administrator can migrate several print servers and also deploy connections for printers.
The heart of the Print Services function is the print server. This is the computer that allows the sharing of printers within a network. In order to print and manage tasks related to printing, client computers have to connect to this print server.
The print server oversees several managed entities, such as:
Print queue
The print queue shows the administrator and server users what print jobs are active in the system, which ones are running and which ones are pending. This allows the administrator to see how many printing jobs are being performed and whether or not a printing task is experiencing any problems. The print queue appears as the physical printing device when used in Windows.
Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Printer Publishing
The print server allows the administrator to publish all printer information in the Active Directory Domain Services. What this does is to present the number of printers available in specific locations. Any user or client who wishes to use a printer simply has to open AD DS and look for printers that are the most conveniently located. Furthermore, they can also choose which type of printer to use and select a specific unit based on other attributes.
Print Color Profile Configuration
One of the most basic problems regarding printers is the use of color. Although color printers are a boon to many organizations, configuring the correct color profile can sometimes stump the flummoxed server administrator. Furthermore, true color reproduction can also be difficult to do.
With Print Color Profile Configuration, users will be able to reproduce colors in print that best match those found on screen.
Print Filter Pipeline Manager
The print filter pipeline manager provides more efficient processing of image, thanks to its plug in capability. This eliminates the need to use filters to manage image processing.
Print Processor
Print processors are DLLs or dynamic link libraries. Their job is to convert spooled data into a usable format and send it to the print monitor. They also manage application requests pertaining to printing, such as pausing, resuming and canceling printing jobs.
Print Job Status
The print job status is the file that holds data that are about to be printed.
What you can expect from Windows Server 2008 Print Services
In terms of load handling, the print services on Windows Server 2008 offers a reliable solution. Since print jobs may be rendered by clients locally prior to sending them to the print servers, the load is significantly reduced. This also raises the server's availability, allowing it to be used for more jobs by more clients.
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