[THIN] Re: fault tolerance print servers

  • From: "Berny Stapleton" <berny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 13:44:16 +0100

Sorry to reply to my own post, but seeing Chad's post, that's what it was
using, NLB under NT4. Point and print didn't work with that, it always
prompted for drivers, same as Novell back in those days.

2008/6/9 Berny Stapleton <berny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> I know this is an old question, but I haven't looked at it in that long.
>
> Did they get point and print working? It used to be (Under NT4) that you
> could create a highly available print cluster but point and print didn't
> work. I simply just haven't clustered a print server for that long and I
> don't have a test cluster to play with at the second.
>
> Berny
>
> 2008/6/9 Adam Thompson <adwulf@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
> 2008/6/9 Greg Reese <gareese@xxxxxxxxx>:
>> > you could build two servers and build the same queues on each one.  Then
>> use
>> > an alias in DNS to point the users to one or the other.  Should the main
>> one
>> > fail, change the alias in DNS to the other one and clients should keep
>> > working.  it's not automatic unless you do some clever monitoring and
>> > scripting.  And you might lose a couple print jobs in the tranisition
>> during
>> > a failure.
>> >
>> > there's a few holes in this but it is basic and easy.
>> >
>>
>> You'll need to disable strictnamechecking to do this.
>> Then assign a CNAME which can point to either server (eg PRINTSERV),
>> point it at your preferred server initially (eg SERV1)
>>
>> Now, you need to have something which detects when the node has died,
>> and runs something like dnscmd.exe /RecordDelete and dnscmd.exe
>> /RecordAdd to modify the CNAME.
>>
>> It won't be instantaneous, as you'll have to wait for DNS to replicate
>> around.  Also, all the jobs in the queue will appear to be lost, and
>> you still have the problems of client DNS cache and what happens when
>> the nodes can talk to the dns server but not each other (possibly
>> worked around with a heartbeat NIC).
>>
>> Much simpler, if you have W2k or later to take a look at:
>>
>>
>> http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/b/a/5bae5aa4-674f-42fb-b8cd-49e26bd29549/clusterfp.doc
>> Creating Highly Available File and Printer Shares with Windows 2000
>> Cluster Service
>>
>> or
>>
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/availableprinter.mspx
>> Creating and Configuring a Highly Available Print Server Under
>> Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Using a Server Cluster
>>
>> --
>> AdamT
>> "At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents
>> do not cease to be insipid." - Nietzsche
>> ************************************************
>> For Archives, RSS, to Unsubscribe, Subscribe or
>> set Digest or Vacation mode use the below link:
>> //www.freelists.org/list/thin
>> You can follow the Thin List on Twitter:
>> http://twitter.com/thinlist
>> Thin List disucssion is now available for reading
>> in blog format at:
>> http://thinmaillist.blogspot.com
>> ************************************************
>>
>>
>

Other related posts: