[TriLUG] fri am scat humor, win2003server, print queueing, linksys blows grits and advanced topics labs

[Jim Ray]

Well, nothing like starting the day with a non-confrontational subject and
after seeing my 2 yr old son take his first poop in the baby potty this
morning.  Only another parent could truly appreciate that comment.  Life is
good.

On a serious note, my largest client just migrated from Windows NT4 to
Windows 2003 Server and experienced a problem with sharing NT4 printer
drivers on the 2003 server.  Me thinks Microsoft has implemented a feature
to force users into upgrading NT4 workstations to XP Pro in order to print
with server-based queues.

Why do I mention this matter on a decidedly-Linux users list?  Because I am
thinking about chucking a Linux box in the corner with Samba and CUPS to
arbitrate print queues.  The big dog at corporate wants to install HP
Internet printing on each NT4 workstation to print directly to the HP
Jetdirects.  Isn't it better to let a print server arbitrate print traffic
control and queuing instead of having each individual NT4 workstation do its
own job?  What happens when more than one PC wants to print at the same time
unless you have a print server arbitrating traffic?  I'm afraid it will slow
down some of those old 300 MHz PCs trying to squeeze off some big
spreadsheet.

With the server migration, I had the bright idea to isolate the two servers
on an independent network with a spare Linksys switch to prevent file
modification while migrating data.  It puked hard and was pitifully slow.  I
was very disappointed, yanked it out, plugged into the HP4000M and watched
the servers fly like greased lightning.  After that experience, me thinks I
need to look at better switchgear that provides options to nail down duplex
and speed instead of this plug and puke variety.  Any recommendations?  I've
been pretty happy with the El Cheapo garden variety until now.  I like
having the ability to telnet into the switch or access one using web-based
administration in order to see what is going on collision-wise or to
manually set parameters.

Lastly, we had one more person (welcome, Raymond!) join us last night at our
advanced topics lab session that meets on Thursday nights from 7-9 pm at my
house whenever TriLUG does not meet as a whole group.  With the regulars,
that leaves one more open seat without exceeding the arbitrary class size of
8.  Let me know if anyone else is interested, and I'll forward the details.

Microsoft rocks.  I am so glad they create problems that I have to go fix
and that I consider fixing with Linux, Samba and CUPS.  I'd be delighted to
hear about the experiences of others with that type solution in environments
with the propensity for more than one print job to occur at the same time.

Regards,

Jim

Jim Ray, MCSE
Network Engineer
Neuse River Network, Inc.
2610 Vanderbilt Ave
Raleigh NC 27607-7247
tel: 919-838-1672 x201 toll free: 800-617-7652
http://www.Neuse.Net