print management

R

Robert Britton

Hi Guys:

I'm running in a network environmetn with a combination of 2k/2k3 servers.
We have several HP JetDirect based print servers (and printers) as well as
networked printers with built in network adapters.

One of the things we do each night is run custom programs that generate
product manuals for the products needing to be shipped each day. these
manuals absolutely have to print out or shipments don't go (and executives
start hunting for IT guys to fire).

What i need to do is this:

1. setup a pool of (2) similar printers to print to
2. if the primary printer fails, i need all the jobs to go to the 2nd
printer.
3. upon failure, i need an email to go out to the night manager to tell him
where the jobs are coming from (notification of redirection) and I need to
be able to get an email to my IT Staff to be aware that a printer needs
attention.
4. I need the ability to have a night manager move jobs between printers to
facilitate quicker printing as necessary.

The problem seems to be that the software we run dumps print jobs into the
networked printer. the printers have a buffer/local queue that take all the
jobs. so they leave the NT-print queue and get stuffed in the local print
server.

If printing fails, NT doesn't know about it as the jobs are NO LONGER under
the servers control.

so given my three requirements, what can we do?

I toyed around with this http://www.amtsoft.com/printqueue/

it's almost exactly what we are looking for with the following exceptions:

1. notification only works to notify the print originator (in our case, this
is no good because the originator is an automated program. there's no way to
put in an email notification).
2. there's no way to move jobs between queues remotely. there's a server
tool, but i can't see putting a user on a server to do simple printer queue
changes.

help!
 
R

Robert Britton

that's the software we are already trying that doesn't accommodate email
notificaitons and such.

funny thing is, i think that software is sold by different VARS under
similar names.

i'd think there has to be a better tool out there...
 
G

Guest

You didnt like the pop up message features?

That is kind of strange, that other VAR's would be selling it under a
different name.
 
R

Robert Britton

sorry to be an idiot, but what pop-up features?

Frantz said:
You didnt like the pop up message features?

That is kind of strange, that other VAR's would be selling it under a
different name.
 
G

Guest

Robert,

You have a few different options for the pop up's.

Netsend Admin pop ups, and also SNMP pop ups. Email notifications will be
available in the next version.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top