virtualize print server

[Tommy Doan]

Is there a virtualization option for print servers other
than clustering? We have aging hardware hosting print
queues and we're dreading having to visit every client to
migrate printer ports to a new server. We'd like to avoid
this in the future if possible by virtualizing.

Thanks.

 

[Nik]

You can use Print Migrator to unload printqueues and settings from your old
server and add to a new server.

remember to install the needed port monitors on the new server. You can do
your self a favor be replacing NT4 drivers til W2K drivers on the new box...

/nik

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

I'm not aware of a "virtualization" technique, but you might find the
technique at http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/NetPrinterAllUsers.htm of use.

We used this method when we moved all of our printers from a set of Windows
NT 4 servers to Windows 2000 servers and it worked pretty well. We have 22
locations, just over 600 workstations and somewhere around 200 networked
printers.

However, we also found that adding new printer drivers (from the new print
servers) created some problems for some printer models and we ended up
deleting all of the printer drivers from the clients, then adding the new
printers. Although everything could be done remotely, cleaning up the
printer drivers on the workstations was still a laborous process.