Sanity check: Print Server upgrade
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If anyone else wants a stab at answering my questions, feel free. Don't be shy.
Regarding question 2 - Océ offer a Windows 7 Windows Printer Driver (WPD), which says it is optimised for AutoCAD (this sounds like a good thing), but there is no WPD driver for Windows 8 or 2012R2. The latter only have a PostScript 3 Driver.
So which do I install? I want to install the Windows 7 WPD driver. Will this be possible?
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- In order to install the printer on the server, you'll have to install the driver specific for that server. It's less of a problem today, but in the past vendors would sometimes make a specific driver for a specific OS, and the driver would specify that it only worked with, say XP or Windows 2000. If you have older hardware you could run into this problem. If you run into this problem, you'll have to add the specific OS drivers to the Windows Server Driver Library so it can be pushed down to the clients. But as I mentioned earlier, that's pretty uncommon these days. The only way to know for sure is to test. Install all 15 printers worth of drivers on your new print server, then get a client computer that has no printers installed and manually add them all - any that give you grief will require you to install alternative versions on the server.
Another thing to keep in mind. Server 2012R2 is x64 only. If your clients are x86, you'll almost certainly have to install the x86 drivers to the server as an add-on to the driver library.
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Today, generally the drivers are all the same
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Personally I despise universal drivers. I've seen them work, but I've also seen them fail miserably. Something else to keep in mind, universal drivers will lack some advanced features. If you use those features, you'll have to use the specific driver.
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I don't know
2a) If the WPD can't be installed on the server, then most likely you'll have to manually push that driver out. Drivers have a unique code that allows Windows to link like but not identical drivers together. This is how you can deploy x86 drivers from a x64 server, these codes match. If the WPD code matches the 2012R2 standard driver, and the standard driver also supports Windows 7, I'm not sure the server would push out your WPD over the standard driver that 2012 is using (that is assuming you could even install it into the driver library)
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Thanks. I do have some specific questions for you
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Which driver(s) do I need to install on the server. Should I just install the 2012R2 driver, or do I need to additionally install the Windows 7 driver?
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What is the difference between drivers for 2012R2, 8, 8.1 and 7. 2012R2 uses the Windows 8 kernel doesn't it? So is the driver actually the same?
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Am I ok to use the HP Universal Print Driver, or am better using specific HP printer drivers?
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If I tick "Render the print jobs on client computers", is the 2012R2 driver actually being used? Or is all the processing being done on the Windows 7 clients? Should I tick this box (it's the default, so I am assuming the answer is yes)? And if the clients are doing the rendering, what is my vendor on about when he says there may be compatibility issues with 2012R2? If the Windows 7 clients can print now via 2003, under what circumstances could they have an issue printing to 2012R2?
1, Server 2012 R2 is the driver but in case that's lacking, work backwards, starting with Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7.
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Most are pretty similar or the same. It depends on the printer.
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The UPD is good and the only option for some printers but my philosophy has always been the actual printer specific driver whenever possible.
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This renders the spool on the client machine instead of the server. So instead of spooling via the server, it spools on each workstation. The advantage is if the spooler for one machine crashes, it doesn't bring everyone down. The downside is if you need to restart a spooler, and it's happening on multiple machines, you have to touch each machine. Still, I prefer to render it on the workstation whenever possible.
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So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
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@Dashrender said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?
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@dafyre said:
@Dashrender said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?
Correct.
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@dafyre said:
@Dashrender said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?
You can load x32 drivers into the server as well and the client will choose the correct one.
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@coliver said:
@dafyre said:
@Dashrender said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?
You can load x32 drivers into the server as well and the client will choose the correct one.
Yep, there is an option to upload both to the server for the client to use.
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Yes, I've always been familiar with adding 32 bit and 64 bit versions to the server (our current print server is 32-bit but all our clients are 64-bit), but I'm not familiar with adding different 64 bit versions (where printer manufacturers are offering different versions for Windows 7 and 8.1/2012R2).
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Next question. Should I just be installing the driver and keeping things simple - largely let Windows handle everything. Or should I be looking at using more specific HP tools, such as installing the HP Printer Administrator Resource Kit (PARK):
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=4072932&swItemId=ds_99433_13&swEnvOid=4168Obviously, the HP software will be more powerful and offer more flexibility, but is it a case of HP software being more trouble than it's worth?
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@dafyre said:
@Dashrender said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
So will the Windows 7 clients install the 2012R2 driver? Or if I install additional drivers on the server, will the client know which one to install?
Generally - yes, Windows 7 will install the 2012R2 driver because they are typically the same.
As long as you are using the same bit-ness versions, if I understand right... (IE: Win7 x64 will work with Server 2012 x64 print drivers)?
This is really the important thing. It's printing via the server, so as long as you have the x64 drivers for your x64 systems and the x86 drivers for your x86 systems, you're good. You can print with the Server 2012 x86 driver from an XP machine because it renders it through the server.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Next question. Should I just be installing the driver and keeping things simple - largely let Windows handle everything. Or should I be looking at using more specific HP tools, such as installing the HP Printer Administrator Resource Kit (PARK):
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=4072932&swItemId=ds_99433_13&swEnvOid=4168Obviously, the HP software will be more powerful and offer more flexibility, but is it a case of HP software being more trouble than it's worth?
Let Windows handle it all. Too many fingers in the pie and all that. If your driver packages are .exe files, use 7-zip to extract the file (most are self-extracting archives anyways) and install just the driver without all the software. The software won't do you any good anyways, as clients can access it.
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@handsofqwerty said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
Next question. Should I just be installing the driver and keeping things simple - largely let Windows handle everything. Or should I be looking at using more specific HP tools, such as installing the HP Printer Administrator Resource Kit (PARK):
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=4072932&swItemId=ds_99433_13&swEnvOid=4168Obviously, the HP software will be more powerful and offer more flexibility, but is it a case of HP software being more trouble than it's worth?
Let Windows handle it all. Too many fingers in the pie and all that. If your driver packages are .exe files, use 7-zip to extract the file (most are self-extracting archives anyways) and install just the driver without all the software. The software won't do you any good anyways, as clients can access it.
...as a rule...
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Yes, I've always been familiar with adding 32 bit and 64 bit versions to the server (our current print server is 32-bit but all our clients are 64-bit), but I'm not familiar with adding different 64 bit versions (where printer manufacturers are offering different versions for Windows 7 and 8.1/2012R2).
Are they really different though? There's a good chance they aren't. The manufacturer could be listing them separately for consumer convenience/piece of mind, when in reality there is no difference. Of course, I have seen rare cases where they are different.
All I can suggest is try, what's the worst that will happen? You'll find a solution that won't work?
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@handsofqwerty said:
Let Windows handle it all.
Cool, thanks. That's what I'll do. I guess this means that the clients won't get little HP popups telling them the toner is low when they print though? I'm not fussed by that, but I don't know if the users appreciate them.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@handsofqwerty said:
Let Windows handle it all.
Cool, thanks. That's what I'll do. I guess this means that the clients won't get little HP popups telling them the toner is low when they print though? I'm not fussed by that, but I don't know if the users appreciate them.
Do you really want 20+ people calling you because the supplies are low when it pops up on their screen?
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@Dashrender said:
Are they really different though? There's a good chance they aren't. The manufacturer could be listing them separately for consumer convenience/piece of mind, when in reality there is no difference.
Yes, I think you are right. I've checked a few and the version number and the date is identical, so that indicates they are the same driver, just listed separately.
The only one I'm not sure about is our Oce plotter, which only lists a Windows 7 PCL driver but has an 2012R2 postscript driver. Is that because they've had issues with the PCL driver on 2012R2? Or are they just slack in updating their website? In this case, I will attempt to install the Windows 7 driver on the server.
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@Dashrender said:
Do you really want 20+ people calling you because the supplies are low when it pops up on their screen?
I'm not responsible for toner luckily. But in theory, the message should prompt them to order new toner from our stationary department. I don't think it does in practice, because I've heard them complain that they've run out and can't print, even though the printer has been telling them for 2 weeks that they're running low and need to order some more. So I believe the stationary department now keeps them in stock.
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Could be any number of reason. Normally you can install Windows 7 x64 drivers on a Server 2012R2 box though.
