samba - Dec 2002 - XP slow to print to Samba 3.0 alpha21 server

Hi all,

As WinXP begins to loom larger in our environment, we're seeing a
consistent pattern that XP machines (mostly XP Professional, possibly
others) take an excessively long time to access shared printers:  I'm
told that it takes up to 5 minutes to initially install the printer on
the local machine, and it typically takes around 45 seconds to deliver
print jobs to the queue.

The print server is running Samba 3.0alpha21.  The server is also a DC
for an NT domain that these WinXP machines are joined to.  We are using
spoolss and server-provided print drivers, and I did add the "XP"
printer
drivers to the server using the Add Print Wizard in an effort to
alleviate the lag (printing is slow both before and after uploading those
drivers).  Anecdotal evidence suggests that printing was much quicker
before upgrading to Samba 3.0, though I haven't had a chance yet to set
up a 2.2 test print server to verify.

Network traces and log files happily provided to anyone willing to tackle
this issue.

Thanks,
-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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One additional bit of information -- 

On Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 09:56:21AM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote:
> As WinXP begins to loom larger in our environment, we're seeing a
> consistent pattern that XP machines (mostly XP Professional, possibly
> others) take an excessively long time to access shared printers:  I'm
> told that it takes up to 5 minutes to initially install the printer on
> the local machine, and it typically takes around 45 seconds to deliver
> print jobs to the queue.
> 
> The print server is running Samba 3.0alpha21.  The server is also a DC
> for an NT domain that these WinXP machines are joined to.  We are using
> spoolss and server-provided print drivers, and I did add the "XP"
printer
> drivers to the server using the Add Print Wizard in an effort to
> alleviate the lag (printing is slow both before and after uploading those
> drivers).  Anecdotal evidence suggests that printing was much quicker
> before upgrading to Samba 3.0, though I haven't had a chance yet to set
> up a 2.2 test print server to verify.
If I set 'disable spoolss = yes' in smb.conf, XP machines have no
trouble
at all when printing.  Of course, this requires a bit of per-client
reconfiguration, but it'll do the trick here for now.  I'll turn spoolss
back on some evening when the network's not in use to get some good log
traces.

Cheers,
-- 
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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Steve Langasek wrote:
> One additional bit of information -- 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 09:56:21AM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote:
> 
> 
>>As WinXP begins to loom larger in our environment, we're seeing a
>>consistent pattern that XP machines (mostly XP Professional, possibly
>>others) take an excessively long time to access shared printers: 
I'm
>>told that it takes up to 5 minutes to initially install the printer on
>>the local machine, and it typically takes around 45 seconds to deliver
>>print jobs to the queue.
>>
>>The print server is running Samba 3.0alpha21.  The server is also a DC
>>for an NT domain that these WinXP machines are joined to.  We are using
>>spoolss and server-provided print drivers, and I did add the
"XP" printer
>>drivers to the server using the Add Print Wizard in an effort to
>>alleviate the lag (printing is slow both before and after uploading
those
>>drivers).  Anecdotal evidence suggests that printing was much quicker
>>before upgrading to Samba 3.0, though I haven't had a chance yet to
set
>>up a 2.2 test print server to verify.
> 
> 
> If I set 'disable spoolss = yes' in smb.conf, XP machines have no
trouble
> at all when printing.  Of course, this requires a bit of per-client
> reconfiguration, but it'll do the trick here for now.  I'll turn
spoolss
> back on some evening when the network's not in use to get some good log
> traces.
> 
  We have a very similar set up here, except that the controller for
  the NT domain is an NT server not the Samba system with the print server.
  I've just finished upgrading this from  RH 7.2, CUPS 1.14, Samba 2.2.3a
  to  RH 7.0 with CUPS 1.15 and Samba 2.2.7 now configured with both
  "disable spoolss = no" and "use client drivers = no".

  I did have a number of adventures with getting the drivers uploaded
  using the "Add Printer Wizard"s in both Win2K and WinXP, but
printing
  itself has not subsequently been a problem with 2.2.7 for Win98,
  Win2K or WinXP.

  However, we are a odd in an important respect, namely that virtually
  all our users are "Domain Admins" in the NT domain because we're
a
  research lab and folks are always mucking with the machines. I seem
  to remember an earlier thread about poor print performance that had
  a component related to privileged vs. unprivileged users although I
  thought it was privilegd users who had the performance problem.

-- 
John Gerth      gerth@stanford.edu         (650) 725-3273  fax 723-0033