samba - Aug 2005 - Print configuration question?

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Actually determined this was a CUPS issue.  I split the CUPS and  
Samba servers, system load on the Samba box now averages about 0.3  
while load average on the CUPS system is about 0.8 or 1.

Thanks,
Derek

On Aug 28, 2005, at 9:47 AM, Jim Ross wrote:
> Derek Harkness wrote:
>
>> Is it better to setup lots of small print servers or one big  
>> print  server?
>> I've currently got 1 print server serving up about 55 printers.   
>> All  the server does is Samba and CUPS the box has 2 2.8gig P4  
>> xeon, 2  gigs of RAM and a load average of 3.  Which is way to  
>> high since  users are complaining about slow print performance.  I  
>> went with this  solution because I didn't like the idea of having  
>> 2,3, or 4 servers  just for printing but now I'm wondering if  
>> having multiple boxes  isn't the better solution.  The other  
>> thought I had was splitting the  box by moving cups to it own server.
>> Any opinions,
>> Derek
>>
>
> I've got 25 print queues on a similar server at DTE without a speed  
> problem.  I'm suspect in your case students are dumping some huge  
> print jobs on it.  You've probably seen this tool before, but if  
> you haven't, it's what I use to look at the system, http:// 
> dag.wieers.com/home-made/dstat/, which pulls together output from  
> what would normal be multiple tools under Linux.  So I was  
> thinking, for a couple minutes, this morning about this.  It's  
> unlikely that CPU or memory is the problem, but more likely that  
> network or disk has bottlenecked.  More likely the disk, since  
> you're probably 100mb there at the server and you probably require  
> heavier logging to track and charge for paper, etc.  It sounds like  
> you might have to try adding another box, maybe smaller boxes with  
> fast disks, given you can't cut logging, students always print too  
> much, and disks are likely already maxed out.  I suspect the disk  
> is really churning.  Too bad you couldn't spool to ram disk, but  
> it's probably not feasible.  Just doing some idle brainstorming a  
> bit on this early Sunday.  I find it helps sometimes.
>
> Jim Ross
>
>
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Hi Derek,

I have the same config as you.
I'am running 20 print queues with 60 users.
on a P3-866 , 512MB Ram with Scsi-U320 Raid 1 with 2 15K rpm drives
and 1Gb nic. And its fast, the drives make up for the low CPU.
Our company prints about 150.000 prints a month, so lots of printing.
We have low office programma / data on the server, but everybody's outloook
pst it on the same server. I use RAW printing, for windows xp and for my SCO
5.

my cpu avarage is about 0.03 for samba and 0.5 for cups.

Total avarage for the whole server is about 0.06

My setup is in the samba list, search for little setup samba.

Louis



>-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
>Van: samba-bounces+louis=van-belle.nl@lists.samba.org 
>[mailto:samba-bounces+louis=van-belle.nl@lists.samba.org] 
>Namens Derek Harkness
>Verzonden: dinsdag 30 augustus 2005 17:00
>Aan: samba@lists.samba.org
>Onderwerp: Re: [Samba] Print configuration question?
>
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>Hash: SHA1
>
>Actually determined this was a CUPS issue.  I split the CUPS and  
>Samba servers, system load on the Samba box now averages about 0.3  
>while load average on the CUPS system is about 0.8 or 1.
>
>Thanks,
>Derek
>
>On Aug 28, 2005, at 9:47 AM, Jim Ross wrote:
>
>> Derek Harkness wrote:
>>
>>> Is it better to setup lots of small print servers or one big  
>>> print  server?
>>> I've currently got 1 print server serving up about 55 printers.
>>> All  the server does is Samba and CUPS the box has 2 2.8gig P4  
>>> xeon, 2  gigs of RAM and a load average of 3.  Which is way to  
>>> high since  users are complaining about slow print performance.  I
>>> went with this  solution because I didn't like the idea of
having
>>> 2,3, or 4 servers  just for printing but now I'm wondering if  
>>> having multiple boxes  isn't the better solution.  The other  
>>> thought I had was splitting the  box by moving cups to it 
>own server.
>>> Any opinions,
>>> Derek
>>>
>>
>> I've got 25 print queues on a similar server at DTE without a speed
>> problem.  I'm suspect in your case students are dumping some huge  
>> print jobs on it.  You've probably seen this tool before, but if  
>> you haven't, it's what I use to look at the system, http:// 
>> dag.wieers.com/home-made/dstat/, which pulls together output from  
>> what would normal be multiple tools under Linux.  So I was  
>> thinking, for a couple minutes, this morning about this.  It's  
>> unlikely that CPU or memory is the problem, but more likely that  
>> network or disk has bottlenecked.  More likely the disk, since  
>> you're probably 100mb there at the server and you probably require
>> heavier logging to track and charge for paper, etc.  It sounds like  
>> you might have to try adding another box, maybe smaller boxes with  
>> fast disks, given you can't cut logging, students always print too
>> much, and disks are likely already maxed out.  I suspect the disk  
>> is really churning.  Too bad you couldn't spool to ram disk, but  
>> it's probably not feasible.  Just doing some idle brainstorming a  
>> bit on this early Sunday.  I find it helps sometimes.
>>
>> Jim Ross
>>
>>
>
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