An actual real question

Ok fellow MCSE's, MCNGP's, and MCSE wannabees... I have a
small problem (well, it's not really small... but nevermind). I'm 3
weeks away from wrapping up a Win2K migration of about 300 servers and
a few thousand workstations... a little over a year and this has to
pop up NOW.

The clients (at remote offices), use an application that runs
in Metaframe and generates Excel reports. These reports are printed to
printers at the remote offices. Printers are set auto-created in
Metaframe, so pressing print sends the document back to the
workstation, then out to a network queue on the local server, which is
set up to print via a TCP/IP port. This was all fine and dandy.

Then came Windows 2000.

1 and 2 page reports that used to create spool files of a few
hundred K are now spooling up to 2-3 Meg. Larger reports grow
exponentially it seems... a 24 page Excel document spooled up to 30
Meg. This is teh sux0r. Imagine copying a 30 Meg file over a 256K
line. Not cool.

One of the things we found to ease the problem was replacing
the Win2K print driver with a Version 2 driver (NT4 + Win2K), this
brought the spooled file size back down in testing... but in REAL
life... the workstations already have the 2K driver in place. Soooo,
we have to completely remove all traces of the driver, then re-create
the printer on the client. So far.. so good.

Say we're using an HP 4000, we delete and re-create the
printer on the client and all is well... what happens when they
connect to another HP 4000 on another server somewhere... poof.. they
pull down the 2K driver and begin using it on ALL HP 4000's they have
set up. Due to printing issues with other applications, I can't switch
out every single printer driver and use the blended driver. (besides..
we'd be talking about 300-odd servers with 5-15 print queues each and
thousands of clients).

So... my question is.. how the hell do I fix this mess? Does
anyone know why the switch to 2K has caused the spooled file size to
go through the roof? Laura?? Didn't you help design this mess? Anyone?
Helloooooo?

|{evin

You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix client.
You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the autocreated
Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is Metaframe XP
we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you different
instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix Farm, goto
Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This tool
will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver than
what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP 2100/2200/2300
printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the most
stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is specific.
It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client. In fact
the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000 platforms
and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print drivers
allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you control the
print driver on the Citrix servers.

Hope that helps.

--
Politician Spock
MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
The MCNGP Team - We're here to help

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
© 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.

"|{evin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Ok fellow MCSE's, MCNGP's, and MCSE wannabees... I have a
> small problem (well, it's not really small... but nevermind). I'm 3
> weeks away from wrapping up a Win2K migration of about 300 servers and
> a few thousand workstations... a little over a year and this has to
> pop up NOW.
>
> The clients (at remote offices), use an application that runs
> in Metaframe and generates Excel reports. These reports are printed to
> printers at the remote offices. Printers are set auto-created in
> Metaframe, so pressing print sends the document back to the
> workstation, then out to a network queue on the local server, which is
> set up to print via a TCP/IP port. This was all fine and dandy.
>
> Then came Windows 2000.
>
> 1 and 2 page reports that used to create spool files of a few
> hundred K are now spooling up to 2-3 Meg. Larger reports grow
> exponentially it seems... a 24 page Excel document spooled up to 30
> Meg. This is teh sux0r. Imagine copying a 30 Meg file over a 256K
> line. Not cool.
>
> One of the things we found to ease the problem was replacing
> the Win2K print driver with a Version 2 driver (NT4 + Win2K), this
> brought the spooled file size back down in testing... but in REAL
> life... the workstations already have the 2K driver in place. Soooo,
> we have to completely remove all traces of the driver, then re-create
> the printer on the client. So far.. so good.
>
> Say we're using an HP 4000, we delete and re-create the
> printer on the client and all is well... what happens when they
> connect to another HP 4000 on another server somewhere... poof.. they
> pull down the 2K driver and begin using it on ALL HP 4000's they have
> set up. Due to printing issues with other applications, I can't switch
> out every single printer driver and use the blended driver. (besides..
> we'd be talking about 300-odd servers with 5-15 print queues each and
> thousands of clients).
>
> So... my question is.. how the hell do I fix this mess? Does
> anyone know why the switch to 2K has caused the spooled file size to
> go through the roof? Laura?? Didn't you help design this mess? Anyone?
> Helloooooo?
>
>

Politician Spock

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 14:25:54 -0400, "Politician Spock"
<> wrote:

>You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix client.
>You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the autocreated
>Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is Metaframe XP
>we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you different
>instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix Farm, goto
>Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This tool
>will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver than
>what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP 2100/2200/2300
>printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
>printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the most
>stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
>environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is specific.
>It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client. In fact
>the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000 platforms
>and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print drivers
>allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you control the
>print driver on the Citrix servers.
>
>Hope that helps.

We're using 1.8, is this mapping still a possibility? Maybe this would
be a good excuse to upgrade metaframe.

|{evin

For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server. The
tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier to
implement and maintain.

On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a sample
mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings. Edit it
to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and place
it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the Metaframe
servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will check
this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the same
driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in one
place.

--
Politician Spock
MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
The MCNGP Team - We're here to help

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
© 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.
"|{evin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 14:25:54 -0400, "Politician Spock"
> <> wrote:
>
> >You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix
client.
> >You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the autocreated
> >Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is Metaframe
XP
> >we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you different
> >instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix Farm,
goto
> >Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This tool
> >will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver than
> >what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP
2100/2200/2300
> >printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
> >printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the most
> >stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
> >environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is
specific.
> >It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client. In
fact
> >the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000 platforms
> >and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print
drivers
> >allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you control
the
> >print driver on the Citrix servers.
> >
> >Hope that helps.
>
> We're using 1.8, is this mapping still a possibility? Maybe this would
> be a good excuse to upgrade metaframe.
>

Politician Spock

It's nice to find someone helpful here even if i haven't got clue what he's
going on about!! Good job we haven't got citrix.
--
Brian
MCP, MCSA, MCSE


"Politician Spock" <> wrote in message
news:...
> For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server. The
> tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier to
> implement and maintain.
>
> On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a sample
> mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings. Edit
it
> to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and
place
> it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the
Metaframe
> servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will
check
> this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the same
> driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
> change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
> That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in one
> place.
>
> --
> Politician Spock
> MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
> The MCNGP Team - We're here to help
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
> You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
> understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
> living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
> © 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.
> "|{evin" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 14:25:54 -0400, "Politician Spock"
> > <> wrote:
> >
> > >You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix
> client.
> > >You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the autocreated
> > >Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is Metaframe
> XP
> > >we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you different
> > >instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix Farm,
> goto
> > >Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This
tool
> > >will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver
than
> > >what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP
> 2100/2200/2300
> > >printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
> > >printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the most
> > >stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
> > >environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is
> specific.
> > >It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client. In
> fact
> > >the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000
platforms
> > >and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print
> drivers
> > >allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you
control
> the
> > >print driver on the Citrix servers.
> > >
> > >Hope that helps.
> >
> > We're using 1.8, is this mapping still a possibility? Maybe this would
> > be a good excuse to upgrade metaframe.
> >
>
>

Brianz

man, i really hated that about 1.8, ugh

"Politician Spock" <> wrote in message
news:...
> For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server. The
> tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier to
> implement and maintain.
>
> On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a sample
> mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings. Edit
it
> to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and
place
> it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the
Metaframe
> servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will
check
> this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the same
> driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
> change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
> That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in one
> place.
>
> --
> Politician Spock
> MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
> The MCNGP Team - We're here to help
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
> You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
> understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
> living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
> © 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.
> "|{evin" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 14:25:54 -0400, "Politician Spock"
> > <> wrote:
> >
> > >You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix
> client.
> > >You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the autocreated
> > >Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is Metaframe
> XP
> > >we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you different
> > >instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix Farm,
> goto
> > >Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This
tool
> > >will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver
than
> > >what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP
> 2100/2200/2300
> > >printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
> > >printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the most
> > >stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
> > >environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is
> specific.
> > >It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client. In
> fact
> > >the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000
platforms
> > >and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print
> drivers
> > >allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you
control
> the
> > >print driver on the Citrix servers.
> > >
> > >Hope that helps.
> >
> > We're using 1.8, is this mapping still a possibility? Maybe this would
> > be a good excuse to upgrade metaframe.
> >
>
>

Consultant

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 16:37:37 -0400, "Politician Spock"
<> wrote:

>For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server. The
>tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier to
>implement and maintain.
>
>On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a sample
>mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings. Edit it
>to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and place
>it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the Metaframe
>servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will check
>this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the same
>driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
>change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
>That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in one
>place.

I'm glad I went back and checked.. apparently we've moved to Metaframe
XP. I've been so wrapped up in migrations at the remote facilities
something slipped in right under my nose.

But sadly, this got shot down. We can map printers to different
drivers but we can't map the VERSION. They're already mapping loads of
stuff for special healthcare applications (at the hospitals some of
the physical printers will have 4 or 5 queues created using different
drivers depending on which application is being used). So say we set
it up (an HP 4000, 4050, LJ4, whatever) with the NT4/2K driver... if a
pure 2K driver exists on the server it will use that instead... same
problem we had with the clients.

Is there any way to map not only the driver, but the version as well?
Or is there some other completely different solution? Why does the
pure 2K driver create multi-meg spool files while the blended driver
keeps them under a meg?

ARGH!

|{evin

On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 21:45:43 +0100, "Brianz" <>
wrote:

>It's nice to find someone helpful here even if i haven't got clue what he's
>going on about!! Good job we haven't got citrix.

That's what people who complain about MCNGP don't realize.. we're only
mean to people who want to be MCSE's but can't figure out how to
google or find Microsoft's website. If you ask a for real question,
there's plenty of sharp helpful people lurking about.

|{evin

The solution you need is something more granular than using the basic
features of Citrix. I bet it can be done, but I don't have the solution for
you. I suggest posting the issue to Citrix's forums:
http://support.citrix.com/forums/index.jspa

There is a guy on there who answers a lot of printing issue questions who
has a website for Citrix printing issues: http://www.printingsupport.com/

If he can't solve your problem, no one can.

--
Politician Spock
MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
The MCNGP Team - We're here to help

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
© 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.
"|{evin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 16:37:37 -0400, "Politician Spock"
> <> wrote:
>
> >For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server.
The
> >tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier
to
> >implement and maintain.
> >
> >On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a
sample
> >mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings. Edit
it
> >to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and
place
> >it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the
Metaframe
> >servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will
check
> >this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the same
> >driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
> >change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
> >That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in
one
> >place.
>
> I'm glad I went back and checked.. apparently we've moved to Metaframe
> XP. I've been so wrapped up in migrations at the remote facilities
> something slipped in right under my nose.
>
> But sadly, this got shot down. We can map printers to different
> drivers but we can't map the VERSION. They're already mapping loads of
> stuff for special healthcare applications (at the hospitals some of
> the physical printers will have 4 or 5 queues created using different
> drivers depending on which application is being used). So say we set
> it up (an HP 4000, 4050, LJ4, whatever) with the NT4/2K driver... if a
> pure 2K driver exists on the server it will use that instead... same
> problem we had with the clients.
>
> Is there any way to map not only the driver, but the version as well?
> Or is there some other completely different solution? Why does the
> pure 2K driver create multi-meg spool files while the blended driver
> keeps them under a meg?
>
> ARGH!
>

Politician Spock

You will eventually need to learn how it works, if not Citrix specifically,
than Window's terminal services in general. The two biggest reasons
companies stay away from Citrix/terminal services is cost and complexity
(especially the complexity of printing through a terminal session). However,
the technology allows IS departments to provide the services the users
(usually managers) are demanding. As such Citrix is used in one way or
another in virtually every Fortune 500 company. Now that the terminal server
features in Windows 2003 are nearly on par with the add on features Citrix
has been providing, the cost of implementing a solution is not as great, but
if you can't handle the complexity of the solution, your company will find
someone else that can, because the users are demanding to stay connected
away from their offices.

--
Politician Spock
MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
The MCNGP Team - We're here to help

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
© 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.

"Brianz" <> wrote in message
news:...
> It's nice to find someone helpful here even if i haven't got clue what
he's
> going on about!! Good job we haven't got citrix.
> --
> Brian
> MCP, MCSA, MCSE
>
>
> "Politician Spock" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > For 1.8 you are going to have to edit a file on each Metaframe server.
The
> > tool in Metaframe XP just does this for you, which makes it much easier
to
> > implement and maintain.
> >
> > On one of the Metaframe servers, find the file WTSUPRN.TXT. It is a
sample
> > mapping file with instruction on how to setup print driver mappings.
Edit
> it
> > to your preferred mappings. Rename the edited file to WTSUPRN.INF and
> place
> > it in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder. Copy this file to all the
> Metaframe
> > servers. When a user attempts to autocreate a printer, the system will
> check
> > this file first for a custom mapping. If none exists it will use the
same
> > driver as the client. If you ever want to change a mapping, you have to
> > change the file on every Metaframe server for it to be a global change.
> > That's why it's such a nice feature of XP to only have to change it in
one
> > place.
> >
> > --
> > Politician Spock
> > MCSA, CCEA, MCNGP #15
> > The MCNGP Team - We're here to help
> >
> > This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.
> > You assume all risk for your use. Not responsible for your inability to
> > understand logic, ambiguous references, sarcasm, the imaginary gnomes
> > living in my garden, or William Shatner's acting.
> > © 2003 Star Trek Federation. All rights reserved.
> > "|{evin" <> wrote in message
> > news:...
> > > On Wed, 8 Oct 2003 14:25:54 -0400, "Politician Spock"
> > > <> wrote:
> > >
> > > >You don't have to mess with the print driver on the Windows Citrix
> > client.
> > > >You can "map" the server to use a different driver for the
autocreated
> > > >Citrix printer for that client print driver. Assuming this is
Metaframe
> > XP
> > > >we are talking about (if it's 1.8 let me know, I'll give you
different
> > > >instructions), open the Citrix Management Console for the Citrix
Farm,
> > goto
> > > >Printer Management, right-click on Drivers, and select Mapping. This
> tool
> > > >will allow you to force the Citrix server to use a different driver
> than
> > > >what the client is using. I have a lot of clients that use HP
> > 2100/2200/2300
> > > >printers, but autocreated Citrix printers that point to those client
> > > >printers use the HP 4 print driver on the server because it is the
most
> > > >stable print driver for HP LaserJet printers in a Terminal Server
> > > >environment. Make sure your spelling of the client print driver is
> > specific.
> > > >It needs to exactly match the spelling of the driver of the client.
In
> > fact
> > > >the same driver could be spelled differently on Win 9X and 2000
> platforms
> > > >and thus you have to add both spellings individually. Mapping print
> > drivers
> > > >allows clients to use whatever print driver they want, while you
> control
> > the
> > > >print driver on the Citrix servers.
> > > >
> > > >Hope that helps.
> > >
> > > We're using 1.8, is this mapping still a possibility? Maybe this would
> > > be a good excuse to upgrade metaframe.
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Politician Spock