Citrix Access Suite 4 for Windows Server 2003: The Official Guide, Third Edition
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In smaller environments (fewer than three Presentation Server servers) local printers can provide a robust printing environment without requiring a large amount of administration to maintain them. All Presentation Server servers are also print servers and need individual print queues to each network printer used by clients . There are utilities such as the Print Migrator 3.1 from Microsoft that assist with propagation of printers from one server to another, but in larger farms this process becomes very time intensive . When a new printer is introduced to the environment, the administrator needs to configure the printer on each terminal server in the environment.
The advantages of local printers on a Presentation Server server are:
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– Excellent LAN printing performance
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– Reliability
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– Printer setup per user is very controlled.
The disadvantages of local printers on a Presentation Server server are:
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– Additional overhead needed for Presentation Server servers to process print jobs
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– No local printer support
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– Poor WAN printing performance
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– Users must browse the network for printers they need that are not configured.
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– Printers must be configured for each user.
Printer Driver Selection
Driver selection is a critical decision for Presentation Server printing. It is important to have a print driver that will be compatible with the multiuser environment but that at the same time will provide the printing functionality that is required by the users. While things have come a long way from the Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition's "blue screen of death" and limited support from third-party providers, drivers are still a paramount concern of printing in the Presentation Server environment. The following driver selections topics are explained and their advantages and disadvantages discussed: the printer manufacturer native driver, the Microsoft operating system native driver, and the Citrix Universal Print Driver.
The Printer Manufacturer Native Driver
The printer manufacturer native driver is a print driver included with the printer or downloaded from the printer manufacturer's Web site.
Advantages of printer manufacturer native drivers include:
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– All features of the printer are included with the driver (printing to mailboxes, two-sided printing, collating, stapling, and so on).
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– They are usually more current than the drivers included with Microsoft Windows.
The disadvantages of printer manufacturer native drivers are:
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– The drivers are often not written for a multiuser environment and may cause the spooler service to crash any time a user prints with that driver.
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– Although they may be certified as multiuser compliant, some advanced features still may not function properly (graphics printing, landscape, duplex, watermarks, and so forth).
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– Drivers are not designed for a network environment and often have additional components that are not desirable (control panels, print monitors , and others).
Printer manufacturer native drivers have become better over time in terms of supporting the Terminal Services structure, but there are still many inherent problems. Windows Server 2003 drivers have improved due to more multiuser compatibility requirements by Microsoft. There will always be issues with drivers written by third parties due to the complexities involved in the print subsystem and the reluctance of some third-party providers to correctly code and test drivers for Terminal Services.
Microsoft Operating System Native Driver
Microsoft operating system native drivers are the built-in drivers, which ship with the Windows operating system. Windows 2000 Server included drivers for over 2,800 devices, and Windows Server 2003 natively supports over 3,800 devices. The advantages of Microsoft native drivers are:
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– Drivers are included with the operating system.
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– Drivers are written as a part of the operating system, so there will be fewer incompatibility problems.
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– Many driver features are still available.
The disadvantages of Microsoft native drivers are:
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– Advanced printer features are not always supported (printing to mailboxes, stapling, and so on).
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– Printers that are newer than the operating system do not have drivers.
This driver option is usually preferred because it is specifically written for compatibility with Terminal Services and still has many of the required printer features.
| Caution | It is possible to install, directly via "Add Drivers" or indirectly via an imported network print server, a legacy driver (one not certified for Windows Server 2003/Windows XP). Beginning with Windows 2000, Microsoft changed the print driver mode from "kernel-mode" to "user-mode." Kernel-mode drivers were responsible for the majority of spooler crashes in Windows NT and Windows 2000 when a "bad" driver was invoked in a multiuser environment. Many of these legacy drivers were never certified for Terminal Services. "Bad" "user-mode" drivers will normally only impact printing functionality in the user's session, not globally (all users on the server). Ensure only "user-mode" drivers are allowed to propagate to the Citrix printing environment. |
The Citrix Universal Print Driver
Citrix Presentation Server now includes three iterations of universal printer drivers. The following table details the drivers included in the three distinct universal printer driver sets.
| Driver | Description | Presentation Server Release |
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| PCL4/LaserJet II driver | Monochrome 300 dpi | MetaFrame XP FR2 |
| PCL5c/LaserJet 4500 driver | Color , 600 dpi, and duplexing | MetaFrame XP FR3 |
| Color LaserJet PS | Color and 300 dpi | MetaFrame XP FR3 |
| Citrix Universal Driver (Enhanced MetaFile) | Unique new driver developed by Citrix based on enhanced metafile technology | Presentation Server 4 |
Where previous versions of Citrix Presentation Server supported the PCL4 and PCL5c universal printer drivers that were based on Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II (300 dpi monochrome) and 4500 (600 dpi color and duplex) drivers, the new enhanced metafile-based driver can support all common printer capabilities and forms, as well as discover underlying client printer capabilities.
To take advantage of any version of the universal printer driver, the corresponding Presentation Server client must be installed on the client device. For example, the Version 9.x Presentation Server client corresponds to Presentation Server 4. Please see the ICA Client Feature Matrix at http://www.citrix.com/English/SS/downloads/downloads.asp?dID=2755 to determine which Client versions support the various versions of the universal printer drivers.
If an administrator wishes to disallow any specific version(s) of the universal printer driver, these should be deleted by following the instructions within Knowledge Base Article CTX089874. For example, in some environments, only monochrome 300 dpi printing is required, so the other universal printer drivers that are automatically installed during Presentation Server deployment can be removed.
With the newest version of the universal printer driver, users can select from various printing options, including paper size and stapling. From the user perspective, in most cases it will not be evident that the native driver is not being used.
The advantages of the Universal Print Driver are:
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– There are no additional print drivers to install on Presentation Server.
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– It is a very stable print driver.
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– It reduces print job size, which increases print speeds, especially over low-speed connections.
The disadvantages of the Universal Print Driver are:
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– It is only supported on Win32, Mac OS X, Solaris and Linux clients.
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– It is limited to 600 dpi.