Citrix CCA MetaFrame Presentation Server 3. 0 and 4. 0 Exam CramT (Exams 223 and 256)

Throughout the rest of this chapter, we look briefly at the actual steps required to configure the client, network, and local printers discussed at the beginning of this chapter.

Client Printers

For users to be able to access their local client printers, a MetaFrame administrator must grant access. A number of different areas in the system contain settings that dictate when client printers are mapped, and certain settings override other settings. The following is a summary of the locations where client printer options can be found and their order of precedence, from highest to lowest . The higher-ranked settings take precedence over the lower settings:

1. MetaFrame User Policies In Chapter 7, we discussed how to create custom policies to control many aspects of a user's connection. Some policy settings control the behavior of client devices, including the auto-creation of client printers. Client printer settings defined within a policy take precedence over settings made anywhere else in the system, including at the connection and user profile levels. Client printer policies are found under Client Devices\Resources\Local Printers.

2. Printer Management Properties When you open the property page for the Printer Management node and select Printers from the left pane, you see the settings shown in Figure 12.11. The upper group box contains the settings that define the farmwide behavior for client-mapped printers. The Auto-Created Network Printers group box is discussed in the next section. The individual settings are as follows :

   • Auto-Create Client Printers When User Logs On Enabling this setting allows client printers to be created automatically. Even when this setting is disabled, users can still manually map back to their local client printer. This option is enabled by default.

   • Update Printer Properties at Each Logon When this setting is enabled, printer settings from the client are updated on the server printer at logon. When it is disabled, any changes made to the server printer are retained from logon to logon. This option is disabled by default.

   • Inherit Client Printer's Settings for Keeping Printed Documents If the client is configured to do so, the server printer will also retain the print jobs in the queue. This setting can result in a large consumption of disk space. It is enabled by default.

   • Delete Pending Print Jobs at Logout By default, auto-created printer print jobs are retained in the printer's queue when a user logs off so that the job can be processed the next time the user logs on. Enabling this option causes the jobs to be deleted when the user logs off, even if the printing is not yet finished. This setting applies only to auto-created client printers. Print jobs on print server queues are not deleted.

   • Always Create Client Network Printers as Client Printers By default, if a client device has a mapped network printer that is accessible by the MetaFrame server, the server will attempt to print directly to that printer instead of routing the job through the MetaFrame client. This can result in faster printing when the client and the MetaFrame server are on the same LAN. The setting is not foolproof though. If a printer with the same name exists on the client and server networks, the job can be routed to the wrong printer. Enabling this option forces the server to always direct the job through the client, regardless of whether the printer can be directly accessed. If the client is located across a WAN link, sending the job through the client can be faster because it is compressed before being sent. This option can also be set through a MetaFrame policy. The specific policy setting is found under

     Client Devices\Resources\Network Printers\Print Job Routing

   • Auto-Create These Client Print Devices Four choices exist for this option. The first, Default Client Printer Only, maps only the local client default printer. Any other client printers are ignored. The Local (Non-Network) Client Printers Only setting maps all printers that are local to the client and ignores any network-mapped printers. The third option maps all client printers, and the final option, which is the default, defers these settings to those defined at the connection level on each server. The connection settings have lower precedence with regard to client printer mapping.

   Figure 12.11. The settings on the Printer Management property page dictate the defaults for the farm.

3. ICA Connection Configuration The Citrix Connection Configuration tool and the Terminal Services Configuration tool both provide access to the ICA connection settings on a server. The client settings option for ICA connections in either tool display the same settings. Figure 12.12 shows the client settings within the Citrix Connection Configuration tool. Here, you can define the same options available for the Auto-Create These Client Print Devices options at the farm level. The default configuration at the connection level is to defer these settings to the individual user's logon account.

   Figure 12.12. Client printer mapping settings can also be defined at the connection level on a MetaFrame server.

4. Environment Tab Within the individual user account (at the server or domain level), you will find the Environment tab, which has settings that control whether client printers are connected at logon and if the default is set to the main client printer. Both options are enabled by default, but disabling them works only if a higher precedence setting does not override the option.

   If client auto-creation is enabled, valid client printers are automatically created in the user's MetaFrame session. If the clients are running the DOS or Windows CE MetaFrame client, additional steps are required to ensure that the printers are automatically mapped.

Auto-Client Printer Creation for DOS and the Windows CE Client

In MetaFrame 1.8, DOS and Windows CE clients would have to manually map their desired client printers using the ICA Client Printer Configuration tool. Although this tool is still included with MetaFrame, you are now able to define printer mappings for DOS and Windows CE clients so that they are automatically mapped when the client logs on.

To find these options, highlight the Printers node under Printer Management and choose Client Printers from the Actions menu. This opens the Client Printers dialog box, where you define the printer, driver, and port settings for a specific DOS or Windows CE client name. Clicking the Add button allows you to provide the appropriate settings. Figure 12.13 shows the various inputs required. When choosing the server driver, you can either browse the list of drivers installed on the server or select from any driver mappings that you may have created.

Network Printers

Any shared network printer can be mapped using any of the following methods :

• Through a logon script The script can map the same printers for all users or map different printers based on group membership.

• Manually through the Add Printer Wizard Users can use the wizard to set up printers themselves if they know the name and location, or an administrator can assist the users in the mapping process.

• Auto-creation of network printers through MetaFrame MetaFrame also allows you to define the auto-creation of network-based printers. When a user logs on to a MetaFrame server, the assigned printers are automatically made available in the user's session. This is a powerful alternative to scripting, particularly when the administrator is not skilled in creating Windows scripts. Let's look briefly at network printer auto-creation.

You set up auto-creation of network printers from within the Printers node of Printer Management. Simply highlight the local or imported network printer in the right pane and then choose Auto-Creation from the Actions menu. In the simple dialog box that appears you define the individual users or groups associated with the printer as well as the basic printer preferences that will be enforced. Although the preferences are basic, this dialog box does allow you to define the paper size , copy count, print quality, and page orientation. These settings are usually sufficient when setting up a specific network printer. After the printer has been created, the user is able to access any advanced settings associated with the printer driver.

When a network printer is auto-created for a user, it appears in the Printers folder just as if it had been mapped through a logon script or added through the Add Printers Wizard.

Only two settings in Printer Management directly relate to the auto-creation of network printers, and both are found on the property page for Printer Management. The first, located on the Drivers screen, is Automatically Install Native Drivers for Auto-Created Client and Network Printers. If the necessary native driver is not installed for an auto-created network printer, enabling this feature will install the driver. Note that this pertains only to Windows native drivers, not third-party drivers that are not shipped with Windows.

Note

Auto-created network printers do not use universal printer drivers, but native printer drivers can be installed if necessary when mapping to the network printer.

The other option is located on the Printers screen in the Auto-Created Network Printers group box. This setting, labeled Update Printer Properties at Each Logon, is disabled by default. When it is enabled, the MetaFrame server automatically replaces any user-defined settings with the settings defined in the Management Console.

Local Printers

A local MetaFrame printer is accessible in one of two ways. If the printer is defined on the same MetaFrame server that the user is logging on to, the printer will be visible in the Printers folder unless the printer's permissions have been defined to prevent this.

If the local printer exists on another MetaFrame server in the farm and is being shared, it can be accessed using the same methods described in the preceding "Network Printers" section.