Printing problems with NT Workstation clients

[Stephan Greene]

I'm working with a group that has the opportunity to replace their NT
server print servers with Linux boxes running samba.

They are having some problems implementing printing support for the NT
workstation clients.  They are currently running 1.9.18p10 on redHat 5.2,
I've suggested upgrading to 2.05a.  After digging through the mail list
archives and spending some time with them, I think we've identified 3 key
issues.  I'd aprreciate suggestions or an update on where the NT domain
samba development stands on these things.  Apologies if it's redundant, I
just joined the list and didn't see more than what I have here in the list
archives.

1) network printer installation on NT workstation.

I saw this discussed on this list last March - Samba (main tree) can't
support the RAW printer data and requires installing a real driver on the
client system. Works great for Win9x, requires user permissions for NT W/S
that users may lack.  As of late March, I understand the necessary RPC
code was almost ready to be inserted into the development tree.  Has this
happened yet?  Are there any workarounds, other than granting the
necessary rights to install the drivers and having them declared in the
share entry on the samba server?


2) Queue feedback and management

I think we have this licked - requires defining the printer share with
guest=no and the user has an account on the box (even if there's no
password entry).  But this brings me to:


3) syncing accounts on samba with NT domain or eliminate need for accounts

To support print services, we don't need user accounts on the samba
server.  But it looks like we'll need them to allow users to manage their
own print queues (am I correct?) so we need a way to sync user ids between
the NT domain and samba.  Or eliminate the need to keep user accounts for
printing (but still retain print queue management).

One kludge would be to periodically dump a list of domain members from the
PDC to a text file and use the text file to update /etc/passwd.  Any
better fixes, or do we wait (assuming we can wait) for domain replication?
it's a BIG site so simplifying management is important to them!



Suggestions, advice, and pointers welcome.  I plan to d/l the latest 2.0.x
main release and the cvs snapshot and help them try it at their site.

Thanks!

Steve

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Stephan A. Greene                        sgreene at patriot.net    
Amatuer  KA1LM at amsat.org  Grid FM18hx    38 59'83.33"N 77 23'6.15"W
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