[Samba] spoolss back connections to client

[Gerald Carter]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Tom Vandepoel wrote:

> Since we've switched to spoolss printing (samba 2.2.4) it seems that the
> server is always trying to connect to the client. 
> 
> [2002/06/11 10:52:41, 3] lib/util_sock.c:open_socket_out(843)
>   Connecting to 10.0.40.80 at port 445
> [2002/06/11 10:52:41, 2] lib/util_sock.c:open_socket_out(871)
>   error connecting to 10.0.40.80:445 (Connection refused)
> [2002/06/11 10:52:41, 3] lib/util_sock.c:open_socket_out(843)
>   Connecting to 10.0.40.80 at port 139
> 
> I've traced this back in the source to the "spoolss_connect_to_client"
> call in rpc_server/srv_spoolss_nt.c. It seems this is used to reply back
> to the client with printing info.

This is the printer change notification back channel.

> However, in our environment, such connections typically fail, as we
> disable the "Server" service on NT/W2K clients as much as possible. In
> those cases, printing still works fine, so I'm starting to wonder if
> these back connections are absolutely needed. They are especially
> annoying when the back connection is made to a firewalled client; it
> slows down response of the print server enormously (the server waits
> until the back connection times out).
> 
> So, I was thinking; is there an smb.conf option (or could it be
> implemented) to disable these back connections? What would the impact be
> if I modified the src_spoolss_replyopenprinter() routine to always
> return false? Would that break anything?

Better to just comment out the SPOOLSS_RFFPCN and SPOOLSS_RFNPCN
server functions.  However, certain changes will not be reflected on
the client such as josb listings, etc....

btw....this is MS's model.  You'll have the same problem with
a Win2k print server.  I do agree that it is a brain dead design...






cheers, jerry
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