[Samba] Print configuration question?

[Derek Harkness]

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Actually determined this was a CUPS issue.  I split the CUPS and  
Samba servers, system load on the Samba box now averages about 0.3  
while load average on the CUPS system is about 0.8 or 1.

Thanks,
Derek

On Aug 28, 2005, at 9:47 AM, Jim Ross wrote:

> Derek Harkness wrote:
>
>> Is it better to setup lots of small print servers or one big  
>> print  server?
>> I've currently got 1 print server serving up about 55 printers.   
>> All  the server does is Samba and CUPS the box has 2 2.8gig P4  
>> xeon, 2  gigs of RAM and a load average of 3.  Which is way to  
>> high since  users are complaining about slow print performance.  I  
>> went with this  solution because I didn't like the idea of having  
>> 2,3, or 4 servers  just for printing but now I'm wondering if  
>> having multiple boxes  isn't the better solution.  The other  
>> thought I had was splitting the  box by moving cups to it own server.
>> Any opinions,
>> Derek
>>
>
> I've got 25 print queues on a similar server at DTE without a speed  
> problem.  I'm suspect in your case students are dumping some huge  
> print jobs on it.  You've probably seen this tool before, but if  
> you haven't, it's what I use to look at the system, http:// 
> dag.wieers.com/home-made/dstat/, which pulls together output from  
> what would normal be multiple tools under Linux.  So I was  
> thinking, for a couple minutes, this morning about this.  It's  
> unlikely that CPU or memory is the problem, but more likely that  
> network or disk has bottlenecked.  More likely the disk, since  
> you're probably 100mb there at the server and you probably require  
> heavier logging to track and charge for paper, etc.  It sounds like  
> you might have to try adding another box, maybe smaller boxes with  
> fast disks, given you can't cut logging, students always print too  
> much, and disks are likely already maxed out.  I suspect the disk  
> is really churning.  Too bad you couldn't spool to ram disk, but  
> it's probably not feasible.  Just doing some idle brainstorming a  
> bit on this early Sunday.  I find it helps sometimes.
>
> Jim Ross
>
>

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