Printing - Best network setup

nanoczar · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 2:00 pm Post subject: Printing - Best network setup

I have a server on which I run Gentoo and I want to use it as a print server too. I have samba, avahi and atalk running and seem to be having problems with samba needing to be restarted at least once a day to allow for printing. This is driving me insane.
Are there documented problems with these various network communication daemons?
I am most printing from Mac clients, so should I even be using samba? I have read a lot of conflicting arguments.
Note, the reason I am using avahi and atalk is for timemachine backups on this server from my Macbook.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-nanoczar
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bobspencer123 · Guru Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 544

I have a sort of similar problem with my windows clients. I don't have to restart samba though ... what happens is that my windows client's need to have the network connection repaired/restarted because (they are laptops) when they go to sleep sometimes they don't want to reconnect after coming out of sleep.

I have not found a good solution for this. In my opinion (in my situation) it is a windows problem ... not samba/linux.

Also, if you could give more detail on exactly what is happening that requires a samba restart it might help others debug any particular problem.

nanoczar · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:11 pm Post subject:

That's the weird part, I don't see anything technically wrong with samba, it just stops working. For example, on a Monday I am printing from my Mac client to my linux server through samba - and the next day I hit print and it gives me CIFS errors and such (on which I have searched and have come to no resolution). I restart samba and things start working again. (And by restart samba I mean stopping SMBD and NMBD and restarting them...)
Any ideas as to where to start tracking down the problem?
_________________
Don't fight the LaTeX. WORK with the LaTeX!! Become one with the LaTeX!!! - JIC

bobspencer123 · Guru Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 544

posting samba related logs would probably be a good start.

nanoczar · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:11 pm Post subject:

Sure, but part of my inquiry is "do I need to use Samba?"
Since it is a server I would like to have the least number of access points open, and if I can just use ipp or something (is it more secure?) then I could just do that.
I'm very much a noob at the whole 'network printing' thing, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
_________________
Don't fight the LaTeX. WORK with the LaTeX!! Become one with the LaTeX!!! - JIC