Print Server Requirements and Recommendations

You can attach a printer to a standalone system or to any system on the network. Any networked system with a printer can be a print server, as long as the system has adequate resources to manage the printing load.

Spooling Space

Spooling space is the amount of disk space that is used to store and process requests in the print queue. Spooling space is the single most important factor to consider when deciding which systems to designate as print servers. When users submit files for printing, the files are stored in the /var/spool/lp directory until they have been printed. The size of the /var directory depends on the size of the disk and how the disk is partitioned. Spooling space may be allocated in the /var directory on the print server hard disk, or mounted from a file server and accessed over the network.

If /var is not created as a separate file system, the /var directory uses space in the root (/) file system, which is likely to be insufficient.

Disk Space

When evaluating systems as possible print servers, consider their available disk space. A large spool directory can consume 600 Mbytes of disk space. Look at the size and division of disk space on systems that can be designated as print servers.

Also, carefully evaluate the printing needs and use patterns of print client systems. If users in a small group typically print only short email messages-- simple ASCII files without sophisticated formatting requirements--a print server with 20 to 25 Mbytes of disk space allocated to /var is probably sufficient. If, however, many print client users are printing large documents or bit-mapped or raster images, they will likely fill up the spooling space quite frequently. When users cannot queue their jobs for printing, work flow is interrupted. Requests for more spooling space may force you to either add disk space for spooling or designate a different system as the print server.

If the print server has a /var directory that resides in a small partition, and if a large amount of disk space is available elsewhere, you can use that space as spooling space by mounting it on the /var directory on the print server. See Chapter 28, Mounting and Unmounting File Systems (Tasks) for information about mounting file systems and editing the vfstab file.

Memory

The Solaris environment requires a minimum of 16 Mbytes of memory to run. A print server does not require additional memory. However, you may find that more memory improves performance in filtering print requests.

Swap Space

The swap space allocation on the print server should be sufficient to handle LP print service requirements. See Chapter 30, Configuring Additional Swap Space (Tasks) for information about how to increase swap space.

Hard Disk

For optimal performance, the print server should have a hard disk and a local /var directory. You should mount spooling space for a print server on a local hard disk. If a print server has its own hard disk and a local /var directory, printing is much faster, and you can more accurately predict the time needed to process print requests.