Exploring the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit: Clusfileport.dll

Just like Clusterrecovery.exe, this tool can make your server clustering world a little easier. Most client/server printing is configured in a way that a server hosts multiple print queues (i.e., multiple printers) and the clients connect to that print server in order to print. This printing model does not typically account for disaster scenarios, such as your print server crashing. Basically, if you want to make your print server always available, then you need to look into server clustering.

But what if you use the printer's ability to print a job to a file and not to a physical printer?

With a standard Windows 2003 server, you have the ability to configure your server to print a job directly to a print device, redirect the job to a file or redirect it to another print device. The redirection features are not available in clustered prin

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t servers by default. The Cluster Print File Port tool lets you configure a printer to use the FILE: port as well as the other redirected port options, besides just printing directly to the print device. Requirements:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise or Datacenter Edition installed on all computers in the cluster. Cluster service configured on a multi-node cluster.

Installation:

The following steps must be done locally on each server (node) in the cluster:

ClusFilePort is now installed but no port has been configured. To configure a port, do the following:

General use:

As far as general use goes, it comes down to whether or not you need to redirect your jobs when printing to a clustered print server. If you only need to print to a physical print device, then the answer is probably no. But if you need other options, such as printing to a file directory, just install the Cluster Print File Port tool, configure your print queue to use the redirection, and you'll be good to go.

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