In a network of about 50 imacs and emacs, I have recently encountered increasing printer issues. Whenever a user attempts to print, it takes a while for the printer list to populate. If a user attempts to switch printers, they are forced to hold the mouse button down for roughly a minute for the printer drop down menu to appear. There is also the issue of appletalk printers duplicating and showing up multiple times on this list.
The users are logging in using open directory and mac os x. The accounts are managed by Workgroup manager.
From what i can gather, it takes a long time for these printers to appear because the clients are polling a list from the Mac OS server.
I have gone though Workgroup manager and have set up the account preferences, with managed printers. I have set up the printers using IP printing (using HP Socket/Jet Direct).
Is there any way to speed up the way these printer lists are coming up? I notice that when I log onto these network client accounts and look at the printer center printers, the printer info shows that the queue name is MCX_<random number>.
Is there a way to make sure that these printers are completely defined locally? No matter how I define these printers in Workgroup manager, it appears as though the client computers are still polling the server computer.
Thanks for any help anyone may offer...