Download The Ultimate Citrix Printing internals Cheat Sheet

TheUltimateCitrixPrintinginternalsCheatSheet-Keytakeaways
1 Therearetwomain(Microsoft)printfileformats,EMFandXPS.
2 EMFprintoutputisfirstrenderedbytheGDI-GraphicalDeviceInterface-before
beinghandedovertothespoolerservice.
3 XPSwasintroducedasofWindowsVista.EMFdevelopmentendedwithWindows
XPandServer2003.
4 EMFdataisnotcompressed.XPSdatadoesgetcompressed.
5 WithEMFeachimageneedstoberedrawnoverandoveragain,evenifthesame
imageisusedmultipletimes.XPScanreferenceasingleimagemultipletimes,
thinkcompanylogo's,watermarksetc.
6 TobeabletouseXPSbothyourprintdeviceaswellastheprintdriverneedto
supporttheXPSprintfileformat.Ifnot,itwillfallbacktoEMF.
7 HighlevelPrintSpooling:Printoutputisreceivedbythespoolerservice,print
driverrendersMetafileintorawdatareadablebyprintdevice(theactualprintjob),spoolerservicesendsprint-jobtophysicalprintdevice.
8 Whenspooledlocally,localresources(CPU,Memory)areleveraged.Nonetwork
trafficgenerated.
9 Whenspooledremotely(printserver)remoteresourcesareleveraged.Thiswill
alsoproduceadditionalnetworktrafficbetweentheXenAppandprintserver.
Mightbesomethingtoconsiderdependingonyourprintarchitecture.
10
Mostprintissuescanbeleadbacktobadlywrittendrivers.Nottestedand/or
optimizedformultiuserenvironments.
11
Mainproblemsusedtobe(orstillare):Spoolerservicecrashes,CTXprint
managerservicecrashes,bluescreens,autoprintcreationfailures,highCPU
loadsandmore.
12
DoNOTmakeuseofkernelmode(version2)printdrivers.
13
Useusermode(version3and4)printdriversexclusively.
14
Considerisolatingyourprintdriversa.k.a.PrintDriverIsolationintroducedwith
WindowsServer2008R2.
15
But…onlyapplyPrintDriverIsolationwhereitmakessense.
16
Therearethreeisolationmodesavailable:None,SharedandIsolated.
17
WhentheIsolatedmodeisusedaseparateisolatedrun-space
(PrintIsolationHost)onaperdriverbasiswillbecreated,completelyisolatingthe
driverfromallotherdriversonthesamemachine,includingtheprintand
spoolerservices.
18
ThesamehappenswiththeSharedmode,aseparateisolatedrun-spacewillbe
createdbutthis'space'willbesharedwithmultiple(selectable)drivers.
19
WhenIsolationmodegetsappliedtomultipledrivers(isolatingeachdriver
separately)itwilldemandmoreresources(CPU,Memory)fromthelocal
machinewhencomparedto'Shared'and'None'.
20
Ifaisolateddriverfailsorgetcorrupteditcanonlyaffectitselfortheother
driversaspartofSharedisolationmodelforexample.Allotherdriversonthe
samemachinewouldbeunaffectedincludingtheprintandspoolerservices.
21
Useisolatedmodefortestingpurposesonly,usesharedmodeinproduction.
22
Version4modesprintdrivers:DesignedforMetrostyleapplications(XPS),
enhancedprintersharing,easiertoinstall,maintain,manageetc.
23
WhenaCitrixsessionstarts,theuserlogsin,itwill,bydefault,trytomapall
printersknowntotheclientdevicewithinthatsession.
1
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
Changethisbehaviortomaptheclientsdefaultprinteronly.Configurethe‘Autocreateclientprinters’policyforthis.Ofcourseyouhavemultipleoptionsto
choosefrom.
ThesystemwillusetheWindowsversionoftheprinterdriverifitisavailableon
theServerOSmachine(itwilltrytomatchthedriverfoundontheclientdevice).
Iftheprinterdriverisnotavailable,thesystemattemptstoinstallthedriverfrom
theWindowsoperatingsystem.IfthedriverisnotavailableinWindowsitwill
tryandusetheCitrixUniversalprintdriver(itwillneedtoenabledforthisto
work).
Configurethe‘Automaticinstallationofin-boxprinterdrivers;tochangethis
behavior.
Thinkaboutimplementing‘printerdrivermappingcompatibility’.Printdriver
mappingisusefulinsituationswheretheprintdriverontheclientisnamed
differentlythantheprintdriverontheserver(theseneedtomatch)butdooffer
theexactsamefunctionality.Itcanalsobeconfiguredtocreateawhitelist,this
wayyoutellthesystemthatitisoktoautoinstallprintdriverswhennot
foundonthesystem,butonlyifthosedriversareonthelist.
Use‘signed’driversexclusivelyandalwaysthoroughlytestyourprint
architecturesetup,nomatterhowconvincedyoumaybeitwillwork.
Limitthenumberofprintdriversinstalled,lessismore!
Whencomparingprintdrivers(client/server)makesuretolookattheversion
numbersaswell,theyneedtomatcha100%.
Avoidupgradingprintdrivers.Alwaysuninstalltheolddriverandinstallthenew
one.
Contacttheprintdrivervendorifandwhenneeded.Forexample,iftheyonly
haveversion2printdrivers,ortheirdriversarenottested/signedformultiuser
environments.
AlwaystrytomatchtheprintserverOStothatoftheXenAppserverOS.
TheCitrixPrintManagementServicewasintroducedaround2005,whichis
aroundthesametimeastheEMFbasedUPD.
ItcommunicateswiththespoolerserviceandthelocalICAclient,itcompressed
printdatabeforesendovertheICAchannelanditalsomanagestheICAvirtual
channelforclientprintmapping.
Bothservices,printmanagerandspooler,canbeconfiguredtoautomatically
restartwhenneeded.
Printingpreferences(user)andpropertieswillbestoredontheclientdeviceby
default.Ifthisisnotsupportedtheywillbestoredintheuserprofilewithinthe
serverOperatingSystem.
Configurethe‘Printerpropertiesretention’policytochangethisdefault
behavior.Youhavemultipleoptions.
Aprintingpathwaydefineshowprinttrafficcanorwillberoutedthroughout
yourenvironment.Italsotellsuswhereajobgetsprocessed,spooled,rendered
etc.
TherearetwoCitrixprintingpathways,theclientprinting-pathwayandthe
network-printingpathway.
Besidesthesepathwaysthereisalsoasetupnamed‘Serverlocalprinters’,which
isbasicallyaphysicalprintdevicedirectlyattachedtoaXenAppserver.
Withthe‘Serverlocalprinterssetup’spoolingtakesplacelocallyfromaclient
perspective.
2
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
Whenusingtheclientprinting-pathway,applicationprintoutputisspooled/
renderedontheXenAppserver(again,localfromaclientperspective)beforeitis
sendback(leveragingtheICAprotocol)totheclientdevice.Fromtheretheprint
jobwillbedeliveredtothephysicalprintdevice.
Withtheclientprinting-pathwaythetrafficsendbetweentheXenAppserverand
theclientdeviceissendovertheICAprotocol,meaningitcanbemanaged/
compressed.
Whena(fat)clientdevicehasalocalprinterprovisionedtheclient-printing
pathwaywillalwaysbeused.
WhenTCP/IPdirectprintersareaddedmanuallyorbyusing/applyingGroup
PolicyPreferences,theprinterisseenandtreatedasalocallyattachedprinter.As
such,printtrafficwillflowthroughtheclientprinting-pathway.
Thinclientdevices(oftenLinuxbased)donotsupporttheclient-printing
pathway.Theylacklocalprintingcapabilities.Thenetworkprinting-pathway
(sessionprintersforexample)willneedtobeusedinstead.
Thenetworkprinting-pathwaywillsendtheapplicationprintoutputfromthe
XenAppservertotheprintserverwhereitwillbespooled/rendered.So
spoolingwilltakeplaceremotely.Fromthereitwillsendtheprintjobtothe
physicalprintdevice.
Usingthenetworkprinting-pathwayalltrafficsendbetweentheXenAppserver
andthePrintserverwillbeuncompressed/unmanaged,non-ICA.
Whenthesemachinesarephysicallyclosetogether(fastLAN)thiswon’tbean
issue.When,forexample,theprintserverislocatedinthebranchofficeandthe
XenAppserverislocatedbackinthedatacenterthiscouldformapotential
problem.Thinkaboutyoursetup.
TheUniversalPrintServercanhelpcompress/managetrafficsendbetweenthe
XenAppserverandthePrintserver.
Whenaclientdevicehasanetworkprovisioned(printserver)printer,Citrixwill
alwaystryandrouteprinttrafficoverthenetworkprinting-pathway.
Isaytry,becauseiftheprintserverandtheXenAppserverareindifferent
domainsandtheyareunabletocommunicate,theclientprinting-pathwaywillbe
usedinstead.Thesameapplieswhenbothmachinesareunabletocommunicate
forotherreasons.
Bydisablingthe‘Directconnectiontoprintservers’policy,wecanforcetheclient
printing-pathwaytobeused,evenwhennetworkprovisionedprintersare
leveraged.
Forexample,printserverinthebranchofficeandtheXenAppserverinthedata
center,clientshavenetwork-provisionedprinters(sonetworkprinting-pathway
willbeusedbydefault).Byforcingtheclientprinting-pathwayprinttrafficwill
besendback(fromtheXenAppserver)totheclientdeviceleveragingtheICA
protocol,fromtheclientdevicetotheprintserver,overtothephysicalprint
device.
IfboththeXenAppserverandprintserverarelocatedinthedatacenter,thendo
NOTapply/forcetheclientprinting-pathway.Trafficwillneedtotraversthe
WAN/LANmultipletimes,inanuncompressedformat.
Beforeanything,it’simportanttounderstandthedifferencesbetweenboth
pathwaysandhowtheycan,andbydefaultwill,beapplied.
Thereisnoonesizefitsall,period!
KeepingtheXenAppandprintserverclosetogetherisn’talwaysthebest
3
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
solution.
AllthisappliestoXenAppaswellasXenDesktopandisn’tIMAofFMAspecific.
TheUniversalPrintDriver(UPD)isdisabledbydefault.
TheUPDisinstalledaspartoftheVDA.
ThereisanEMFaswellasanXPSprintfileformatUPD.
EMFwasfirst.Itgotintroducedaround2005.
TheEMFUPDwillbeusedbydefault.Thiscanbechangedthroughpolicy.
BoththeUniversalPrintServeraswellastheUniversalPrinterusetheUniversal
PrintDriverbydefault.
IdeallyyouwouldliketousetheUPDexclusively.Remember,lessismore!
Itcanbeusedcombinedwithnativeprintdrivers.Inmostcasesthisisnecessary
sincetheUPDonlysupportsstaplingandsortingasfarasenhancedprinting
featuresgo.
ConfigurethesystemtousetheUPDwhennonativeprintdriverisavailable.
TheUniversalPrinterisalogical/genericobjectcreatedatthebeginningofa
session.Itwillbemappedtotheclientsdefaultprinterbutthiscanbechangedto
anyprinterknowntotheclientdevice.
WhenusingtheUniversalPrinternoprintmapping/enumerationtakesplace,
speedingupthelogon/loginprocess.
TheUniversalPrinteronlyworksforWindowsdevices.
Itispotentiallyusefulwhenthe‘Waitforprintertobecreated’policyisusedor
whenyouneedaccesstomultipleprinters,local&network.
TheUniversalPrintServer(UPS)consistsoutofaclient(UPClient)andserver
(UPServer)component.
Makesuretocheckthee-docspagestoseewhichprotocolsareusedandwhich
accompanyingnetworkportsneedtobeopened.
UsestheUPDbydefaultbutcanbepairedwithWindowsNativeprintdrivers,
again,formoreenhancedprintingcapabilities.
It’soptimizedfornetworkprintersandofferssomeadditionalcompressionand
QoSoptions.
ItsupportsbothEMFandXPSbasedprintdrivers.
Italsoworksforthinclientdevicesandtablets,basedonnetwork(session)
printers.
TheUPSdoesnotsupportclientsiderendering/spooling.Meaningthatall
applicationprintoutputwillbesendovertotheprintserver(whichhasthe
UPServercomponentinstalled)rightaway,whichwilltakeoverfromthere.
AlltrafficsendbetweentheXenApp(UPClientcomponent)andprintserver
(UPServercomponent)canbemanaged/compressedwhenenablingtheUPS.
Wheninstalleditwillbedisabledbydefault.Needstobeenabledbyconfiguring
the‘UniversalPrintServerenable’policy.
NetworkprinterwillleveragetheUPSautomaticallythroughaprocesscalled
auto-discovery.
AsofXenDesktopTechPreview3(TP3)theUniversalPrintServerisfully
supportedonWindowsServer2012(R2)aswellasServer2008R2.
Itcanhandleupto50printjobsperminute,max.
Recommendedforremoteofficescenarios.Pleasenotethattestingwillbe
necessarytoseeifeducatecompressionratiosareachieved.
Helpsinmanagingalargeamountofnetworkprinters.
Canbeusedforproximityprinting.TheUPSisaprerequisite.
4
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
TheICAprotocolisbuildupoutofmultiple(32)virtualchannels.Eachvirtual
channelhasit’sownpurpose.Thereisalsoaprintingvirtualchannel.
ICAchannelshavedifferentpriorities,rangingfrom0to3,with0beingthe
highest/mostimportant.
Theprio0virtualchannelsarealsoreferredtoasThinwire(soundfamiliar)?
Theprintingvirtualchannel,bydefault,hasapriorityof3,thelowest.It’streated
asabackgroundprocess.
Virtualchannelprioritiescanbechangedbyeditingtheaccompanyingregistry
keyandchangingthevaluenumber.
Thinkthisthrough.Whengivingmore,orahigherprioritytoaspecificVCitalso
meansthatyouaretakingawayprioritysomewhereelse.
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TerminalServer\Wds\icawd\Priority
istheregistrykeythatgoeswiththeprintingVC.
WecanaccelerateICAtrafficingeneral,includingprinttraffic,byimplementinga
CitrixCloudbrigdeforexample.
Allocate/configureprintingbandwidththroughCitrixpoliciesandapplythem
onaperuser,perserverorperSitebasis.
Usesession(network)printersonfast(er)networks.
Sessionprintersarenetworkprintersthatcanbeassignedandmappedtoa
specificuserorusergroups.
WithproximityprintingsessionarefilteredbasedonIPaddressesorsubnets
(therearesomemoreoptions).Thiswayauserwillalwaysconnecttotheclosest
printer(UPSisneeded).
Whendealingwithslowprintingrememberthatit’snotallaboutnetwork
bandwidth.Alsocheckforcongestionandlatency.
The‘simpler’theprintdriverthelesstrafficwillbegenerated.Usevendor
driversonlywhenspecificfunctionalityisneeded.
Lastminuteeditionfromthee-docspages:XenAppandXenDesktop7.6FP3
includesanAlways-Onloggingfeaturefortheprintserverandprinting
subsystemontheVDA.InordertocollatethelogsasaZIPforemailing,orto
automaticallyuploadtoCitrixInsightsServices,usethePowerShellcmdlet(StartTelemetryUpload)suppliedwiththeVDAinstallerin7.6FP3.
Lastupdated:15May2015.CitrixPrintingTool3.1helpsconfiguringand
troubleshootingtheCitrixPrintingsubsystemonXenApp,XenAppOnlinePlugin,
andXenDesktop.
Lastupdated:15May2015.PrintDetectiveisaninformationgatheringutility
thatcanbeusedfortroubleshootingproblemsrelatedtoprintdrivers.It
enumeratesallprinterdriversfromthespecifiedWindowsmachine,including
driverspecificinformation.Itcanalsobeusedtodeletespecifiedprintdrivers.It
allowsforlogfilecapabilitiesandprovidesacommand-lineinterfaceaswell.
Lastupdated:13November2015:Allpurposetroubleshoottool-RunCitrix
ScoutfromasingleXenDesktopcontroller(DDC)orXenAppservertocapture
keydatapointsandCDFtracesforselectedcomputersfollowedbysecureand
reliableuploadofthedatapackagetoCitrixTechnicalSupport.
Lastupdated:31August2015.TheCitrixUPSPrintDriverCertificationToolcan
beusedtotestthecompatibilityofaprintdriverwiththeCitrixUniversalPrint
Server.
Lastupdated:15May2015.Notsure?Testyourprintdriversthoroughlyusing
StressPrinters.
5
109
110
CheckoutMicrosoft’s(MSDN)webpagetofindoutmoreaboutPrintDriver
Isolation.
Releasedata:February2012,primarilyfocusedonXenApp6.5:XenAppPrinter
DriverManager.ManageyourXenAppprintdrivers.UpdatetheAutomatic
PrinterReplicationListwithaGUI.Haveaoverviewofwhatdriversareinstalled
onwhatservers.
AcollectionofCitrixtroubleshootanddiagnostictools.CtxAdmTools.
111
Ihopeyoufoundthissomewhatinformative.Thanksforreading,downloadingand
hopefullysharing!
6